CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Third Year Classes

Harry and Hermione kept their promise in not ratting Attuoria out. They faced public humiliation and insults, especially Harry. This was the story that went around: Harry Potter and his stupid first-year friends lost two hundred points for no particular reason, and then another first-year tried to fix it but only managed to earn back thirty points. Attuoria tried to tell her friends that they shouldn't be playing her off as the hero, but they insisted, saying that her righteousness deserved to be recognised.

Attuoria didn't agree with them, but kept her voice quiet. She didn't want to make the situation any worse.

So while her friends were off being hated by everyone in the school, she became a celebrity not just to the first-years this time, but to the entire school.

Apart from just trying to "earn back points for Gryffindor", people soon found out that she had been placed in a third-year charms and potion class. Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape had both agreed (surprisingly), and on Tuesday afternoon, it was time for the switch.

While her friends headed off to their double-block of Charms, Attuoria headed down to the dungeon to attend her first double-block of third-year Potions. Many of the people in that third-year class had introduced themselves to her already, so she knew most of them.

Fortunately for her, Fred and George were also in that class. They were more than happy when they had heard that she was going to attend a double-block of potions and charms with them.

"Flitwick is going to absolutely love having you in his class," Fred had said.

"Do something well, and he'll award your points. But since you're a first-year, I bet he'll award you extra points." George had told her. "And maybe, you could actually earn back all those house points."

"A hundred and seventy points? You really think?"

"Usually he'll give us between one to five house points if we do well. But you, I bet he'll give you twenty."

While Flitwick was sure to be welcoming, Snape was not. When Attuoria entered the potions classroom, the third-years made hooting noises and began applauding, but Snape immediately made them shut up.

He didn't treat her any differently from the other third-years. Snape gave her a shabby, second-hand textbook, the Book of Potions by Zygmunt Budge. He ignored her presence in the class as he taught.

Later on in the lesson, they were told to brew a Shrinking Solution. The Shrinking Solution was quite a difficult potion. If prepared incorrectly, the potion turns poisonous. The recipe also called for the performance of a Shrinking Charm, which is a Charm taught to second-year students.

"I feel like he's doing this on purpose," a girl named Alicia Spinnet, who was in Gryffindor, whispered to Attuoria.

"Doing what?" she asked.

"He knows you're in year one. You barely have any ingredients for this potion. And he wants you to perform a charm that's only taught in year two. He is literally setting you up to fail." Alicia explained.

Attuoria shrugged. "I'll just get my ingredients from the store room. I'm sure I'll be fine."

And she was fine. Despite having to search for all the extra ingredients in the store room, Attuoria finished first. Her shrinking solution worked perfectly, turning a large tarantula into a tiny, insignificant spider.

Snape didn't look particularly pleased. He barely gave more than a short "hm" when she showed him the potion, and then went on to praise a few of the successful Slytherin third-years. Fred and George tried to tell her quietly that Snape was just being butthurt, but unfortunately the Professor heard them and deducted ten house points from Gryffindor.

Attuoria wasn't too offended. She knew since her first potions lesson with Snape that he was everything but optimistic and kind. He had some good intentions hidden deep within his mind, but whatever those were, he wasn't keen on showing it.

One thing she did notice was that Snape avoided her eye contact at all costs. If he had to walk by her table, he would either keep his eyes up or stare at the ground. If he had to talk to one of the girls on her table, he would take his cloak and almost shield himself from Attuoria. Apart from that, he basically pretended she didn't exist. Attuoria suspected that this was because Dumbledore told him she was a Legilimen, so he's trying to play it safe.

But what secrets would he want to hide, anyways? Could Harry, Ron and Hermione be right? Was he really trying to get past the three-headed dog and steal the Philosopher's stone?

Attuoria let out a small gasp. While Dumbledore was a master of Legilimency, the art of reading other's minds, he said that Snape was very skilled in Occlumency, the art of shielding their minds from others. If Snape really was the villain here, then maybe the reason Dumbledore hadn't stopped him yet is because he can't read Snape's mind, and therefore doesn't know of his plans.

The story was slowly starting to piece itself together now, but Attuoria still wasn't a hundred percent sure. After all, this left Quirrell and his mysterious master out of the picture. If Snape was using Quirrell as a tool, how come Quirrell had another being's voice inside his mind, commanding his every move? The voice in his head definitely wasn't Snape, and Snape didn't have an extra voice in his head. So who was Quirrell really working for?

"Hey, class is over," the really pretty Gryffindor third-year, Angelina Johnson, said gently, shaking Attuoria's shoulder.

"Oh," Attuoria jerked her head up from her arms. Those thoughts were deep - and distracting. "Thanks."

Angelina smiled, revealing her pearly-white teeth which contrasted greatly with her warm, chocolate skin.

She looks so different from me, yet everyone thinks she's gorgeous, Attuoria thought to herself, I guess skin color has nothing to do with human beauty standards.

"I'll see you at Charms on Friday."

As Angelina left and Attuoria started packing up her books, Fred and George strolled up to her table.

"You get along well with them," Fred noticed, picking up a book and handing it to Attuoria as she stuffed them in her shoulder-book-bag that she took from the Lost and Found. "The other third-year girls, I mean." he clarified.

"Yeah. They're cool. Angelina's really pretty." said Attuoria.

"She is, isn't she?" The twins said, nodding. "Lee Jordan's crazy for her. A little too crazy."

Attuoria frowned. Why would Lee Jordan, a cheerful third-year Gryffindor, go crazy for a girl? That didn't make sense. She assumed that in this context, they don't mean crazy as in "mentally deranged", but rather "extremely enthusiastic", but it still didn't help. To be extremely enthusiastic for a person? Attuoria had no idea how that was supposed to make sense. She wanted to ask Fred and George what they meant, but the conversation had already gone off in a different direction. She shrugged it off as another "human thing". Maybe if she spent more time as a human, interacting with other humans, she'll be able to find out for herself what it meant to be "crazy" for someone.

Three days later, Attuoria headed off to double-charms with the third-years, leaving the rest of her first-year classmates in the dungeons suffering potions with Snape.

Just as Fred and George had predicted, Professor Flitwick was ecstatic to see a first-year in his third-year class.

"Ms Knight!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, doing a little jump on the stack of books he was standing on. "Wonderful to see you here! I've never had a first-year in a third-year class before. Luckily for you, today we're learning the Cheering Charm, something that will be included in the third-year end-of-year exams. You'll have an upper hand!"

The entire room let out a groan.

"And since this is Ms Knight's first class with us, I believe it is the perfect occasion to be teaching a charm that can cheer others up! Oh, but be reminded, if the Cheering charm is overdone, it can cause the victim to be overcome with fits of hysterical laughter. I do hope we will not be placing anyone in the quiet room today." His eyes glazed over Fred and George before he sighed. "Although I think we will." he muttered to himself.

"Anyways, lets begin!" said Flitwick, scanning the room. "Mr Shafiq!"

A pale, drowsy-looking Slytherin boy looked up at the professor warily. His eyes were dull. It's either he wasn't awake for class yet, or his soul had simply left him.

"You look like you need a little pick me up. Come on up front, I'll demonstrate the Cheering charm on you for everyone."

The boy dragged himself out of his seat and stood on the aisle in the center of the classroom, facing Flitwick.

"Alright everyone, now listen up. Small, swift movements in a vertical hourglass shape starting from the top left corner." Flitwick pointed his wand at the boy in front of him, who didn't even flinch or show any sort of emotion. "Laetificus!"

The boy was still for a second, but then a smile cracked onto his face. The other third-years whispered excitedly to each other, and Attuoria overheard that they'd never seen him smile before.

"How do you feel?" Professor Flitwick asked. The boy chuckled, causing the class to gasp.

"I feel great." He said, grinning.

Flitwick turned to the rest of the class. "Now pair up and try it! But remember, don't try it too many times, otherwise you're going to be stuck in a fit of hysterical laughter."

The classroom soon buzzed with activity as everyone began testing the charm on one another. Fred told Attuoria to try it on him first, but George was making so many weird faces and gestures behind her that Fred burst into laughter before Attuoria had even performed the charm.

Seeing that Fred was already happy enough, Attuoria turned to George. But George was infected by Fred's contagious laughter, and the two of them were in a hysterical laughing fit without even the use of the Cheering Charm.

Attuoria looked across the room at the row of Slytherin third-years in front of her. The Slytherins were going to be her best bet, because they looked solemn all the time. Her eyes landed on the boy directly ahead of her.

She didn't know him, but he had short, dark brown hair, narrow eyes and a square jawline. He had his head down, a scowl on his face. His partner was struggling to perform the spell on him, so Attuoria guessed that the scowl was to express his annoyance. He looked like he needed a boost of happiness.

Pointing her wand straight ahead at the boy, Attuoria flicked her wrist in the said motion. "Laetificus!"

She watched as the boy stiffened up for a split second, before he looked up. He now had a smile on his face as he stared at Attuoria. The eye contact allowed her to enter his mind, so she decided to take a quick peek.

"Oh, it's the first-year. She's kind of cute, despite being a Gryffindor. Actually, I think I'd want to be friends with her. Did she really just cast the Cheering Charm on me from across the room? Hm… does that mean she's interested?"

Attuoria didn't know whether those thoughts were the result of the Cheering Charm, or he was actually a decent person. She just stared back at him.

When neither of them spoke to each other, Attuoria decided to cast another Cheering Charm on him, just to test the limits.

"Laetificus!"

She went into his mind just to make sure the spell worked. And sure enough, the boy was telling himself what a great day it's been, and how Flitwick was being so generous as to let the class perform spells as they wish. He didn't complain about how Attuoria casted the charm on him twice. In fact, he seemed pretty happy about it.

So she did it again. Laetificus, Laetificus, Laetificus. Five times total. He wasn't completely hysterical yet, but was clearly a little off, so Attuoria decided five was enough.

The boy was so cheered up by now that he suddenly stood up and waved at Professor Flitwick.

"Professor, I love your hat!" He said with a great big smile. The entire class burst into laughter, while Flitwick blushed slightly and chuckled.

"Who performed the Cheering Charm on Mr Pucey here?" he asked the class.

"Uh, I was his partner, sir," said Pucey's original partner, the boy who was struggling.

Flitwick frowned at him. "But did you perform the Charm?"

"No sir, I couldn't produce the Charm."

"Then who?"

Everyone glanced at each other. Attuoria kept her gaze on the ground.

But then Pucey himself spoke up. "It was her, the first-year! Isn't she great?" he said, pointing at Attuoria.

"Ha! Pucey's gone mental!" some Slytherin boy yelled and the rest of the students in green robes all laughed together.

Professor Flitwick beamed at Attuoria. "Of course, Ms Knight! I can see you've not just performed the spell once, but in fact, multiple times. You managed to control it well enough so that Mr Pucey did not burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. Very impressive! Fifteen points to Gryffindor!"

"Thank you, Professor."

"My pleasure, Ms Knight, I am happy to have a student as talented as yourself. You can spend the rest of the class helping others with the charm. Continue!"

"See, told you he would give you more points than usual," Fred whispered, nudging Attuoria.

"Ten more of those, and you would've earned back a hundred and fifty points." said George.

"Sadly I don't have ten weeks to do that." said Attuoria, a pang of bittersweetness hitting her chest. She had been in the mortal realm for more than eight and a half months already. If, by the end of the school year, she still hadn't found out the true identity of "T.M.R.", Attuoria planned to head back to the spiritual dimension.

As much as she enjoyed her life as a human, as much as she has learned about the human mind, as much as she has experienced in this double-life, Attuoria didn't belong here. She belonged back in her home, the spiritual dimension, performing her duties as a nightmare demon.

Unless there was a reason to stay, she wasn't going to stay. Her goal when she came down to the mortal realm was to discuss human affairs with "T.M.R.", and perhaps gain a little more information on humans to satisfy her own curiosity.

But if she wasn't able to find "T.M.R.", then there was no longer a reason to stay. Humans and nightmare demons aren't allowed to mix, it's a sacred, ancient rule. Attuoria knew that her life belonged to the spiritual dimension, and only the spiritual dimension.

For the next few weeks, Attuoria was almost desperate to find "T.M.R.". A small part of her hoped that her journey in the mortal realm wouldn't end so soon, but that wasn't the main reason for her sudden surge of determination.

She had a better idea of who her mysterious messenger was now. Tom Riddle, Hagrid's former classmate at Hogwarts, was her best bet. She just needed to find his middle name to confirm his identity as the mysterious messenger.

And if Hagrid was sixty-four and Tom Riddle was two years older than him, then Tom would be sixty-six years old. And that would also mean he was around fifty-four years old when he sent the message twelve years ago on June 16th, 1980.

Was she a bit too late?

Attuoria and her friends returned to their daily routine at the library. Her friends would study, and she would find books that might help with her search. She found a book called "Prefects Who Gained Power", which seemed like an obvious choice as Tom Riddle was a famous Slytherin prefect, but then she remembered Hagrid said nobody had heard of him since he left Hogwarts, so he was probably not going to be in the book.

Despite that, Attuoria still read it. Just in case.

Then, she found a book called Living With Legilimens: Choose Your Minds Wisely, which was a self-help book that taught readers how to cope with living with someone with the power of Legilimency. Attuoria jokingly gave a copy of the book to her friends who were studying at the table, and told them they should probably read it.

But after that, she was running out of options. She had read every reasonable book that may include information about Tom Riddle. Still nothing. Perhaps he was just another insignificant wizard living a normal life with a normal family. That wasn't impossible.

"I think I give up." Attuoria groaned, setting Preferred Preface for Perfect Prefects onto the table. Compared to all the other books she'd read, this book was especially useless.

"Why are you reading that book? Percy has a copy of that. It looks really boring." Ron commented, looking up from his notes, which had a pile of chocolate frog cards on them.

"Ron! I told you to take notes! Look at you, just playing with your cards - pathetic!" Hermione immediately snapped.

"What? I just - Attuoria said something, so -"

"We've got final exams coming up soon!"

"I know! I'm ready, ask me any question." Ron said smugly.

"Well if you're so confident, alright. What are the three most crucial ingredients in a Forgetfulness Potion?" said Hermione, giving Ron a pointed look.

"I forgot." Ron said ironically, causing Harry to laugh.

"And what, may I ask, do you plan to do if this comes up in the final exam?"

"Copy off you?"

"No you won't." Hermione said sternly before turning to Attuoria. "You, since you've been spending all your time reading random books and haven't even studied once for the final exams, answer the question."

Attuoria could tell that Hermione doubted her. She doubted Ron and Harry as well. Hermione thought that neither three of them were going to pass end of year exams. Attuoria wasn't too sure about the boys, but she knew there was no way she'd be failing the exam, even if she wanted to.

"Lethe River Water, mistletoe berries, and Valerian sprigs." Attuoria recited, taking those words from the copy of Magical Drafts and Potions that was etched in her mind.

Hermione's eyes widened, and Ron started snickering.

"I guess I'll just copy off Attuoria."

"Be my guest." said Attuoria.

"No!" Hermione almost yelled, and the three of her friends immediately shushed her, imitating Madam Pince. "According to Professor McGonagall, we're to be given special quills bewitched with an anti-cheating spell."

"That's insulting!" Ron immediately said. "It's as if they don't trust us!" He raised his arms up at Harry, who mirrored his movements. "Dumbledore again!"

Attuoria chuckled slightly at Ron's words. Irony suits him. Or was it hypocrisy? She wasn't sure.

"I'm gonna head back to the dorm now." Harry said, standing up and packing away his books.

"But you haven't finished-"

"Hermione, just let him be. We're all tired." Attuoria said. Harry smiled at her gratefully and left the library. "You should take a break too. We could practise some charms?"

"Yes! That sounds fun!" said Ron, bringing out his wand.

"No." Hermione said, being the party-pooper once again. "Ron, you still haven't remembered anything for Astronomy yet. I'm going to quiz you on that."

"What? No!" Ron complained, grabbing onto Attuoria's arm. "Attuoria please save me let's go practise some charms I don't want to do quizzes with Hermione anymore it's so boring -"

"I'm sure the quiz won't take long. Just do it first." Attuoria said, prying Ron's grasp off of her.

"Seriously? Who's side are you on? You defended Harry and now you're defending Hermione?"

"I'm not defending anyone."

"Yes you are!"

"I'm gonna go and leave you guys to quiz each other." Attuoria stood up.

Ron groaned, slumping onto the table. "You traitor."

But Attuoria didn't get far out of the library before Harry came running, completely out of breath.

"Get back in the library I need to tell you guys something," he said, dragging Attuoria back into the library and to the table where Hermione was finally quizzing Ron on Astronomy.

Harry explained that he'd heard Quirrell sobbing and yielding after being threatened by who Harry assumed was Snape. And this time, neither of them questioned it, even Attuoria. Snape's keenness to avoid Attuoria's eye contact made her slightly more suspicious of him, and she was willing to accept the possibility that he was trying to steal the stone and hide his intentions from Dumbledore using Occlumency.

Ron and Hermione immediately tried to come up with plans of action, which Attuoria just sat listening to, but Harry vetoed them all.

"We've done enough poking around." he said, pulling out a map of Jupiter and returning to studying. He wouldn't talk about it after that.