Capítulo 124: Chapter 124: Master of Fire (3)
Recalling the events that followed, Catherine struggled to comprehend how she had managed to traverse the distance from Dumbledore's office to the left corridor of the seventh floor. Her headache had returned, leaving her dizzy and disoriented. Consequently, she took two wrong turns, prolonging her journey significantly. Aware that it was well past curfew, the young witch navigated the corridors, anxiously eyeing every shadow that might have been Filch, Mrs Norris, or worse – Carter Thorne.
When the fourth-year finally stopped in front of the infamous tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet, she saw no one around. Growling with annoyance, Catherine dropped her school bag to the floor and settled beside it, disregarding her discomfort caused by the cold, unforgiving stone tiles. She was utterly drained and in dire need for a moment of rest.
"Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting for you?!" – Sirius snapped, suddenly appearing alongside Peter and James, who proceeded to diligently fold his invisibility cloak.
"No." – the young witch replied curtly.
"Well… a lot!" – the boy said, but then he quickly squatted next to his friend, studying her face with concern – "Are you feeling ill? How did the lesson go?"
"It went fine. I actually managed to open myself to true fire, but it was incredibly exhausting. Now I feel like I've been running for hours, and on top of that, I'm dizzy and my head hurts."
"At least you're not throwing up!" – James tried to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I've already done that right in front of Dumbledore." – the young witch admitted, embarrassed.
"I'm sure he's seen worse." – Sirius remarked, gently helping Catherine to her feet – "Do you think you can walk? I mean, it's not that I can't carry you, but I know you're not keen on being handled like a ragdoll."
"I'm fine, thanks for being so considered." – the black-haired girl replied with a smirk, although she was impressed by how closely Sirius had paid attention to her wishes, despite not always adhering to them.
"Let's check out that Room of Requirement already!" – James suggested eagerly, peering at a piece of parchment that was likely the map.
"According to the Gray Lady, we need to pass through here three times while thinking about what we need before the door appears." – Catherine said contemplatively – "I suppose we can agree on a place where we can brew the Animagi Potion without being found by anyone?"
"Sounds good!" – James nodded and the four students slowly walked past the tapestry three times in deep concentration.
"Look at that!" – gasped Peter as a small wooden door appeared on the wall opposite the tapestry. The Gryffindors wasted no time and entered into a spacious, dimly lit room with a crackling fireplace in one corner. Its fire cast flickering shadows on the bare walls. The chamber was filled with wooden tables and shelves laden with an array of glass vials, herbs, and basic potion ingredients neatly labelled and organised. A collection of leather-bound volumes stood at a small bookcase beside a cupboard stocked with all sorts of tools: cauldrons, scales, phials, mortars and pestles, and knives made from various materials.
"It's perfect!" – Catherine exclaimed with a happy smile – "I can't believe such a place exists and most people don't even suspect it!"
"And it's better if it stays that way." – Sirius remarked, checking every corner of the premise – "We can already bring the ingredients we have and prepare everything for the brewing the potion."
"We're just missing the phoenix feather and the Mandrake's leaves before we can start, right?" – asked James.
"Yes." – the girl confirmed, examining the ingredients the room had prepared for them – "The Mandrake leaves are to be added last because we have to keep them in our mouths for a month first, and we also need to check if Professor Sprout has matured plants available."
"What about the phoenix?" – Sirius inquired – "I remember you said you had a plan?"
"Dumbledore has a phoenix. We just have to lure him out of his office during one of my lessons with him. You know the drill!" – the young witch said, a mischievous grin playing on her lips.
"I'm shocked you're planning on plucking the Headmaster's familiar!" – Sirius exclaimed dramatically – "If I didn't knew better, I'd think you were a Slytherin, Miss Plantier!"
"Didn't you and James do the same thing to Hagrid to get the Thestral hair?" – Catherine retorted with a smirk – "You can't blame me for taking a page out of your book!"
"Not exactly. I didn't need to give the Thestral a haircut! I just grabbed the hair from Hagrid's hut and ran away." – James chuckled – "But seriously, isn't it dangerous to just approach a phoenix like that? I'd imagine it wouldn't take kindly to having its feathers plucked."
"Yeah, that's why you first offer a magical stone as a tribute." – the girl explained, trying to suppress her unease about the task ahead – "Don't worry. Even if something goes wrong, the phoenix fire won't hurt me. At least not as much as it would a normal person."
"And you think that's reassuring?" – Sirius asked in disbelief – "It sounds far more dangerous than what James and I did, and you were mad at us for a week!"
"I'll be fine." – the witch attempted to comfort her friends, as well as herself – "In any case, we don't have much of a choice here. I can't think of any other way to acquire this ingredient. Can you?"
The silence that followed confirmed her assumption. Taking a deep breath, she headed towards the door, already creating a mental checklist of all the steps for preparing the potion which she already knew by heart.
"Wait!" – James halted her – "It's past curfew. Since we can't all fit under the invisibility cloak, maybe three of us should go now, and I'll return to pick up the one who stays behind."
"That sounds complicated." – Catherine complained – "Didn't we create the map so we could move around freely? Let's use it!"
"Well, there's a bit of a flaw we didn't foresee." – Sirius sighed gloomily.
"What flaw? I thought it was working fine!" – the girl asked, unpleasantly surprised.
"We can see if someone's in a certain place or moving towards us, but we don't know who." – James explained irritably – "We almost hexed Peter because he arrived earlier than expected, and we didn't know the dot was him!"
"Nora had to return to the Common Room. She didn't want to get caught after curfew." – the short wizard explained sulkily – "I practically ruined our date because of being distracted by constantly checking the time."
"Aww, poor Peter!" – James chuckled – "That's what you get for dating a third-year. They go to bed early!"
"Are you talking about Nora Dawson?" – Catherine asked, amused by Peter's flushed face.
"Yes, but if you must know, she's much more mature than even the fifth-years!" – the boy fiercely defended his girlfriend.
"Hey, you're the one dating her, not me! You don't owe me any explanations." – the girl smirked, while James and Sirius were giggling – "Stop that, you two! At least he'll have someone to bring to the Halloween Ball! We'll see who's laughing then!"
"I can have a date for the Ball if I want one!" – Sirius boasted, his laughter fading.
"Sure you can." – Catherine replied condescendingly, relishing in teasing her friend. Deep down, she knew he was right, but sometimes his arrogance needed a not-so-gentle knockdown.
Eventually, the group decided that James, Peter and Catherine would go first under the cover of the invisibility cloak, with James returning later for Sirius, who would wait inside the Room of Requirement.
"Seriously, Flame, do you think we can upgrade the map to also show people's names?" – James whispered as they were walking towards the Gryffindor Tower.
"That would be fantastic!" – Peter chimed in – "We could also mark the Room of Requirement on it while we're at it!"
"I think it's safer to leave that out for now." – Catherine mused, fighting off another wave of dizziness – "Especially while we're brewing the potion. It's a security measure in case the map falls into the wrong hands. As for showing names, I'm not sure how feasible it is or how we could achieve it."
"I was thinking we could modify a Human-presence-revealing Spell." – James persisted – "This way, we can ensure the map will never lie and reveal the true identity of a person, even if they're disguised or transformed magically! I'll look for information in the Library to get us started."
"Sure." – the girl replied half-heartedly.
'I need to find a way to stop them from applying such a spell on the map! If it works, the first thing they'll see is my real name… How will I explain that?! Like I don't have enough problems…" – the girl thought wearily, as she and Peter slipped through the hole behind the portrait of the Fat Lady, while the still-invisible James went back to fetch Sirius.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder