Practical Magic (Luna Demetriou)

[potions]

Mikhail was on his way back from the Durmstrang Ship on the castle grounds, fur lined robes billowing among the shadows on the ground. The mists of twilight parted among his form as he crossed the grounds and entered the castle. It was only 6, but it felt closer to midnight after every conversation with the Headmaster. It was also those conversations that reminded him why he broke away from the school and lived among the Black Forest.

"Mein Gott..." He grumbled under his breath as he took off down the stairs instantly, purple hand prints bruised about his forearms. Mikhail was not one to crumble under pressure, but with that forceful man...he might have to. The Headmaster was a Death Eater, and was demanding that he scour Hogsmeade for the presence of the Phoenix. He was to coerce the young man into breaking the walls of Azkaban.

He wouldn't do that to the man. It wasn't in Mikhail's nature to hurt someone for gain.

With a sound of wood grating across the stones of the floor of the Dungeon, Mikhail chose to sit in his sanctuary among his work. He checked the progress of the potions that the students were making. All of them were working fairly well, save a couple which needed a tender stir to redistribute ingredients. With a chuckle, he gave them a stir with his own rod and cleansed it before putting it back in his desk.

Hogwarts students were so much more eager to learn than most had been in Durmstrang. He'd began to understand a couple of them, based on conversation and skill:

Liliane Noir, bright girl, wickedly precise with healing potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology. She was destined to do good things with those skills.

Cern Summerby, equally bright young man. Wonderful with potions and music. There might have been some interest in Care of Magical Creatures too.

Gene Burke, very bright. She was a skilled girl, but seemed very within herself as he was at that age.

Then there were Bella Walsh, Luna Demetriou, and Jari Aalto. Those pupils were by far the most advanced, making these potions like they had done so all of their lives. Bella was a driven girl, expressing interest in becoming an Auror. Jari was a quiet lad, but wickedly skilled for his age. Luna...

Luna.

She was quiet, cold, and driven. Reminding of himself in ways that almost chilled him. Her potions were always nearly perfect, her attendance was perfect...she was a joy to teach, but often he wondered her interest in potions. She was a far more advanced student than perhaps she knew. What was her career choice, he wondered.

The classroom had taken on a slightly pungent aroma due to the hair inside of some of those polyjuice potions and he found an unpleasant face settling on his features as he lit a diffuser and placed drops of peppermint oil upon the tray and within moments, the scent was carried away and he could breathe easier. He took a careful swig of a putrid orange colored potion and the purple marks faded away. He didn't want to remember that conversation and uttered a quiet curse in his native tongue as the potion sloshed through his veins and soon, the tension was gone.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, content in the quiet and dim light. As always, the door to the classroom was wide open.

[Deleted]

Luna had tried her hardest to mask her emotions as she made her way down from the Ravenclaw tower to the dungeons, but there were some things that even she couldn't hide. Her ice blue eyes held a deep concern in their depths as she thought about the reason why she was heading down to the dungeons in the first place. Artemis, her twin brother.

He had somehow caught a very serious fever that would not go down, or break no matter what length she had gone to. She had done just about everything that she could think of, and had gotten medicine and medical advice from the nurse, and even that had not helped. She was running out of time, and options. She knew that if the fever didn't break soon that it was very likely that the fever could become something much more serious, something that could easily take his life because of his weak immune system, and she didn't know what she would do if he were to pass on. He was all she had left in the cruel world, and she was not going to let another person that she loved die.

In her desperation she had somehow managed to stumble across a abandoned potions book, and had looked through it as a last resort. She had found a potion that was said to immediately strengthen the immune system of the witch or wizard who drank it, making it harder for them to get sick, and helping those who were already sick to get better faster. The only problem had been the level of the potion, which had been at such a high level that even Luna had known that she would have no chance at making it on her own. She knew now that there was only one person that could help her save her brother.

The Potions Master, Professor Mikhail Dunwitz.

She had heard much about the man from Bella, who had seemed to spend a lot of time with him as a result of him helping her study for their N.E.W.T.s, and seemed to have nothing but good things to say about the man, which was something that had honestly surprised her. Luna had known that the man was seen as above average in the looks department, (Not that she had paid much attention to that sort of thing) and she knew that he was far above average intelligence, but she had honestly never paid much attention to the man outside of the class, something that she was honestly starting to regret now that she had to ask him for something.

The walk to the dungeons was so nervewracking that by the time that Luna had actually reached the open door of the Potions classroom she actually had to stop and calm herself. Taking a few deep breaths, and wiping any nervousness clear off of her face, she slowly walked in.

" Professor."

She spoke very quietly, her tone hiding every ounce of nervousness, every ounce of emotion that she was feeling. Her eyes held their usual cold, and indifferent gaze even as they looked at the older man.

" I'm sorry to bother you outside of normal class hours, but I have an emergency and you are the only one that can help me. My twin brother is a very sickly boy, which has made him a lot weaker then normal people. Right now he has caught a fever, and I have tried everything. Nothing has helped break, or even lower the fever. I have come across a potion in the book you have assigned to us, and it says that it will strengthen the immune system of whoever drinks it. The problem is, it is far too advanced for me to complete on my own. Please professor will you help me?"

[potions]

The chair nearly toppled over, a small stitch in his chest as adrenaline stung through his veins, a low Germanic curse slipping from his mouth as ha righted himself again. He hadn't expected anyone in the room tonight, but as Luna spoke, he quickly decided to help her.

"Of course, Luna. I am always happy to help. If his condition is as bad as you say, we must work quickly to ensure it does not cause any lasting damage to his body or his mind." His voice held a tone of concern and an edge of curiousity. This was a potion he had mastered recently but, ingredients in his stock room were low. He seemed to need a lot of healing herbs this term.

"If you bring the book, I will personally escort you to the greenhouse to gather the herbs we meed for this potion. Bella has been tending them daily to ensure they are healthy, so they should be ready for use." He was concerned for the boy, and wished to waste no time.

[Deleted]

Luna shook her head when he asked her to go and grab the book, before bringing it out from behind her back.She had already forseen that she would need it, and not wanting to run back up to the Ravenclaw tower to retrieve it she had simply brought the book with her.She couldn't afford to waste any time, for every moment was a race against the clock.She was so relieved when the professor agreed to help her with such an important task that she had actually smiled at him.

It was a tired, and relieved smile but a smile nonetheless.

" Thank you professor,but there is no need for me to go to the tower,I had hoped that you would agree to help me, and brought the book down just in case."

She nodded as he spoke, sighing in relief as he heard him mentioning Bella's name.She had just helped save her brother again without even knowing.She would have to find some way to truly thank Bella Walsh. It seemed as though she had been made specifically to help her brother out of trouble, a soothing thought that made Luna both calmer, and slightly more determined. She would make sure that Artemis was okay. She had to.

Someone finally cared about her twin, and her twin finally cared about someone other then her. She would make sure not to let the both of them down.

" Thank you Professor. I'm ready to go when you are."

[potions]

"Very good, Luna. Let's go." He moved from the chair and drew his robes close, an arm sweeping behind her shoulders partly in comfort, partly in direction. He would walk beside her up the stairs, running through the list of herbs needed to get in order to complete the potion in his mind.

Inside the Great Hall, he would notice the student's reactions toward Luna, the stares...the coldness. With a glance down to the girl, he felt a wash of remorse. One could only take so much of such behavior. He turned his dark gaze on the nearest of them and spoke in a deep growl of a voice. "The next of you with the nerve to verbally, emotionally, or physically lash out at EITHER Demetriou sibling will find themselves in permanent detention...and with me...it will be a harrowing experience. Am I clear?" He had drawn her near, as a protective measure, and no student would acknowledge them again.

He pulled the door open and calmly usher her outside and into the chilly air. It had to be every bit of 38 degrees outside. He drew his robes around her so that the fur would keep her warm, and to ensure that the Durmstrang headmaster would dare not see her. "You need to stay warm, lest you wind up ill as well. Plus...I do not trust what lurks in the dark as of late. You are safe with me, I promise."

Across the grounds, they moved like shadows through the cold. The greenhouses were locked up for the night, but the herbs they needed were not in the main house, and he nudged Luna gently toward a smaller greenhouse that the trees usually consealed well. He used his wand to unlock the door and a blast of heat came from the door as it opened.

Marvelous thinking, Bella.

The charm was set up to keep the plants warmer in the winters, and these specific plants needed it. Each potted plant was a beautiful shade of healthy green, lively, lush, and healthy. Not so much as a bruised leaf resided here. He drew away from her, but spoke in a gentler tone. "We need Dittany, ginger, sage, hellebore, mandrake root, and wormwood. All of them are kept here. He wasn't too sure about the other ingredients' accessibility, but herbs...he'd made sure he could access them.

He gathered up a jar and said quickly, "I will gather the mandrake root and wormwood. You will need these." He handed her some thick earmuffs, taking the other for himself. Once they were securely in place on both sets of ears, he gripped the mandrake and skillfully pulled it up, despite the wiggling and flailing, the screaming and biting, he managed to take a pair of shears the the root and clip its limbs off. It screamed still and he shoved it back in the pot, smothering it in the soil it loved so much.

Evil plants.

He took up a jar from the ledge and put the root inside before going to the wormwood.

[Deleted]

Luna nodded and stepped forward in obdience getting ready to trail behind him as they made her way to the greenhouse. Her plan was interrupted when the man stepped close to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, almost instantly causing her body to tense up. She had very little physical contact with the opposite gender before, so it wasn't exactly something that she was used to. Weary, and distrustful blue eyes glanced up at the man silently observing his intentions for a moment, before relaxing when it became clear that he was just doing so to help guide her in the proper direction.

Once they were out in the Great Hall, that was when her guard shot way up. She felt the stares, and heard the whispers. Her eyes narrowed and she gave the students her signature cold glare, and while it worked on some, some students still continued to stare at her, causing her great discomfort. She had been about to say something to them (something that probably would have gotten her in trouble seeing as she had a professor with her) she was quickly pulled closer to the man, looking up in shock as he threatened the students who were bothering both her, and her brother, speaking of dire consequences if they were to ever bother either of them again.

Much to her surprise, the other students didn't even so much as look at her again. She wondered if it would stay like that after Artemis got better, or if it would return to normal. Would people still continue to bully her brother, or would he finally be safe now? These were questions that while she was curious and wanted more then anything to know the answer she knew that she would have to wait, besides she had another matter to attend to completely.

Thanking the professor for what he had done. Her eyes were slightly narrowed as she tried to think of a way to thank him much to her frustration. She wasn't used to having to talk to people, much less how to thank them when they did something kind for her.

" Thank you. It's not often that someone intervienes on our behalf. I apologize for any inconvience that this might cause you in the future."

When they reached the outside of the castle, the cold weather seemed to instantly attack any ounce of uncovered flesh that Luna had. While the night was dark and very cold, it didn't bother Luna in the slightest. She had endured much worse and survived, she could handle the cold. She stepped forward to move out of the professor's way so he could lead them there, while she would follow him.

Unfortunately, fate once again decided to take Luna's rather rational thinking, and took any plans that she had made and threw them in her face. For it was only a moment later that she felt something very warm wrap around her. Glancing back over her shoulder, she was surprised to see that the man had his robes wrapped around her. He had said that it was that to keep her warm, and to prevent her from falling ill as well but Luna was certain that there was another reason on top of that. She was still young, but there were a few skills that she had in which she knew that she could surpass most normal adults at.

Observing people was definately one of those skills. It was very rare that people could lie to her, or hide something from her and get away with it, but for the sake of not angering the man she chose to remain silent, figuring if it were that important then he would have said something.

When they arrived at the Greenhouse, and the door was unlocked she was surprised at the burst of warm air that hit her. Her eyes glanced around the greenhouse, observing the plants with curiosity. When the professor spoke again listing the ingredients that they would need, Luna nodded silently before taking the earmuffs and placing them over her ears waiting for the professor to finish gathering the mandrake root before taking them off, and wandering around to gather the rest of the ingredients knowing already by heart what they looked like.

She had spent many a night making different teas using the very same things (minus the Hellebore) trying to make a mixture that would help her brother. After gathering the needed amounts of each plant, she wandered back to the entrance of the greenhouse where she waited for the professor to appear.

[potions]

As he gathered the rest of the toxic ingredients, he could feel the presence of the Headmaster lurking in the shadows and in a matter of seconds, he'd made it across the greenhouse and in front of her, just as the older man stepped from the shadows. In a swift movement, Mikhail's wand was drawn and he spoke in a very dark tone, low and threatening. "Sie bleiben wo Sie sind."^*1 The man looked angered and made a move for his wand, until he saw the girl just beyond Mikhail's shoulder. A look of a vague amusement crossed his features. He really had become the teacher Dumbledore had wanted him to be.

"Später dann." ^*2 The older man made a half hearted bow and a sneer in Mikhail's direction before turning off and disappearing like a shadow among the night. He paused only a moment before he finally moved again, ushering the young woman toward the castle. "You're safe. Let's go." 'That man's going to be the bloody death of me.' He thought, scowling slightly. Across the grounds they would move again, and back to the castle.

As they entered the castle, his wand made its way back into a holster on his hip. Not many in Durmstrang could forget what happened when Mikhail was angered to a point of using magic. He was relentless, unforgiving, and he would not stop until he believed a lesson was learned. He had an expansive knowledge of spells, but he preferred the life giving qualities of potions and healing.

Much to the relief of the wizarding community.

He brought her back down to the dungeons and gathered up a burner, and his own glass cauldron. "Alright. Now. If I remember correctly, the order of which these are added is drastically important. These... He motioned with the hand holding the jar with Mandrake root and Wormwood, "Must never be added first. They are toxic when handled improperly. If you use it toward the middle of the ingredient adding process, then it will become blanketed and less lethal if something goes amiss with processing, so it is safest then."

He looked at the cover of her book, and opened his own battered copy, notes scribbled all over the pages and annotations made in the margins, flipping pages to the potion that they were working on. There were so many notes that the page looked almost unorganized, but if one looked close enough, the notes were in an exact order in accordance with timing and ingredient. Frighteningly through.

"Alright then, 'Liquidize ginger root, skin and all in the cauldron with a few drops of purified water and one phial of Phoenix tears.' It's best to grate it. Luckily, I've managed to sneak a Muggle microplane grater into the castle, just for this sort of thing. Water, I've got that available. Phoenix tears...I have that as well. What's next? 'Inside a mortar and pestal, grind to combine sage and dittany, do not drain, then add one ounce to the liquidized ginger root. Stir four times counter clockwise.' No problem. I will get the root down if you combine the sage and dittany.

From his desk, he pulled a thing that looked much like a file, and gazed at it almost with an amused face before he picked up the ginger root and passed it swiftly over the broad top. Finely grated ginger, juice and all fell in spicy scented wet clusters into the cauldron. It took him a moment to grate the whole root, which had begun to melt in the cauldron, leaving a pool of liquid on the bottom. He pulled out a dropper and stuck the end of it into a metal flask near him, drawing out a few drops of purified water and letting them fall into the melting ginger. So far, nothing happened.

He pardoned himself and went into a locked cabinet, the key fastened around his neck, and pulled out a beautiful crystal jar that held an ethereal glow in the colors of purples, greens, and blues. The light danced off the walls as he brought it closer to the site of their work, casting a light over the dark stones. As he removed the top and took a dropper to the liquid inside, a sound like a sigh escaped his mouth. These were the tears of Dumbledore's Phoenix...such a rare thing. It was painful to remember his friend like that at times.

As this liquid was added, the potion bubbled and the ginger turned to a pastel blue shade. He looked into the book and saw the words 'must be a pastel blue' underlined at least six times. Satisfied, he put the tears away and re-locked the cabinet. "How are you getting along, oh! Watch the stem just there. Stems have a hard time breaking down. In curatives, we like leaves and roots. He quickly grasped the stem and flicked it away with a smile.



^*1Means "Stay right where you are."
^*2Means "Later then."

[Deleted]

There were some types of people that seemed to just radiate good, or evil depending on who they were. There were some people that could not ever hope to sneak around undetected because of their aura. Unfortunately for Luna, there was that type of person wandering around, and he seemed to be the type of person who emitted the later of the two. Hand moving down to her pocket, she immediately gripped her wand, drawing it out just in case she needed to use it.

While she was still a young witch with much to learn, years of protecting both herself and her brother had given her enough experience to where she knew enough spells (both offensive, and defensive) to ensure that she would be fine until help came along.She was surprised when the professor came out of seemingly nowhere, wand drawn. He spoke in another language his voice becoming low, and dark making it obvious that he was giving the other person a warning.

Cold blue eyes moved over his shoulder, glancing at the other person that was there. The man looked angry as he glanced at the professor, before looking over his shoulder making eye contact with her for a second. A cold chill ran up her spine, and her eyes narrowed slightly. There was something very dark about this man. Very dark and very dangerous. She continued to watch with narrowed eyes as he sneered at the professor, and gave a half hearted bow towards the professor before disappearing in the darkness. When he told her that she was safe, she merely glanced up at him before nodding and following him as they made their way out of the greenhouse, her grip on her wand so tight that her knuckles were white.


It was when they entered the castle and only then, did Luna put her wand away. As they made their way down to the potions classroom, and into the room to start the potion, Luna's thoughts went straight to her younger brother, and how he was doing. She remembered his flushed face, and his tired smile and she remembered that Xayden Andrews happened to be in the same dorm as him, something that made her worry. Although she did use a fear tactic on Xayden, and it worked for the most part (though he did for some reason still love to bother her.)

The idea of Xayden anywhere near her brother was enough to get her to start the second she received instructions. Working so quickly that she didn't notice a mistake that she was making until the professor had stopped her, informing her on what she was doing wrong before removing the stem that she had been trying to grind down with the rest of the ingredients.

" Ah...I'm sorry about that....I'll try to be more careful."