Keeping it in the Family

Lessons Lessons Lessons

Keira couldn't sleep yet again. She had tried turning over innumerable times already, had counted sheep (she reached 537 before she got fed up), and was now simply staring at the curtains of her four-poster bed, thinking that tomorrow she would just make herself a simple Sleeping Draught, her last option. But now... Well, maybe walking around for a bit will make me sleepy, she thought. Pulling aside a curtain, she got out of her bed and went down the circular stairs to the common room, now quiet and empty, the fire burning low in the grate. Keira tiredly threw herself into a soft easy chair beside the fire, thinking for a while, when suddenly she heard what sounded like a faint crash.

She got up immediately. Where had it come from? Had she just imagined it? Crash. No, she hadn't been imagining it. The crash had sounded like it was from one of the lower floors. What's happening? For a moment, her heart twinged as her aunt's heavy-lidded eyes flickered in her mind, but she shut the picture of them out firmly. It can't be. It can't be. She's probably wherever Voldemort is, and I think he'd stay as far away from Dumbledore as possible. But still... It wouldn't surprise her if Bellatrix had somehow managed to break into Hogwarts, even if the magic surrounding the castle made it almost impossible to sneak in. There was still a chance.

Crash. There it was again. Keira looked furtively at the stairs leading to the dormitories, as if expecting someone to come down noisily at any moment. Why hasn't anyone woken up yet? Keira wondered. The noise should have surely roused someone... Crash. That did it. After checking to see that no one was coming down the stairs, Keira cautiously crossed to the Fat Lady's portrait and swung it open.

"Who goes there?" the Fat Lady squawked as Keira climbed out of the portrait hole. "It's forbidden to go out in the middle of the night, you know, whoever you are!"

"Oh hush, you might wake someone!" snapped Keira at the portrait. "And never you mind who I am," she added as an afterthought, mainly to herself, as she started walking down the hallway as quietly as possible. Dare she risk some light? Neville had already told her about Filch and Mrs. Norris, but Keira couldn't see anything in the dark. She might even topple a suit of armor, and that would definitely make things even worse for her. Keira looked briefly at her palm, and suddenly it started giving off a faint light of its own, something that she see by but could also easily hide by clenching her fist.

She felt like a fool creeping down the seventh-floor hallway and trying to see if this was the right way to the staircase to the floor below. Am I sure that what I heard came from the floors below? It could have come from the grounds... Keira also had no idea what to do if she suddenly came face to face with her aunt. Maybe we'll duel, she thought a bit nervously. She didn't feel that she could duel properly with a relative...

Suddenly, she stood stock still. She could hear someone's heavy footsteps. Someone's coming! Keira immediately clenched her fist, extinguishing the light, and tried to look for somewhere to hide. She was just above the stairwell, and there didn't seem to be a classroom anywhere nearby. She couldn't even see anything! The footsteps were getting nearer now, and louder, when suddenly a slightly sinister voice appeared out of nowhere.

"Come my sweet, we'll find where that light was coming from. A student out of bed, no doubt. We'll get him, no fear... Almost there now..." That had to be the caretaker, Filch, and it sounded like he had his cat with him. Keira thought of a string of curses. How could he see so well in the dark? She had to think of something, quick. Filch was climbing the stairs now... it would be too obvious if she tried to run away now. Flattening herself desperately against the wall, Keira noticed something shining out of the corner of her eye. She looked towards it and saw what looked like something shiny at the bottom of the staircase. Is it a suit of armor? I hope it is, Keira thought. She tried to ignore Filch's footsteps and focus hard on the shiny thing. Come on, come on!

Suddenly, it wobbled a bit. Concentrate! Keira thought. This is small potatoes compared to levitating tables... It wobbled some more to the side. A little more... CRASH! It had been a suit of armor, which was now on the ground. Filch's footsteps suddenly stopped and went hurriedly toward the armor, with his cat leading the way. Keira hurriedly turned around and ran, trying to be as quiet as possible. Every small sound was Filch's breath on her neck, every whisper was Mrs. Norris' feet. She quickly ran the entire length of the seventh-floor until she reached the Fat Lady.

"Purple Puffskein, Purple Puffskein," she said hurriedly while panting, quite out of breath.

The Fat Lady clicked her mouth. "This is what you get for going outside at night... I told you not to..."

"Oh, hurry up and just let me in!"

The portrait gave a sniff, but opened up for Keira, who got in as quickly as possible, closed the portrait, and sprinted up the stairs to the girls dormitory and bed and got under the covers. No one had seemed to have woken up. Good. She had had quite enough adventure for one night.

~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~**~**~*~*~*~**~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~**

"I hate Potions, I hate Potions, I hate Potions so much," Neville muttered.

Keira looked at him and smiled. "Well, it's not like anyone actually likes Potions!" she said, a bit sarcastically.

"The Slytherins do." From his tone, it was evident of just what he thought about the Slytherins.

She snorted. "Never mind the Slytherins." Studying him, she remarked critically, "You seem fine... it doesn't seem like you're worrying too much about Potions..."

His round face again became a bit fearful. "I don't feel the same way inside, honest. I didn't sleep that well last night... I was thinking how Snape'll check our Truth Serums today..." He gave a little shiver.

"You look fine," Keira repeated. "And hopefully our Serums will be, too." Inside, she was a bit thankful. The class had been working on Truth Serums with varying degrees of hardness for about a month now. It was time to move on. The twp went inside Snape's dungeon classroom and sat down at their respective places while Snape sneered at the class.

"Today, we will be testing your serums, if those sorry excuses for potions can be called serums... First..." Neville was getting whiter by the moment, and even Keira's heart gave a sick thud at Snape's words.

I hope Snape doesn't pick mine first, she thought. Snape was moving closer to a cauldron, looking at the name on the label. Please no, please no, please no...

"Ah." His voice sounded slightly amused. "Keira Lestrange's."

Noooooooo! Keira groaned inside. What if something was wrong with her serum? As far as she knew, she had followed all the instructions perfectly, but one could never be sure with Snape. Filled with dread, she watched as Snape made to lift the cover of her cauldron, with a sneer, but suddenly he stopped and frowned up at the doorway. The class turned around and saw Tonks, gesticulating wildly at Snape.

"Yes?" he hissed in his most sinister voice.

"Professor Snape," said Tonks, "I need to borrow Keira Lestrange, if you don't mind..."

It looked like he very much did, but he gestured to her and she stood up, wondering what on earth Tonks could want her for right now. She grinned and winked at Keira.

"Bring your bag." Keira couldn't believe it. Was Tonks excusing her from Potions? She wanted to run out of the classroom as fast as she could!

"There must have been a mistake, Tonks," Snape snapped. "Lestrange is having her Potions class now. She'll be available after classes."

Tonks waved a piece of parchment in Snape's face. "See here, Severus-" here Snape winced and looked ten times more angry-"I have a letter from Professor Dumbledore excusing Miss Lestrange from her Potions class every Monday and Thursday... She's my apprentice you know, we need time to practice and for activities and all..." she smiled at Keira, who grinned happily back. What a dream come true!

Snape lost his composure. "Why Potions, of all classes? This is one of her most essential subjects and she can't miss one session-"

"Dumbledore looked at her records from her other school and saw that Potions was her best class, the one she had the least trouble in," said Tonks, who had clearly planned on keeping her cool. "He also asked me to tell you to give the instructions to whatever potion you are making the class do to her- she'll just do it in her free time, and read her textbook more, so she won't fall behind." Tonks smiled complacently as if everyone was friends now. "Is that alright with you, Keira?"

She nodded fervently. All she had to do was prepare the potion and read in advance- she could surely handle that!

A vein throbbed in Snape's forehead. "Fine," he snapped. "But first... let us see if the Truth Serum Lestrange made works..."

Keira's heart gave a thud again. What if Snape made her drink it and interrogated her? But that was not going happen. Eyes flashing, Snape pulled out a small flask out of the cabinet.

"This is an indicator," he informed the class, in his most sinister voice. "It shows the degree of perfection of a potion, if it's the ideal color and if it will work, and such other factors that I require. One drop is all that is needed to diagnose a potion. I do not use this normally, but since Lestrange is in such a hurry..." While he was talking, he carefully uncorked the flask and poured one drop into Keira's potion, which immediately turned dark orange.

"Very good," Tonks grinned at her again.

"What does that mean?" Keira whispered to her curiously. She had no idea what dark orange meant... could she have botched her potion?

"That means you're perfect!" Tonks excitedly said.

Keira's mouth fell open. Really? "Perfect perfect?" she whispered again to Tonks, who nodded back gladly.

Snape looked like he'd like to dump the contents of Keira's cauldron on her. "Very well Lestrange, get your bag and get out of my classroom!"

I'll be glad to, Keira thought as she rolled her eyes at her bag.

"I will be sending your instructions, some restricted ingredients, and a flask in which to place your potion with"- Snape looked around the classroom- "Longbottom. I expect it on my desk tomorrow morning, not later than ten o'clock, or you will receive no marks," he said as he turned his back on her contemptuously.

On her way out, Keira touched Neville's shoulder briefly. "Is it fine with you?" she whispered to him.

He gave her a thumbs-up. "I'll bring them to you safe and sound, don't worry..." he sounded a bit apprehensive, and Keira had no idea why. She looked at Neville a bit quizzically and replied, "I know you will," with a smile.

"Come on now, do you really want to hang around here? Let's go!" Tonks sounded happy, but impatient to get out of the cheerless dungeons.

She and Keira immediately started walking out of the dungeons as fast as possible, Tonks still grinning at her apprentice, who was now smiling as wide as Tonks had ever seen her do so.

"That glad to get out of Potions, eh?"

Keira looked at Tonks and nodded her head merrily. "You have no idea, ma'am!"

Tonks screwed up her face, and suddenly her short bubblegum pink hair turned a deep violet. "I thought I told you to stop calling me 'ma'am' and start calling me Tonks, Lestrange."

Her student laughed. "Sorry ma- Tonks, force of habit, I guess."

Tonks nodded knowingly. "They still required everyone to call their instructors sir and ma'am in your time?"

"Yes. But I bet-" Keira suddenly stopped talking and held her tongue, causing Tonks to look at her curiously.

"Go on, go on... But you bet?"

Keira grinned wolfishly. "I bet that in Rosehill no one could have made me leave Potions class voluntarily," she said, eliciting a laugh from Tonks. The two continued swapping stories and reminisces from Rosehill until they reached the first floor. Tonks immediately started craning her head and peering in the classrooms, as if looking for something, and eventually stopped before a door

"Well, this will have to do, I guess," she said absently while opening it and gesturing Keira to come inside. "Sit down in one of the chairs..."

Keira sat down in the chair directly facing the teacher's desk and waited for further instructions. She had met with Tonks before, but she hadn't learnt anything new yet, as Tonks had just tested her skills and abilities by making her do various things, like setting chairs on fire then putting the fire out, as well as transfiguring a chair into a dog.

Tonks locked the door and clapped her hands excitedly. "Now... From what I've seen from you so far, I think that you have the power and drive to become great. Some of the spells I've seen you use perfectly are considered very advanced for someone still in school. Learnt them out of books?" she threw at Keira, who quickly nodded.

"Yes...a combination of too much spare time and too many spellbooks nearby, I guess," she replied to Tonks, who gave a smile.

"I can imagine. Anyway... I've tested you on most everything except..."

Keira leaned forward in her chair. Except what?

"Except on the two basic principles of sorcery," Tonks said cheerily. Keira groaned and sank low in her chair.

The two basic principles, her weakness! She had never been very good in displaying either of them, and in fact they had been the only things that her professors had given her a hard time for. But she couldn't afford to start daydreaming now... Tonks was walking up and down in front of the desk.

"Of course you know the two basic principles... they've been drummed into your head since first year. What are they again?"

Keira sighed. She had wrote these two words dozens of times before as punishment. "Concentration and Control."

Tonks looked at her, startled. "What a face! I take it that they're not your favorite..." Keira shook her head emphatically, and now it was Tonks' turn to smile wolfishly. "Well you know what they said at Rosehill- concentration and control are the foundations of sorcery. Without them, your spells will never show their full potential. Like it or not, you'll have to master them someday, might as well start now."

Keira gave a small inward sigh. She knew Tonks was right, but still...

Tonks reached into her pocket and pulled out a quill, which she laid on the desk, along with a heavy and a not-so-heavy spellbook.

"Now... I want you to make the quill levitate."

Easy enough, Keira thought. She looked at the quill and it levitated a few feet off the table.

Tonks nodded. "Levitate the small spellbook." The quill began to lower as the book rose.

"Wait!" Tonks said, stopping her. "Make them levitate together, at the same time."

Keira was starting to sweat a little. To some people, levitating things simultaneously may have been too easy, but she was very, very weak in concentration and control!

The book began to rise again, but the quill was blocking its way. Keira tried to flick the quill upwards with her eyes while maintaining her focus on the book, but it was too much for her. The book fell on the ground with a loud thump while the quill suddenly moved upwards, just touching the ceiling.

Keira picked up the book, her face beginning to turn red. Even a Rosehill second year could probably have managed to levitate both items with ease! She heard a small chuckle coming from Tonks.

"So this is what you have to improve in... Well, you can't be good at everything, can you?" she asked candidly. "If you didn't have a weakness, I'd be scared of you, you'd be too good."

"Really," Keira said, a bit sarcastically, but with a hint of a smile. "My weakness is one that even second years aren't supposed to have..."

Tonks shrugged. "That's why you have to work on it. And look at it this way- at least you aren't always falling all over your own two feet," she added with a chuckle.

Keira sighed and wiped the sweat from her face with the sleeves of her robes. Tonks was right. As much as she hated the two principles, she had to practice them or she wouldn't get anywhere, but she was not in the least bit eager to do any work on them any time soon.

"Let's start again!"

~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~***~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~**

Two hours later, Keira staggered from Gryffindor Tower, feeling extremely tired. Tonks had made her work on levitating the quill and small spellbook correctly, and then had worked on how long she was able to keep them in air, then they had tried levitating the three items at the same time. Keira hadn't able to do it, and even her levitation of the small spellbook and quill was shaky. Tonks had shaken her head and told her to practice more- "There's no way around practice,"- and then, at Keira's request, she had taught Keira the Jelly Legs spell when using a wand. The spell Keira had produced was very weak, and this had put the already fuming student into a worse mood. Tonks had not made things any better. As she and Keira walked out of the classroom the teacher had said gently: "Sometimes, there are people who just aren't meant for wands..." Keira knew that maybe Tonks had meant it as a compliment, but all it had done was to make her feel even worse.

And now... and now... she hadn't done any homework and had not even started to think about Snape's potion yet. She had considered skipping dinner, but decided not to, thinking that she might sink her head in the cauldron from fatigue.

As she entered the Great Hall, Keira wasn't conscious of the people around her and what they were possibly thinking of, for once. She sat herself down at the first available seat in the Gryffindor table and pulled a dish of what looked like meat toward her, took a piece, and started eating it tiredly. I need to finish this as soon as possible so I can do as much homework as possible, she thought, but somehow her jaws wouldn't cooperate.

"Keira?"

She looked up tiredly and realized that Neville was sitting at her right. "Hi, Neville."

He frowned. "Is something wrong? You look really tired..."

Keira waved it away as she drank from her goblet. "Tonks tired me out today. I have no idea how I'll get my homework done at this rate!"

Neville made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. "I used to rush my homework everyday because I was so tired... sometimes there just wasn't enough time to finish everything and the homework I did pass was awful..."

Keira straightened her back. "Well, I'll finish that potion for Snape, even if I don't get anything else done."

Neville raised his eyebrows and drew a flask, some herbs, a tail of some sort, and one fat roll of parchment and handed them to Keira, who paled and whose resolve left her immediately.

"Is he serious?" She looked at Neville. "You did this all in one day?"

He nodded. "Barely. Those tips you gave me helped a lot, but in the end I think I got the smell wrong or something..."

"But you got the right color?" Neville nodded. "Well, color is the second-most important aspect of a potion, anyway..."

"I still have a chance- Snape said this was only the first part of the potion," Neville gulped nervously.

Keira looked again at the fat roll of parchment. "Only the first part, eh?" She pushed her plate away, her appetite quite gone, and stood up. "I'd better get to work, or I'll never finish the potion, let alone any of my homeworks. See you Neville..."

"Wait!" He called out, hurriedly putting on his schoolbag. "Is it fine if I do my homework with you?"

She looked at him. "Are you sure you're done eating already? And I still have to look for a spare room and all for the potion...."

"Yes I'm done eating, and its fine with me... I might be able to help find a room!" Neville said eagerly, his face brightening a little.

"Well, come on, then!" Keira smiled widely and swung her heavy schoolbag over her shoulder.

They walked from the Great Hall, not knowing that someone else was watching them intently.

"Look at them," Harry Potter said, in an angry tone.

Hermione looked up from the book she was reading. "Look at what?"

"Them!" Harry pointed wildly at Keira and Neville, who were talking animatedly.

Ron gave Harry a what's wrong with you look. "So? What's wrong with them?"

Harry looked frustrated that none of his friends understood. "Why's Neville walking with her?"

"They've been walking around the hallways together for about two weeks now, Harry," Hermione said gently, with a furtive glance at Ron, who gulped.

For a few moments, Harry looked speechless. "Why?" he asked again, anger now definitely in his voice. "Why is Neville doing that? It's wrong!"

Ron and Hermione looked at each other openly now. "Nothing's wrong, Har-" began Ron, but Harry cut him off.

"You can't understand," he said shortly his eyes becoming cold and hard. "Neither of you can understand."

Abruptly, he got up from the table, grabbed his bag, and stalked out of the Great Hall. Hermione watched him with eyes that looked worried and a bit tired, and Ron sighed. They both had noticed how much he had changed since Sirius' death.

"What's wrong with Harry?" Ron asked, a bit tiredly, but also a bit bitter. "Wasn't Sirius our friend, too?"

"I don't know, Ron," Hermione answered. "I don't know anymore. But promise me... if Harry tries to give Neville a hard time, can you..."

Ron looked at her, trying to understand what she meant. "I'll try, I guess," he said awkwardly.

Hermione looked at the food on her plate with no emotion. What's happening? she thought.