Chapter 59 – Bad News
"How's it going?" I asked, sitting down next to Quincy in our common room, bringing up food from the Great Hall and placing it on the table before us.
I just sat down when I heard the door open and knew it was Draco wandering in... of course, he was following me all this time. The moment we split up, Quincy remaining here and I leaving, he chose to go after me. The slight panic on his face was still hilarious. In the past few days, we were doing the same thing repeatedly, shaking him off quickly like this. I wish we could have recorded it and shown it to his Father, like when we spent Christmas directly in the Room of Requirements, hiding there for two days straight.
"I managed to finish one!" She chuckled, presenting me a parchment, ignoring Draco, who was sitting down close by, eavesdropping. "I think the Professor will love it!"
"I bet! This is why books are awesome~!" I grinned, reading the ancient recipe Quincy was assembling, ready for submission. We were speaking in a way to make sure Draco doesn't learn anything important, and if he reports that we are planning to butter up to Slughorn...? So be it. "What do you think? Can you make it?" I asked curiously, but Quincy quickly shook her head.
"No chance. This one is way too advanced; to brew it, you need decades of experience... It takes a year to complete it!"
"Damn..."
I would totally forget what step I was at if a potion took a year to make. No wonder it was only something true potion masters would attempt... well, that is an ancient recipe for you! Reading the description, it was a drink that, when consumed, would turn the wizard or witch immune to fire. Not permanently, but depending on the quality of the finished product, they could ignore it for a few minutes, right up to multiple hours! Drinking it would let people swim in lava if the description was correct. I wouldn't try, but damn...
"What about you?" She asked, munching on the dinner, leaning back, and placing her legs into my lap while I massaged them.
"All good!" I nodded happily, "I perfected the new spell! I can cast it now; I just don't know if it's effective as... trying it out for real is too dangerous."
"That it is!"
We were, of course, talking about the killing curse. I studied it intensely before trying it out on a puppet, not on a living being. The light that came out of my wand, hitting the target, was bright green, illuminating the Room of Requirments, turning everything to jade in color. It was... weird. I already told it to Quincy, but using the spell placed you into a strange state of mind. When I started to utter the curse in my head, I felt my mind calm down and became clear and cold. I knew exactly what was going to happen, and that coldness traveled through my body, coming out from the tip of my wand and rushing forward at lightning speed. In that brief moment, I felt no emotions, and nothing really mattered... everything was empty and pointless. It only lasted for a brief moment, but still... it was weird. Uncomfortable. I felt... frigid.