Infinity and Magic

The next few days had been unsurprisingly hard for Anos and his friends.

Of course their House had no points to be deducted so the other Houses knew little and less about what had happened except that some of them were caught roaming around the Astronomy Tower and had gotten into a fight.

In a surprising show of thanks Ron Weasley had said some words to Simon at the lunch table the next day and the Weasley Twins had promised that they’ll try to make detention more ‘fun’, what exactly they meant by fun they did not say.

Cedric had been informed of course and had been asked to give all of them a talking to for their actions and to have more control and awareness of where they were.

The words were quite flowery from what Anos could gather but then again it meant Cedric was a tad confused, they had to stop his “Talk” two times to explain that there was no fully grown dragon involved and Peeves stealing away with Professor Quirrell’s suitcase was not related to their case in any way. The rumors in the school went as high as the Astronomy Tower at times.

Cedric had tried his best though, to explain to them the whys and hows of the situation and had been relegated to informing them that they’ll be joining Hagrid in some task at the end of the month. He had then tried to say that it was a rather alright outcome but had stopped and then gone on a tirade about informing them that any future actions wouldn’t be as lenient.

Anos had just sighed and held his head in his hands, he almost wished to return to the Room of Requirement just to vent away his frustrations at the situation but that wouldn’t do after he had just promised to not go sneaking around the castle and Alucard had just begun to talk to him again.

So the next few days of April passed by in a slow drought, they did their extra tasks and detention just like they were supposed to when everyone else in their class went outside to do nothing at all.

Alucard had joked that he couldn’t even notice a difference; he already had no idea what their classmates were doing outside in the blistering sun, and after Hermione, Lan and Draco had tried to join them or not go outside as well for a time it really had felt like nothing had changed. Though Lan did ask if he could be allowed to nap an hour in the sun, which they had all agreed to with a laugh and a smile.

They spent their days sitting by this teacher or the other’s desk, writing on parchment about this or that. Sometimes they were supervised by one of the ghosts and that was more boring than being dead, even if they didn’t say as much to the Bloody Baron.

It was on a particularly tiring evening while doing detention that the Weasley Twins made good on their promise.

Anos had no idea how they had gotten that giant apple or how it had turned into jelly, all he knew was that it had gotten them out of dying from boredom and made his friends laugh for hours on end while the Weasley Twins valiantly took up cleaning duty.

It was the assigned duties with his father that scared Anos the most, even if the rest of his friends tried to cheer him up.

He would sit insistently in class or in detention working his best in the art of Potions, something he had been taught since he could grab a handful of goat hair to dump into boiling water without injuring himself, but nothing was as perfect as it could be.

Sometimes he grinded something too fine, sometimes he chipped a piece off the outer colored layer from the pestle with his strength.

It was infuriating even though he was sure no one else had noticed, he would still do his best, learn from what he did wrong, sit in class and nod his head at the right time but Potions was supposed to be perfect for him, something he excelled in.

He certainly didn’t feel like he was excelling or being perfect in class now.

He helped his friends remember ingredients, their causes, even excerpts from history that might get them a better score in the exams when he was particularly frustrated. Simon repeatedly said that he was likely to get second in Potion making nowadays while Alucard would be third just because he did not study with Anos, it never failed to make Alucard smile.

Anos guessed that if he wasn’t perfect for now he could try to at least be helpful as he waited for that walk into the Forbidden Forest.

Hardest and most infuriating were the actions or lack thereof from his father, sure he got chewed out for his mistakes, got told to do this section from the parchment again because the ink had been too smudged or something but his dad spoke little else to him. It was Professor Snape in class more times than it was his dad.

He had only gotten one word answers from his dad and a stubborn part of him didn’t want to be the one to talk anymore but that would’ve been stupid. He had made a mistake, his dad was right to be angry even if he was a lot more sullen about it than what Anos would’ve liked.

It seemed the closer the day of their walk in the forest got the closer he and his dad got to snapping at each other, Anos might’ve even liked that at least he knew if the words were out he would know why his dad was so worried but Professor Snape didn’t snap at him or rage, he only efficiently pointed out mistakes and provided guidance wherever it was necessary.

On the last day of detention, just two days before they were supposed to go with Hagrid, he had been the last one to leave the Potion classroom; Anos had been working on improving his draughts and had been allowed to work later than the others since it was the last day of the class and Professor Snape had agreed to sit and watch while grading some essays of course.

Once in a while he had asked for help and was told what to do and in one case shown when he couldn’t replicate the exact technique required but otherwise the classroom had been quiet except for the sound of a bubbling cauldron and the smell of figs and damp walls was what was in the air the most.

When Anos was done he had asked to get his work appraised, god told what to do better and had noted it down after asking permission from Professor Snape.

It was only when he was leaving the class that his dad spoke.

“When you go with Hagrid into the forest, stick close to him and his dog. I want no complaints about you wandering off or fighting for your friends, you will have a half giant with you, I don’t want any excuses.” He had said as Anos was at the door of the class.

Anos smiled in turn and nodded before speaking.

“Sure, but I might have to help Fang.” 

“Who is Fang?” His dad had asked as if the word was foreign to his tongue.

“Hagrid’s dog.” Anos had replied and seeing his father tethering at the edge of a smile almost took away all the tiredness from him.

“Go on.” His dad had said with a nod and what must’ve been the saddest smile Anos had ever seen from him and Anos left the class feeling somewhere between dead tired and considerably happier than he had been for days.

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