So," said second year Marietta Edgecomb, one of Cho Chang's friends "we had to make a Flesh Sealing Tonic a few days ago, what should we have done there?" She didn't seem to be trying to stump him, but there was some challenge to her words.
A basic healing potion. What ingredients had restorative powers that would be used in such a potion? Harry paused to think for a moment.
"Well, it's not really fair because he hasn't see the recipe yet…" Lisa stammered out. He felt grateful for the loyal, if unnecessary, defense.
Terry Boot seemed eager to disagree. "He should have at least some idea, if he's so good."
Harry did have some idea; a basic study of rudimentary ingredients has served him well. "Did the recipe call for unicorn horn?"
Marietta shook her head. Terry Boot seemed to smell blood. Harry rubbed the fault in his jawbone.
"Gryphon claw then." It wasn't a question. "Was it powdered, diced or pickled?" He doubted the latter two, the talons of a gryphon were expensive. It was likely they only used a little, as a source of magical power rather than for its unique properties. Although, it did carry resilience to a potion, which would be greatly beneficial in this case.
"Powdered, right?" Marietta nodded, looking surprised. "With dittany seeds? He doubted such a weak potion contained the mature, powerful, and ludicrously expensive leaves which gave Essence of Dittany it's fantastic capabilities. It was damnably hard to grow, and only did so in a few Mediterranean and Caribbean Islands; or at least, magical dittany was that way. The muggle version was all too commonly sold to magical markets, illegally advertised as its miraculous counterpart.
"We were supposed to dice them," Cho informed him, clicking her teeth in irritation at apparently being misled.
There were more surprised looks at his ability to determine such a thing.
"I imagine that was difficult." They were small and round, and would have been difficult to cut. "You should have crushed them, to get as much juice as possible."
Terry Boot looked like he swallowed something sour, but the others seemed more accepting. He answered a few more questions, and soon after found his housemates sitting closer to him when he read in the common room, or during meals.
I should have known being knowledgeable would have won them over. I was approaching them the same way I did Daphne and Tracey.
Harry finally understood the difference between a Ravenclaw's wit and a Slytherin's cunning.
I should have just let them dissect me to study my talent.
While mostly joking, he was certain that the chance to study his talent would make any Ravenclaw jump at the opportunity.
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Spell creation was, Harry learned, an ambitious undertaking. He imagined something simple. A spell that would simply spin an object one hundred and eighty degrees. It wasn't complicated, it wasn't difficult to imagine happening and yet he still struggled.
Several texts he found suggested that an incantation may distract from the process of spell creation so he sat in silence.
Spin.
He demanded as he flicked his wand at a chair.
There was no effect.
Spin.
He tried a different wand movement. More of a jab then into a flicking motion.
The chair fell over unspectacular.
He supposed that it had technically rotated ninety degrees. Even if it was along the wrong axis, and had nothing to do with his spell.
He nearly growled in frustration but he attempted to calm himself. He used occlumency to reassert his authority over himself. It wasn't easy but after breathing and clearing his thoughts he found it was far easier to focus and to imagine what he wanted to have happen.
Spin.
He ordered his power to obey his will. To flow into the world and manifest. He could see the chair spinning in his mind.
To his delight it did spin. Then it didn't stop. The chair rotated continuously, making a scraping noise against the floor without stopping.
"Finite." He invoked. The chair slowed to a stop and this time Harry couldn't help but growl.
His intent had slipped into just rotation but without the desire to stop or with limits. He had neglected certain aspects of the spell in favor of concentrating on the effects of different wand movements.
He gave a leftward swoosh of his wand that rotated the tip of his wand. It was a short and jerky movement and the chair slid all the way across the room at a pathetically slow pace, scraping against the floor, until it reached a desk and stopped immediately.
He rubbed a hand down his face in frustration.
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As winter turned to spring the lake defrosted, and Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins filled their time teasing and tickling the tentacles of the squid, occasionally lobbing toast in its direction. Tracey no longer wrote him, Daphne, Neville, and occasionally even Hermione, notes using her new owl, just for the sake of using it. Harry was glad that ended, but was worried about what might strike her fancy next.
With the warm weather came the end of the year exams, and a growing anxiety within Harry which had little to do with them. He was more concerned what he would do when the school-year ended. Where would he go? It had affected his sleep, and he found himself awake at nearly all hours with his scar prickling.
Despite that, he knew he had done very well in their exams – although the heat in the large classroom where they did written portions nearly drove him spare. The heat irritated him and made him restless, but not nearly so restless as Daphne. They had been given Cheat-Catch Quills for their exams, so she wasn't allowed to use her own. Tracey had been rather put out as well, as she had bothered Daphne to no end about receiving one until Daphne gave up and enchanted one for her.
Harry was confident that he did well on his theory exams, but knew Hermione would have him beat. However, Harry's practical went exceedingly well, and he even demonstrated a weak shield charm he had been practicing for credit, much to Professor Flitwick's delight, as well as a rudimentary inanimate-to-animate transfiguration for Professor McGonagall, who smiled at him and told him the display reminded her of his father.