Breaking Barriers

"First you then Draco -- what's going on?" Harry asked.

Hermione blinked a couple times, looking as though she were in deep thought, but shrugged. "There has to be a logical explanation. Really, what are the odds of my wand not working, then Draco's cauldron acting up?" the question seemed to bother her; Charms was one of her favourite classes and it was obvious Draco excelled in Potions.

"Maybe we should tell Professor Dumbledore," Hermione suggested. Harry thought about it, but decided against it.

"It might just be nothing, I mean, maybe there's just a magical interference that's throwing off Hogwarts. Maybe it's happened before ---"

Hermione looked at him quizzically, "What are you suggesting?

"Going to the library."

Harry usually wasn't one for going to the library, but if they could get their answer he'd do it. Hermione nodded her head in agreement.

"I've got an hour after Potions until Arithmancy," she said. "You get Ron from the Hospital Wing and we'll meet in the library."

Harry would have answered, but Snape walked up just then.

"I do hope you're paying attention, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you," he paused, a malicious smile playing on his lips. "Like turning purple," and again walked away.

The minutes dragged on until at long last Professor Snape dismissed the class, but not before giving them a 3 1/2 foot essay to write on the dangers of adding wrong ingredients.

"Ron'll be thrilled about this essay," Harry said sarcastically. After putting his Potions equipment away, he grabbed his bag and headed up to the Hospital Wing, while Hermione headed towards the library.

"Hello Harry dear," Madam Pomfrey said. She had warmed up to him over the years since he was almost a regular there. "Ron is in the second room, still a bit purple I'm afraid."

Harry headed towards the room, almost swearing he heard Madam Pomfrey make a rude remark about Professor Snape.

"Hey Ron," he said, opening the door. Madame Pomfrey was right, Ron still was purple, but not nearly as bad as before.

"Hey Harry," Ron said, glumly. Before Harry could say anything else, Ron continued, "It's bad enough everyone knows I'm poor, but Snape doesn't have to rub it in that I'm no good at Potions."

"Only the Slytherins laughed," Harry offered. "Besides, I don't think anyone will remember."

Ron looked up, "Why?"

"Malfoy's potion didn't work either. It didn't do anything to him, though. Well, it didn't do anything at all." Harry grinned a little at the memory of Draco's face.

"It's kind of weird that Hermione couldn't do the Levitatia charm yesterday, and now Draco can't do potions, don't you think?" Ron sipped a bit of what Harry assumed was something to help with the purple skin.

"Exactly. That's why I came up here. Hermione and I think that maybe it's a magical interference and that maybe it's happened before. She's in the library and we're supposed to meet her there, so let's go."

Ron gulped the rest of his drink and started heading for the library, closely followed by Harry. Before they got to the door Madam Pomfrey came rushing up.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked Ron.

"Uh, the library. I'm feeling much better, thank you for the drink," he said quickly. Madam Pomfrey couldn't argue, as Ron's purple skin had almost gone back to its normal colour.

They walked quietly into the library, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Madam Pince knew by now that if Hermione, Ron, and Harry all met in the library, they would be up to something. Even most of the students knew that, which made it difficult for the three to be in the library when they were actually studying.

"Have you found anything?" Harry asked, taking a seat next to Hermione, who was surrounded by books.

"I found an excerpt about magical disturbances, but they only happen on full moons," she said, flipping through another book called Magical Mysteries by Marvin Melockin.

They spent a good portion of the hour looking up magical interferences in the indexes of books, but so far hadn't found anything.

"I don't get it," Hermione said. "There's got to be something here!"

"Well, there is, it just doesn't match up with what's happening here," Ron replied.

Almost every book they looked in had something about magical interferences, but there was always a little detail that didn't add up. Either it only happened on a full moon [Hermione noted that the next full moon wasn't for another 2 weeks], or people would start turning into ducks, or even lose their taste buds.

Harry found a book that said something about witches and wizards losing their power which got all three of them excited, until he read the part that along with that people would start talking in limericks, which hadn't happened.

"I've got to get to Arithmancy," Hermione said, looking at her watch.

"And we've got to get to Divination," Ron started to put books back on the shelves.

"Hey!" He suddenly yelled from behind a bookshelf. "Do you think Professor Trelawney would know anything about this?"

Hermione snorted. She still believed Divination was useless.

Harry shot her a glance and said, "Well, it's worth a try. And she'd probably be thrilled that we're actually participating in class."

Ron and Harry made their way up to the Divination tower, meeting Zac, a fifth year Ravenclaw, below the circular trapdoor.

"Yet another day of exciting Divination, eh?" Zac said. Harry and Ron both laughed, following him up the stairs.

"Hello class," Professor Trelawney slowly walked into the room, surrounded by a light purple haze of perfume.

She sat down at her small circular table which held a crystal ball. The ball was propped up with what looked like a dragon's claw and the name Sibyll glowed faintly on it.

She was about to start talking again but Ron cut her off. "Professor, do you know anything about magical interferences?"

Professor Trelawney looked at him in amazement. "Well, I...have predicted magical interferences a couple of times," she said.

"What causes them?" Ron asked, almost looking interested.

"Plenty of things," Trelawney looked thrilled to see that the students were paying attention. "Sometimes it's the position of the stars and planets, it throws off the balance of magical air. Or there's a huge battle between Dark and Good magic." Professor Trelawney lowered her voice as she continued. "It's never happened, but a wise witch once predicted that Muggles would start being able to come into the wizarding world, which would also cause disturbances."

"Muggles getting into the wizarding world?" Lavender Brown gulped.

"Oh yes. Muggles being able to see wizarding places like The Leaky Cauldron or Hogwarts, or even getting powers!"

Harry looked at Ron nervously. Professor Trelawney looked almost a little too excited.

"Well, er, thanks Professor," Harry wanted to change the subject, a little disappointed that she hadn't revealed anything that might've been useful.