Next day:

I woke up early this morning, and started reading the instructions on the Obliviated Memories potion. It seemed so complicated that my brain hurt just trying to comprehend it - and it takes 21 days to brew! I need to start it as soon as possible.

I got up early so I could go for a quick walk before breakfast. Antonius, Jared, Anita and some others were down in the common room already. I told Antonius I was going for a pre-breakfast walk, and asked if he'd like to accompany me.

He did.

"By the way, why were you studying in the potions classroom last night?"Antonius asked me, as we went out into the castle grounds.

I wondered for a moment if I should mention anything about my potion-brewing, but decided against it. I couldn't tell Antonius about the Foxhole Chamber even if I wanted to, and I had no desire to show him. I decided to keep all of that secret.

"You know I'm really bad at potions,"I said,"I need to get better somehow. I need to put in more effort. In just a few months, I'll be beginning my last year at Hogwarts."

"Maybe you should have tried to put in more time to study before?"Antonius said.

"I did try,"I responded,"but I feel like I'm just starting to get the hang of it now. I'm a slow learner, that's all."

"Not many people are willing to admit that,"Antonius said.

I remembered how Antonius had called me 'unintelligent' all those months ago, and the argument we'd had.

How on earth had we managed to get from there to here? Oh yeah - Silas Warren's gang. It took an earthquake.

"Remember that time you called me stupid and insulted my entire family?"I said.

Antonius laughed,"do you forgive me for that?"

"Do you want me to forgive you?"I asked.

"I am sorry for calling you stupid, Catherine, and I am very sorry for insulting your entire family,"Antonius said,"do you accept my apology?"

"Yes,"I answered,"but I don't accept your opinions!"

"Oh, well, then I won't bother to argue with you about any of that,"Antonius said,"I need someone to be on an equal academic level to be able to engage in such discussions."

I gasped,"whatever happened to you being sorry?"

"I'm sorry for offending you, Catherine. I'm not sorry for being honest,"Antonius went on.

"In that case,"I said, deciding to brush over the fact that he had just inadvertently called me stupid again,"I shouldn't need to worry about being honest with you."

"Oh, please, do,"Antonius said,"tell me exactly what you think of me when you're thinking it."

"No matter how harsh?"I said.

"Of course,"Antonius said.

"There's one thing I didn't say to you when I was arguing with you last time,"I said.

"You're not planning on arguing with me again, are you?"Antonius said,"just after we've agreed to disagree?"

"Not exactly,"I said,"the thing I wanted to say was that, if you think it's important to preserve Pureblood lineage and all that, then that's alright, I can respect that; but what I don't like is the idea of telling people who they can and can't marry. Taking away their choice. If two people love each other and they don't have matching blood-status, then people shouldn't be stopping them. That's their thing. It's no one else's business."

"I never said I agreed with stopping people do that,"Antonius said,"I just believe it's important to preserve our traditions."

"So you don't believe in forcing it on others?"I asked.

"Of course not,"Antonius responded.

"In that case,"I replied,"I respect that. Blood-status doesn't matter to me, but if it matters to you, and it's something you only apply to yourself and don't try to impose it on other people, then I accept that."

"I don't try to impose it on other people,"Antonius said,"but it I can persuade people, I will "

"What do you mean 'persuade'?"I asked.

"I mean, if I can talk to people and get them to realise,"Antonius answered,"not forcing it on them, of course."

"Then - that's alright,"I said.

"What did you think before?"Antonius asked.

"I've always thought that people with your ideas want to force everyone to be like you, and change the laws so that everyone has to comply with those ideogolies,"I said.

"Well, that's not always the case,"Antonius said, then he added,"breakfast will be starting now. We should head back."

I was glad to end the discussion here. I'd started to worry that over time, I would discover more things about Antonius that I didn't like, and I didn't want that. Even though finding out more about each other is actually the most rational thing to do. I haven't been feeling very rational, when it comes to Antonius, since the May Festival.

At breakfast, I ended up sitting in-between Antonius and Dominic. I looked around for Anita - usually she always tries to sit next to me at breakfast every morning. I noticed her sitting far away from me, with all the other 1st years. She didn't sit next to me yesterday, either. She's still mad at me for some reason. Surely she couldn't have such a grudge over a game of chess?

Later:

I decided to talk to Anita, and I found out why she's been so grumpy at me.

"You've started acting all different,"she said.

"What do you mean 'all different'?"I asked.

"Well,"Anita answered, rolling her eyes and nodding her head in the direction of Antonius.

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"You mean because of Antonius and I spending time together?"I asked.

Anita gave a frustrated sigh,"not that,"she said,"just you seem to be turning into a grown-up and it seems like you don't want to do fun things any more. I asked you if you wanted to go to the treehouse, and you were like 'got other things to do', and you didn't want to do duelling practise either."

"Oh - that!"I said,"of course I still want to do fun things! The reason I couldn't go to the treehouse that time was because I had a lot of important things to do."

"What kind of important things?"Anita asked, in a sulky tone.

"Studying,"I said,"there's an important potion I need to work out how to brew."

"As long as it's not a love potion!"Anita said.

"No! Of course not!"I said,"anyway, Anita, you really do need to start making some friends closer to your own age!"

"Friends! I don't need friends,"Anita said.

"Go and ask Lotty if she would like to go to the treehouse with you,"I suggested,"I'm sure she would."

"No,"Anita replied,"she's always hanging out with that girl now, anyway."

"What girl?"I asked.

"Julia, I think her name is,"Anita said,"whenever I go to ask her anything, she's always talking to that girl, and I can't risk HER finding out about our secret tree castle."

I was pleased to hear Lotty and Julia seem to be becoming friends again.

"I've seen both of them talking to this other Gryffindor boy too,"Anita said,"the one that keeps bullying Dominic."

"And who is that?"I asked.

"I heard them call him 'Max',"Anita answered,"he's a lot older than they are, so I don't know why he's hanging out with them. He's in your Year."

"Have you been spying on Lotty?"I asked.

"Yes,"Anita responded,"you know. Need to know what she's up to, in case she decides to turn traitor in the war."

"Anita!"I said, shocked,"of course you know Lotty isn't going to do any such thing! That boy, Max, and her friend, Julia, are not enemies!"

"Well, they look like enemies to me,"Anita said.

"I have to go now, anyway,"I said,"if you're bored, why don't you try finding out more about that golden ball? Try solving that riddle."

"You're the one that made me promise not to sneak into the Hufflepuff common room!"Anita responded.

"I don't mean that!"I said,"there's bound to be another way for you to find out about the picture in there. Anyway, I need to go! Talk to you later!"

In-between classes, I managed to talk to Priscilla about potion brewing. I told her I had a particularly difficult potion to brew and mentioned that I needed to find a safe place to keep it brewing where it couldn't be disturbed.

"What kind of potion is it?"she asked.

I decided to tell her.

"Why would you need a potion like that?"she asked.

"I'm not sure if I need it,"I answered,"but I do suspect that someone might have obliviated some of my memories, and if I can brew that potion, I'll know for sure."

"I see,"Priscilla replied,"I've never heard of this potion before. How do you know it?"

"It's kind of a secret,"I said,"but I can tell you how it's brewed, so you'll know how to brew it too."

"You haven't been in the Restricted Section of the library, have you?"Priscilla asked.

"Maybe something like that,"I answered.

"If you've found a book on secret potions, you'd let me know, wouldn't you?"Priscilla went on.

"I'd tell you if I could,"I said.

Priscilla looked at me suspiciously.

"Anyway, if there's a particular type of potion that you'd like to know about, you can always ask me,"I said.

Priscilla continued to look at me suspiciously.

Then she said,"how long does it take for the potion to brew?"

"21 days,"I responded, with a sigh,"and I'd really like to start brewing it as soon as possible. If I can start brewing it today, it should be finished before the middle of June."

"I know the perfect place,"said Priscilla,"do you have all the ingredients for it?"

I nodded.

"Follow me,"Priscilla instructed.

I followed her up in the direction of the Astronomy Tower.

"Where are we going?"I asked.

"Soon you'll see,"she responded, mysteriously.

I followed her up stairs and through hallways, until she suddenly stopped in one of the halls and faced the wall.

"Just wait here,"she said,"and think about what you need."

Just as I was thinking, all of a sudden, a door materialised in the wall. I looked at Priscilla in surprise.

"Well, go on then!"Priscilla said.

I opened the door and went in.

"Is this - is this the Room of Requirement?"I asked.

"It certainly is,"Priscilla answered.

"But I thought it was destroyed by Fiend Fyre in the Battle of Hogwarts?"I said.

"It may have been, but it isn't now,"Priscilla said.

"How long have you known about this place?"I asked.

"I discovered it two years ago,"Priscilla said,"like you - I thought it no longer existed."

This place was a perfect potions laboratory! There were cauldrons of varying shapes and sizes, made from different types of materials. There were all kinds of utensils, and even potion books. The types of potion books you'd usually find lying around Professor Park's classroom. I even found an exact copy of the book on Potion Preparation Methods that I'd been reading.

"Is this your potions room?"I asked Priscilla.

"No, this is your version,"Priscilla answered,"I didn't think of anything. I do have my own version of a Potions Laboratory, but this is the one that you thought of. It's your one and you can keep coming back to it, every time you think of it - here - only you, and anyone you bring with you, will be able to access it in this form."

"What about the Room of Hidden Things?"I asked.

"I've tried getting into that,"Priscilla answered,"but I think that version of the room was destroyed by the Fiend Fyre. At least - I've never been able to get into it."

I got out the potion ingredients and the page with the potion instructions.

"What is this?"Priscilla asked, looking at the runes on the paper.

"Oh - that's just my code,"I answered,"you won't be able to read it."

"It's a good code,"Priscilla said,"just looks like scribbles to me."

I placed all of the ingredients onto the table before me. I read out the steps to Priscilla. She seemed to understand them a lot better than I did. She helped me with the initial part of the proceedure. The base, the first ingredients that needed to be added.

"What that means,"she explained one of the instructions that I found confusing,"is that you have to crush those two potion ingredients together in the same mortar, so they get a good chance to blend together into a fine powder; you're supposed to lightly singe the powder before you add it to the cauldron."

She demonstrated how to do it, then shook the powder into the cauldron.

"Look - you can see the potion has turned black,"she said,"that's exactly how it's supposed to look at this point, according to the instructions. Now you can just stir it clockwise and anticlockwise for a few minutes."

"But, I can't stir it clockwise and anticlockwise at the same time, can I?"I asked.

That was something that had been confusing me. Did I need to stir it two ways with two stirring spoons? Or was it one after the other?

"Watch me,"Priscilla said.

She stirred the potion in a clockwise motion 3 full turns, then she stirred it 3 full turns in an anticlockwise motion.

"Keep doing this until the potion turns navy blue,"Priscilla said,"then you leave it to bubble and boil until it says the dark blue smoke starts coming out of it - that's when you add the next ingredient. Which I'll prepare while you stir."

So I copied what Priscilla had done until it turned a rich navy blue colour. I left it to boil away by itself and watched how Priscilla wove three Jobberknoll feathers into a perfect circle, with some aid from her wand.

"Can you do that?"I asked,"use your wand too?"

"Yes,"Priscilla answered,"it saves a lot of time. Something like this is extremely complicated and needs to be done precise. Now, would you say that is precise?"

I examined her perfect circle feather wreath.

"Yes, I could have never dreamed of getting the feathers like that by myself,"I remarked.

Now the dark blue steam, or smoke, was coming out of the cauldron. Priscilla dropped the ring of feathers into it. We watched as the feathers dissolved into the potion and it changed from navy blue to beautiful, dark iridescent multichrome colours.

"I've never seen a potion like that before,"I observed.

"Neither have I,"Priscilla said.

"There's one part I'm not so sure about,"I said,"it's a part that's supposed to happen after the potion has already been brewing for a week."

"What part is that?"Priscilla asked.

"The part where you add one of your own memories,"I explained,"I'm not sure how to do the spell where you take out one of your memories."

"I don't know that spell either,"Priscilla said,"does it specifically ask what kind of memory it is that you have to add?"

"No,"I responded,"it just says a memory."

"Then that will be all that it needs,"Priscilla said.

"Right,"I said, re-reading the potion instructions.

We had completed the first stage. We left the Room of Requirement.

"Thanks, Priscilla,"I said,"I wouldn't have even known where to begin without you."

"It's nothing,"said Priscilla, with a rare smile,"you can pay me back by teaching me the memory spell when you learn it."

"What if it's really simple and easy to learn though?"I asked.

"It'll be enough,"Priscilla said,"I can't be bothered to find out about it by myself."