Flamel's Revelation

"Enough of that. Fools to trust your security to anything cursed. That's why cursebreakers exist... Well, you will do as you will. But if someone paid me to gain access to Nott lands, I wouldn't struggle to add to my fortune, young master."

Nott looked disturbed. Harry thought it was an improvement to his usual appearance.

She stared at everyone in the class for most of a minute. She did like to creep them out. "I should let you know that you do not have to do another round of assignments for the year project on the Defense Professor curse."

"What?" Hermione asked, as if she were being deprived.

"No need. I have verified the precise cause of the curse. I have already awarded fifty points to Hufflepuff for their most excellent idea."

"What was it?" Malfoy asked. "Cursing a word, was that it?"

Madam Spurl regarded Malfoy for a little while before she smiled. As if she expected that Malfoy was planning to do something even more devious, assuming he had an imagination.

"Yes. It was, as predicted by some students, a taboo on a word. No student guessed the correct word, but I've been tinkering."

"You know the word?" Hermione asked.

"I do. It's one most of you use every day, which extends the taboo and strengthens the curse. Cleverly done."

"What word?" Harry asked.

"Everyone take out some parchment. Write your name and the word you think it is. It's plenty common at Hogwarts. Anyone who gets it correct gets five points added to his or her final exam score."

Harry got his quill out, wrote down his name, then found himself stumped. What word could it be? A common one... Hogwarts? No. The name of a spell? It wouldn't be a person's name, not if the spell had lasted for decades. Harry didn't like it but he wrote down Hogwarts. It wouldn't be right.

Madam Spurl stood at the front of the class and flipped through the parchments. "Interesting. Dismissed."

Harry packed up and left quickly, hopefully getting far ahead of Hermione.

"We are starting optional classes in Gryffindor."

Harry had no luck today. She had caught up.

"And you're going to help me, Harry," Hermione said.

Harry just nodded. She wasn't going to forget this or let the matter die down. She was set and Hermione was about impossible to distract. Damn that Malfoy and his mouth.

"What do you want to learn?" Harry asked.

"Everything." Her voice had a hunger in it. "But I'll start with politics. That sun-bleached little stoat... I'll see him. We have to find the Gryffindor family room so we can have classes there."

"Don't we need a teacher, too?"

"Yes. You're right, Harry. We'll need a teacher."

...

Hermione, at least, kept busy working on her new passion. The seventh year prefect showed everyone the family room so that was an easy part. It was still attached to the tower, just rarely used.

A few days later, Headmaster Flamel got up at lunch and addressed the students.

"Good news. Madam Spurl has been kind enough to do some work above and beyond the call of her position. The taboo on the Defense professorship is broken as of this morning."

He stared outward until the students began to clap.

"We have not disseminated what word was the trigger until now because we needed to break the taboo first, which would have been harder if everyone had been using it, discussing it, or gossiping about it. Now I can announce the taboo was tied to the word 'Professor,' and no one guessed it in the exercise Madam Spurl conducted in her many classes. My gratitude to her for her efforts. This is a curse that has plagued the school for decades."

Professor Flamel stared again. This time, everyone gave Madam Spurl a warmer round of applause.

As the noise died down someone shouted, "Who broke it?" Harry couldn't tell who had asked the question.

"I did, of course. Enjoy your lunch. Roast beef sandwiches, I believe. With dilled pickles. Don't tell my wife, but it's among my favorite foods."

He broke it. But Madam Spurl had made it sound monstrously difficult... Harry remembered. Professor Flamel was more than just an alchemist. His wife sat beside him and slapped his hand when he reached for extra pickles.

Hermione was excited for about five minutes before she remembered the lessons she was trying to organize. She got the attention of a sixth year student and tried to figure out what her parents might be able to teach to current Hogwarts students.

Harry didn't think it sounded too bad: the parents owned an orchard and pressed their own cider. But Hermione was dead set on hearing about the permits they had to file and how they organized their business. Harry would rather learn about cider than business paperwork.

He didn't say that to Hermione. Nor did Ron or Neville or anyone else.

.....

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