Girls’ Changing Room – Chapter 10 – Into the forest by Maeryn Lamonte – Copyright © 2021
	I’m aiming to post twice this weekend, so keep an eye out for another chapter on Sunday

-oOo-
She’d never visited Lysander in his dormitory before, just as he’d never been down to see her at Hufflepuff. She knew where the Ravenclaws lived though, everyone in her year knew where the other common rooms were. She ran as fast as she could to Ravenclaw tower and leapt up the stairs, taking them three at a time. One student — old enough to be a prefect, though she didn’t slow to check — called after her ineffectually, otherwise she made it to the door unhindered.

No handle, no keyhole. Just a door knocker in the shape of an eagle’s head. She lifted the knocker and let it fall.

It made no sound, but the eyes flashed open. “Which came first,” it asked, “the phoenix or the flame?”

Flustered and out of breath, it took Lori a moment to think, then it came to her. A story her mother had told her and her twin once. The answer came with the memory. “A circle has no beginning,” she said.

“Well reasoned,” the knocker said and the door swung open.

It made sense that the door knocker would recycle its riddles. It would be impossible to go on inventing new ones, or at least highly inefficient, but how many had it accumulated over the years, and what were the chances it would ask her one she already knew?

She stepped into a large circular room with arched windows and a navy blue carpet. The place was scattered with complicated looking instruments and bulging bookcases. Several students looked up from the books they were studying as she appeared through the doorway.

“Er, I’m looking for my brother, Lysander,” she said, not quite as breathless as she had been with the door.

One of the older students stood up. “I’ll fetch him for you,” he said and disappeared up a spiral staircase.

A minute later he returned with Lysander following close behind.

“Lori, what’s the matter?”

Lori paused briefly to smile her gratitude to the boy who’d helped then turned to her brother. “Lye, I need to talk to you right now.” She looked around at the roomful of curious eyes, none of which had returned to the books they’d been perusing. “Somewhere private if possible.”

Lysander took his sister’s arm and guided her back out the way she had come. “Privacy is hardly something we could hope for in there. The dorm would have been better, but we’re not allowed to have girls in there, not even family. The nearest place is going to be the quad or one of the courtyards, I think.”

They were only a short way down the stair when Lori spotted a corridor she thought she recognised. She paused and led her brother down it.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Trying a hunch,” Lori murmured. And focused her mind on finding somewhere quiet to talk.

The brickwork rearranged itself with a gentle scraping to reveal a large arched door. Lori was relieved it wasn’t the smaller, powder blue one from her previous visits. She pushed open the door and led Lysander inside.

“What is this place?” he asked.

“The Room of Requirement,” Loris said. “You know I told you about it?”

“Wow!” Lysander looked around him at the cheerful fire burning in a large fireplace, the two comfy chairs and the two steaming cups of cocoa on the table between them.

“Sit down, Lye. I have a lot to tell you, and I don’t think we have much time. I have a really tough decision to make and I need a second head.”

“You’re admitting that I’m more intelligent than you after all?”

“If you like. Look I don’t really care. A bunch of things happened over the last day or two and I just need you to help me think them through.”

Lysander sobered up immediately and gave his sister his full attention. Lori explained everything that had happened recently that she hadn’t had time to share with her brother. Lori managed to keep succinct and covered everything including her recent visit to Anneka in less than ten minutes. Eventually she’d finished and picked up the mug of cocoa nearest to her. It was still hot enough to drink and had some added spice that gave it a bit of a bite. She decided she liked it.

Lysander looked stunned. Lori gave him some time to think, but when he hadn’t moved after five minutes, she gave him a mental prod. “So what do you think?”

Lysander physically shook himself. “I think… I don’t know what to think. Of the two of us you have the better sense of other people’s reactions, but are you sure none of the teachers could help? I mean what about Flitwick or Longbottom?”

“Professor Flitwick’s an academic. I think he’d give us a fair hearing, but in the end he’d be inclined to go with the Ministry boffins rather than a couple of first years. Professor Longbottom is more likely to side with us, but he still has a thing for Mum, and that’d make him wary about helping if it meant us getting into danger.”

“That doesn’t leave any good choices Lori. McGonagall told you that going into the forest right now would be suicide.”

“Except she’s already underestimated what we can do. I mean hello? You and me both, first years casting full Patronuses?”

“But Professor M already told you how much more difficult it is casting a Patronus when there’s a Dementor present.”

“What if I were to cast it before going in? You know I have spells that can stop it and direct it. In fact what about that spell that combined our two Patronuses?”

“McGonagall said it was one of the most complicated and dangerous spells we could cast on a Patronus, and she made us promise not to try it again.”

“I know, but at any point did you feel it was going wrong?”

“No, but…”

“It’s our twin thing, Lye. You need to be totally in sync with the person you’re doing it with, which is why it’s so hard for other people. We usually are and we know when we’re not. If a Patronus from either of us would send those things packing, imagine what our combined Patronus would do.”

“I don’t know, I still don’t like it.”

“So what? You’re prepared to sit around doing nothing while our friends die?” The name of the girl she’d seen gasping for breath leapt to Lori’s mind. “I just saw Gwendolyn Whisp fighting for her life down in the Hufflepuff dormitories. She’s a half-blood, which means that everyone who’s ill could die at any moment.”

“I’m not sitting around doing nothing. Every Ravenclaw in Hogwarts — first years included,” he slapped himself on the chest, “is searching for some clue about what we can do…”

“We know what to do Lye. What we need to do is figure out the best way to do it.”

Lye pulled at his lower lip, immersed deep in his thoughts. His eyes betrayed how little he liked where they were taking him. There were no good choices, which meant all he could do was search for the least worst of the bad ones. Somewhere in her recounting of what she’d learnt, Lori had made up her mind. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop her, and the thought of losing her terrified him. He sipped at his cocoa, tasted the spices, felt the fear recede and a plan begin to form. It was a long way from being a good plan, but it optimised what few advantages they had.

-oOo-

Lori had expected to fight her brother over some aspects of the plan, but he wasn’t in Ravenclaw for nothing. Once he’d considered all the pros and cons, he could reason his every decision, even if he himself didn’t like what he’d decided. He’d agreed she was right, they needed to do something and they couldn’t turn to anyone else to do it for them.

The first step was getting to the Forbidden Forest, and there was no way they could come up with of getting past Hagrid on the covered bridge.

“The invisibility cloak may keep him from seeing you, but the moment you step into the mist there’ll be a you shaped hole in it, and Hagrid’s not daft, at least not that daft. The best bet will be to head down to the boat house.”

“The Fat Friar’s guarding that path.”

“So I’ll distract him and you sneak past wearing your cloak. Once you’re down by the lake’s edge, take the path that Hagrid showed us the first day we were here, remember it? I’ll head back through to the covered bridge and keep to the castle end of it so as not to get Hagrid too suspicious. Stay by the lake shore and when you’re close to the mist, uncover your hand and give me a wave. I’ll send my Patronus down to you, you can cast yours and, if you feel it’ll work, we can combine them. If not you back off and we think of something else.”

“Agreed. Watch for my wand movement,” Lori said. “You remember the incantation?”

“Of course. After they’re melded, you get the Patronus under control and head into the mist. By the time anyone figures out what’s going on it’ll be too late to stop you. I’ll then go and tell Professor Longbottom what you’re doing — I think you’re right, he’d try and stop you no matter what you told him, but if you’ve already gone then he’ll do everything in his power to go after you and rescue you.

“I don’t like that I can’t come with you, but we won’t both fit under that invisibility cloak of yours, and you’ll need someone to distract the Friar and tell Longbottom after you’re gone. Besides, if I’m lending you my Patronus, I’ll be a liability in there with you. Lori I…”

“I know.” She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. It felt natural and more than a little weird at the same time. “I know what you’re risking, and it makes you the bravest person I know. I mean the worst that can happen to me is that I die…”

“Don’t think like that.”

“I have no intention of doing so Lye. I’m just saying that I’m aware you’re taking a far greater risk than I am, which makes you the bravest person I know. I just want you to know that.”

An awkward silence followed.

“There’s one other thing,” he said.

“Hmm?”

“This box. Can I see it?”

Lori fished it out of her book bag and placed it on the table.

Lysander opened it and examined the crushed velvet cushion inside. It lifted in one corner.

“Give me your earrings,” he said.

“What?”

“Look, just do it. Didn’t you say we didn’t have much time?”

He tucked one of the earrings into the corner of the box, under the cushion and pocketed the other.

“You remember the magic on these things?”

“Oh, of course! You're a genius, Lye.”

“I know, but there’s more. Remember I told you there was more?”

Lori nodded.

“The guy offered to put a couple of one shot charms onto each of them for a couple of extra sickles. You didn’t have your invisibility cloak at the time, so I figured it would be worth it. Then there was the mist and stuff and I forgot to tell you until after McGonagall gave you back the cloak, then it didn’t seem so important.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“The earrings will give you five minutes of invisibility each. One shot deal, the magic fades afterwards. The pendant,” he pointed at Lori’s chest, “that’ll make you look like the person you imagine for, I think it was about half an hour. It has to be someone about your size and it’s only a cheap charm so I don’t know how well it’ll work.

“You activate a charm by holding the item you want to use and saying, ‘my brother is most assuredly the best.’ Sorry, it felt like a neat joke at the time. I don’t know if it’ll do you any good where you’re going, probably not, but you don't need the invisibility ‘cos you already have your cloak.”

“It’s something else to work with. Thanks Lye, you really are the best.”

“No, ‘My brother is most…’”

“I got it, Lye. I’m just saying, you really are the best.”

“We should go,” Lysander said, unable to hold his sister’s gaze.

Lori agreed and they headed for the entrance courtyard and the long winding staircase down to the boathouse.

The first part of the plan went without a hitch. Lysander had been thinking how to distract the Fat Friar and had a bunch of questions lined up regarding ghostly mists and what similarities they might have to the one surrounding the castle. Lori was able to sneak past without the Friar being any the wiser and made her way down the stairs as swiftly and silently as she could.

She reached the bottom of the staircase and looked back up. She could just make out the Friar standing alone at the top, which meant that her brother was already on his way to the covered bridge. She set off down the path following the bottom of the cliff. The castle’s magical barrier held the mist at bay a few hundred feet out into the lake, and the water beside her was still and flat, like black glass, adding to the eeriness of the scene.

She hurried on, not worried about making any noise. Before long the path widened into a scree filled valley and the going became a little harder. The valley had just started to rise when she reached the edge of the mist. She found the path that led up to Hagrid’s hut. From memory, the slope wasn’t too steep from here.

She looked up at the bridge and caught sight of a small figure with familiar blond hair standing at the castle end of the bridge. Hagrid’s bulk could just be seen a little over halfway across where the mist cut through it.

Lori turned to face her brother and raised the invisibility cloak to wave at him. He raised his own hand in response and prepared his wand. She did the same.

“Expecto patronum!” Lysander’s voice reached her clearly across the distance. She saw his phoenix descending towards her and, gauging her own response, cast her own spell, launching her unicorn across the lake just as the flaming bird soared over her head. She could feel Lye with her and swung her wand a second time.

“Unesco patronum!” she shouted, hearing her brother’s words echo her own a fraction of a second later. The two streaking white creatures merged and grew into the giant winged unicorn which began to spiral upwards. “Arresto patronum!” She cast the third spell and the giant turned her way and glided down to stand beside her.

She turned towards the mist feeling her courage swell with the immense Patronus by her side. It fanned its wings gently and the mist receded ahead of them as they climbed the slope.

“No!” She turned her head at the giant bellow from the bridge. Hagrid was staring down at her. “Lori, don’t do it!”

She glanced toward the far end of the bridge, but Lysander had already gone. This was not a time for turning back. She climbed the gentle rise towards the forest, the mist falling away ahead of her as she went.

-oOo-

It dawned on Lori that she hadn’t thought the plan all the way through. She’d been so focused on getting past Hagrid and the ghosts that she hadn’t really considered how much of an obstacle the forest itself presented. Now she was here, she recalled its size, how it had taken over fifteen minutes on the back of a fast moving unicorn to reach the centre. She couldn’t ride her Patronus, incorporeal as it was, and on foot the journey would take… well, hours, and there was no guarantee that she could make the Patronus last even a fraction of that time.

Worse was she didn’t know exactly where in the forest she was heading. She’d intended to instruct the Patronus to seek out the Bloodstone, but if it ran ahead in its search, there was no way she’d be able to keep up.

The gently undulating wings of the fiery, winged unicorn kept the mist at bay, but even so something of the oppressive feeling it carried leached through. She felt her breath coming with increasing effort as she made her way deeper into the trees, and as the canopy thickened and the light dimmed, she felt her courage fading, and with it the Patronus beside her began to lose its brilliance.

She caught sight of a movement, and for a terrified moment she felt certain the Dementors were moving in on her. In Morgana’s body she would have screamed and jumped out of her skin. As herself, she maintained control but barely. The Patronus beside her wavered but held.

She was deep enough into the forest now that she was not even certain of her way back. Fear began to grip her as her imagination took hold. Even though it was still late morning, winter in the Highlands meant it wouldn’t be too many hours before the sun would disappear behind the horizon. She saw herself, cold and miserable, sobbing at the foot of a tree. She saw the Dementors coming, in ones and two at first, then in greater numbers and with more boldness. They sucked all the joy out of the air and soon they would suck her dry.

One word stood out. Joy. She couldn’t maintain the spell without embracing joy. She dived after happy memory.

"Last and by no means least,” her father’s words sounded in her mind, “you have your family. Your brother, your mum and me. Remember today. Remember that we love you now and for always, no matter what. You weren't sure for a while there, but now you have evidence that you can take to Gringots. Whatever happens in the future, you need not worry what we feel for you, because it's the same as what you can see and feel right now. We love you no matter what. We're with you no matter what."

Tears sprang to her eyes as the sheer relief those words had brought coursed through her again. She watched as the spectral form beside her brightened.

Then waned again as she imagined her father pacing back an forth fretfully at home. Her mother sitting placidly and apparently distracted beside him, tranquil on the surface but with the same emotions twisting deep inside her.

She reached for another memory. Anneka’s bright smile and easy friendship. So many instances, but as soon as she brought any of them to the fore, the pale form of her friend lying unconscious in bed overlaid them, along with the desperate look in Gwendolyn’s face as she gasped for breath.

She thought of Lysander, of the many happy moments they’d shared, of his protectiveness towards her, which she realised had been there all her life, of his calm acceptance and encouragement that first day when she’d turned up wearing a skirt. But Lysander would be worried for her now. She imagined him hunting out Professor Longbottom, explaining what she was doing. She imagined the look of horror on the professor’s face and she felt all joy slipping from her.

Beside her the Patronus flickered like a faulty neon sign, a sight she remembered from a family excursion to a Muggle city some years back.

A sudden anger coursed through her. Why did happiness have to be the secret of the Patronus charm? It was such a fickle emotion. True, happy memories brought a lightness of spirit which made it easier to hope, but hope wasn’t a feeling so much as a choice. She reached for her hope with a fierce determination, chose to believe that she would succeed, embraced the moment in the future when this would all be over, when the mist would be gone and all her friends would be safe. There wasn’t much joy in the thought, but there was an iron determination.

Against the odds, her Patronus flared with an eye-watering brilliance. There was even a hint of colour to the flaming wings. A pulse fanned out from the apparition, pushing back the mist for a hundred yards in every direction. Enough of a clearing to show her the source of those half imagined movements.

By some instinct, she had come to the glade where she and Anneka had quite literally curried favour from two unicorn mares. Standing before her in all his glory was the giant stallion they had groomed in the heart of the forest. There was no mistaking him as no other unicorn she’d seen that night had come close to his size, which was almost a match for the winged Patronus.

Lori curtsied low and kept her head bowed until the creature’s horn touched her. In an instant her head was filled with images of the clearing in the centre of the forest, of an impossibly dense fog and of many of the unicorn foals lying terrified on the ground with their mothers standing over them, while Dementors swarmed and circled the clearing.

“Will you carry me into the forest?” she asked, looking up into the liquid brown eyes.

In answer, the immense beast knelt, reaching one foreleg out straight in front. It was still quite a daunting climb. Lori positioned herself beside the creature and a memory of her last time doing anything like this flashed through her mind. She paused.

“Will you permit my Patronus to lead the way?” she asked.

The unicorn bowed just a little lower.

“Thank you,” Lori said. “I shall ask Hagrid if I can come and give you another brushing down when this is all ended.” She climbed onto the creature’s back. Sense memory flooded through her and as she recalled her previous ride through the forest, her Patronus flared bright. “Wherever my Patronus leads, I would ask you to follow,” she said, then making sure her bag was secure and properly closed, and taking a fistful of main in her left hand, she took out her wand. “Patronum invenire sanguinum lapis,” she said, then held on with both hands and legs as her mount leapt after the rapidly charging silvery beast now disappearing deep into the forest.

The ride was far more terrifying than exhilarating. The Patronus’s incorporeal form, unhindered by such mundane matters as obstacles, charged ahead at breakneck speed. The mist cleared a few tens of yards ahead of them, giving them fractions of a second to avoid the trees and thickets that loomed ahead. The unicorn stallion was up to the task though, matching footfall for footfall with the Patronus and seemingly aware of the location of every tree and root in the forest even before it loomed into view out of the gathering gloom. As before, the foliage whipped past at an unimaginable pace. As before not one single branch came close enough to snag or slap at Lori. Despite the higher speed, the ride took longer and the trees around them grew denser and darker. Eventually, with her thighs and fists aching from holding on and with her heart hammering in her breast, the stallion skidded to a halt, reared once and stood still.

The Patronus had disappeared ahead and out of sight leaving Lori mounted in pitch darkness with not the least idea what to do next.

She reached for what courage remained to her and clambered down to the ground, which was hard and bare.

“Thank you once again,” she whispered to the unicorn. Before, she had been certain it had its own glow, but now she could see none of it. She cast felis sensorium on herself and her senses sharpened.

Immediately her hackles rose. She became aware of the presence of some unknown danger ahead. She still couldn’t see much, only the dimmest outline of the creature beside her and areas of deeper darkness she took to be trees. She could smell her companion — a sweet scent not unlike cinnamon — and a whole lot of decay from all around her.

More for what comfort it gave than for any real reason, she hid herself with her cloak, then, wand in hand, she advanced, leaving the gently nickering creature behind. As she advanced, she became gradually aware of the diminishing gloom. Ahead of her she could see a light, growing in intensity as she rounded trees. She could see the ground now, bare and compacted between giant roots, wrestling one another in a macabre, frozen battle.

She stepped over and around the trees and advanced further until the source of light lay revealed ahead of her. Her Patronus stood still in the middle of a clearing. Beneath its giant legs, lay the Bloodstone, lurid green to Lori’s cat eyes, and beside it a cauldron, crusted with the dried remains of its contents. Above the clearing, the tree canopy reached across, blotting out whatever stars might have shone through had the mist not been so thick, and swirling about it all, Dementors in their dozens formed a vortex, intertwining in their agitation. Held at bay momentarily by the brilliance of the immense beast in their midst.

There was no time to think. Lori reached into her bag and pulled out the stone box. Acting on instinct, she ran for the stone, focusing all her will on reaching it.

The Dementors sensed her, undeterred by her invisibility cloak and descended on her en mass. The Patronus prevented them from approaching too close, but with each pass they turned their gaping maws in her direction and, even from a distance they managed to draw something from her. By small degrees she felt her essence draining from her, her strength being sapped away. She was barely halfway across the clearing when her legs gave way and she fell first to her knees, then to all fours. A few yards further and she had collapsed to her belly, still crawling but more slowly now, dragging herself forward with all that remained of her will as her strength faded to nothing.

The stone in front of her swam in and out of focus. It was too far. She forced herself to press on, knowing all the while it was hopeless. Despair fell on her in crashing waves. For every inch gained she lost half her speed. She cried out in anguish, her Patronus flickering and threatening to collapse into nothing.

From somewhere behind her, she heard a neighing and the sound of galloping hooves. She turned enough to see the great unicorn charging into the fray. Lori felt the Dementors leave her, turn their attention to the noble animal. She saw them descend on it ravenous, tearing into its soul. She watched helplessly as it reared, screamed and fell.

The instant the Dementors had turned from her, she’d felt strength flood back into her. She couldn’t waste the sacrifice, she wouldn’t. With limbs fully back under her control and a renewed determination, she scrambled to her feet and covered the remaining distance to the Bloodstone in a stumbling run. Grabbing the stone with her free hand, she rammed it into the stone box and pulled the lid closed.

Nothing happened. The mist was still as thick, the Dementors still as numerous. Her sudden movement had distracted them from their feeding frenzy and they rose above the still form of the unicorn and turned their empty cowels in her direction. The faltering brilliance of her Patronus slowed them, but they were too many, they would reach her soon. This was the end, but at least she’d stopped the mist. Anneka would recover now, that was all that mattered.

Her Patronus snorted and stamped its feet as though it expected something of her. There remained that last spell she'd learned but never cast, and if this wasn’t a last resort… She reached for all her happiest memories, unsurprised to find Anneka in so many of them. The most powerful were of her father, as was only right for any daughter, but the sweetest were of her friend. She wrapped herself in the love she knew surrounded her and lifted her wand one last time.

“Patronum maximus.”

-oOo-

She awoke to find herself in the infirmary. Professor McGonagall sat on her bed cleaning her glasses furiously and muttering under her breath.

“Who’s stupid, professor?” she asked, more than half convinced this was a dream.

“Oh my word! Madam Pomfrey, she’s awake. Lori, you’ve had us so worried.”

“Where is everybody? I thought the infirmary was full.”

“It was until about a week ago. Where did you get this book?” She brandished You and Your Patronus in front of Lori’s nose.

“The Room of Requirement. It gave me another book as well, a journal.”

“That one I’m inclined to let you keep, but this, this is too dangerous.”

“What happened professor? You were ill.”

“I rather feel you know considerably more on the matter than I young lady, and if I weren’t so concerned for your well-being right now, I’d be asking you that exact question. Whatever were you thinking, going into the Forbidden Forest alone?”

She was saved from having to respond to the admonition by the arrival of Madam Pomfrey who put the back of one hand against Lori’s forehead and lifted her wrist with the other.

“She needs to rest, Minerva,” the ageing nurse said. “You’ll have to save your scolding for later.”

“Madam Pomfrey, please,” Lori said, “I need to know what happened. I won’t be able to rest until I do.”

The Healer gave an exasperated sigh. “Five minutes, not a second more.” She turned and fussed with the curtains, drawing them around Lori’s bed to give them some privacy.

“Well Lori, as I’m sure you’re aware, I was indisposed at the time. You’ll receive a far better explanation from someone who was actually involved such as Professor Longbottom or your brother, but since neither of them are here at present, you’ll have to make do with my second hand description.

“As I understand it, Lysander went to Professor Longbottom with the news that you had gone into the forest alone — something which, incidentally, I recall instructing you expressly not to do.”

“I’m sorry professor, I didn’t feel like I had a choice.”

“Well, let that be a discussion for another day when you’re a little stronger.

“In any case, the professor rounded up as many faculty members as he could, as well as a group of older students who’d mastered the Patronus charm, and they approached the forest together. They crossed the covered bridge, sending a constant stream of Patronuses ahead of them, then just as they reached the edge of the forest, they experienced what they describe as ‘an explosion of light rushing out of the forest.’ Apparently it, er, ‘washed over the entire castle grounds and dispelled the mist completely.’

“Hagrid who is, I will admit, wise in such matters, was able to take a bearing from the event and went charging into the forest. Lysander and Professor Mugglewump, it may surprise you to know, ran after him, however the rest of the group took a while longer to adapt to what they had experienced and were about to enter the forest themselves when Minister Shacklebolt and several ministry aurors caught sight of them and flew down to demand what was going on.

“Professor Flitwick was good enough to intercept the minister and his entourage, allowing Professor Longbottom and the majority of his search party to disappear into the forest.

“About an hour later, the search party encountered Hagrid, Lysander and Professor Mugglewump returning. Hagrid was carrying your unconscious body and the professor held the stone casket with the Bloodstone inside. The party then exited from the forest by the quickest route possible, emerging to find, so I am told, Minister Shacklebolt still engaged in a heated discussion with the Professor Flitwick.

“On returning to the castle, the group found that some of the ailing students had already regained consciousness. I was one of the first to return to my senses, somewhat unfortunately as it meant I was required to take over from Professor Flitwick in dealing with the minister.

“It has been a week since then and you’ve been unconscious all this time. You’ve had a constant stream of people sitting by your bed. Your brother I suppose goes without saying, Hortensia and Morgana, most of the teaching staff have taken their turn. Your parents came as soon as the grounds were declared clear of threat and they have been by your side almost constantly. They would be here now if I hadn’t insisted they take some rest and promised I’d tell them the moment you woke.

“What happened to the unicorn professor?” Lori asked.

“I’m sorry Lori. We did find the remains of a unicorn, but we thought it had just been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’ve not known Dementors to feast off anything but humans before now, but they didn’t leave much of it. Hagrid went back the following day to collect the body and return it to the herd.”

Hot tears sprang from Lori’s eyes and flooded her cheeks. “He sacrificed himself for me.”

The professor let her hand rest on Lori’s shoulders until the tears subsided. “I doubt he’d have done so for any but the noblest of acts. Hagrid almost didn’t find you, wrapped in your cloak as you were with the stone back in its casket clutched tightly in your arms. You can thank Lysander for that. His twin sense, I believe he said, led him straight to you. Mind you, if the unicorn was anything to go by, it’s a wonder you’re still alive.”

“Patronum maximus,” Lori said weakly.

“Yes, I guessed as much after reading through this book. It saved your life, Lori, dispersed both the mist and the Dementors, but it will have consequences. We’ll talk about those later though. Madam Pomfrey is giving me a certain look that tells me I’m no longer welcome.”

“But everyone’s all right now professor? Anneka’s all right?”

“Yes Lori. With the mist gone we’ve been able to bring in more experienced Healers from St Mungo’s who were able to devise a means of drawing out the substance that was affecting their breathing. I do wish we knew more about it though.”

“Mors Mundani,” Lori said without thinking.

McGonagall froze on the spot and turned back to her student. The intensity in her eyes was more powerful than any vertiaserum, not that Lori felt much like holding back what she knew. When she thought of what Raphael had brought to Hogwarts…

“Mors Mundani is one of the rituals in the Regnum Caligo, the grimoire written by Ekrizdis. It draws a mist out of the Bloodstone that attacks anyone of less than half magical heritage making it so they can’t breathe.”

“And how on Earth would you know that?” McGonagall’s face held the severest expression Lori had yet seen.

“Professor McGonagall,” Madam Pomfrey interrupted. “I really must insist…” She stopped at McGonagall’s raised hand.

“Raphael told me. You know I used the polyjuice potion Anni gave me for Christmas to become like Morgana Melrose. I did it because I’d heard he fancied her. He told me quite a lot.”

“Such as?”

“His dad belongs to something called the Order of Purity. It was founded by whoever took the grimoire from Azkaban and its members have been waiting for an opportunity to get their hands on the Bloodstone so they could do something like this ever since.”

McGonagall spun on her heels and marched out of the infirmary without another word. Some minutes later, two burly wizards appeared at the entrance to the infirmary and made a nuisance of themselves with anyone coming in or out. This included Anneka, who Lori could hear and desperately wanted to talk to, but who was turned away regardless.

Lori tried protesting to Madam Pomfrey, but to know avail.

“I’m sorry Lori, those men are Ministry Aurors requested specifically by Professor McGonagall. It was also the headmistress who insisted that no visitors should be allowed unless accompanied by her.”

“But it’s Anneka…”

“You’re not the only one who can use polyjuice potion, young lady.”

That gave her a moment’s pause, but only a moment.

“How do we know the aurors are who they say they are?”

“There was an incident at the school a few years ago when an auror was held prisoner while his captor used polyjuice potion to impersonate him. Since then the Ministry has come up with a means of verifying their personnel.”

“And you?”

Madam Pomfrey bit back a smile. “Professor McGonagal and I have known one another for a very long time. I doubt anyone pretending to be either one of us would be able to fool the other. Besides, I’ve been here since before you were brought in.”

“And I’ve been here a whole week?”

“Yes. Now no more talking. You need to rest.”

“But I’ve been asleep for a whole week!”

“Unconscious, and that means you have a lot of mending to do. If you don’t feel like sleeping you could always read.” She picked up the tattier of the two books Lori had acquired in the Room of Requirement and offered it to her patient.

It seemed the better of the two options. Lori took the book and opened it.