PP19

## Summary

Snape comes into his office and discovers the amount of Sweat Inducer Rigel has been brewing. He thinks angrily that he would be lucky that even some would be usable, so he takes a Pepper-up to check every potion for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning, during breakfast, Rigel is asked by an irate Potion Master to come to his office at once. Wondering if she didn't brew enough potion, Rigel goes to his office, where Snape says that she betrayed his faith by asking someone else to do the potions. Rigel doesn't understand what he means, and then becomes rightfully angry that he suggests something like this. He makes her swear on her magic that she is the one who brewed all the potions. Snape still has a hard time believing it, so he asks her if he can check her magical core. Rigel is hesitant, afraid that it is some kind of Legilimency, but after an explanation from Snape, he creates a connection between their cores. He now understands how she managed to make that many potions, but wonders where did she get that much magic. He thinks she got that level of power because of her suppression of her magic, making it dense and tough. Then, Snape accepts that Rigel helps him with Aurora's Breath, on the condition that she doesn't do more than 25 cauldrons per week. Rigel asks then if he knows more about the sickness, so he explains that it spreads through familiar minds and that the fever appears because the child is fighting the illness. When Snape says it's like a coma-curse, she understands that it may have been sent by someone. In response to that, she decides to make sure her mind is as closed as possible.

Two weeks later, at the start of March, Rigel finds Flint to ask him to let her curse him with a Seal Curse so that his knowledge of her and Archie's duplicity is sealed in his mind. He accepts, only on the condition that she takes a Vow of Undisclosed Debt, to be called on anytime in the future.

Next Saturday, they exchange the promises. The Flint problem being taken care of, Rigel goes to work on her Occlumency in the Library. We learn what her mindscape looks like. This far inside herself, she is Harry, and her avatar has long hair. She works on expanding her tunnels. Coming back in the real world, she hears someone cry near her. It's Cho Chang, crying because her friend, Marietta, just fell to the sickness, and she is afraid of it taking her next. Rigel comforts her, and because Cho asks, she gives her a fake name, Reggie, as she leaves.

Some nights later, Rigel uses her invisibility cloak to go mail some letters and Flint's assignments. She notices Quirrell and Snape being suspiciously close on the Marauder's Map, so she goes to check. They are having a heated discussion. Snape demands that Quirrell tell him how to cure the sickness "just in case" and Quirrell says he doesn't know how and that he will pass his concerns to "Him". Rigel goes back to her common room to think. She understands that Snape know who sent the sickness and that it is magically constructed. Makes the link with the Marriage Law, she understands that the SOW party is responsible for this. She wonders about Snape's role in all of this, but doesn't come to any conclusion. She goes back to sleep, forgiving the idea of going to the Owlrey.

Next morning, she goes to the Owlrey and on her way back, is waylaid by Alesana Selwyn in the Entrance Hall, who lets her know that Rookwood wants to talk to her about their game. In the Great Hall, she is prevented from eating by a Rookwood who wants to know if she was truly the one who got the boomslang venom. She gives him the lie that her father has snakes, so she is used to handling them.

This Friday evening, she goes to Snape's office to deliver the last batch of Aurora's Breath. Snape is speaking with Horace, who tells him that he hasn't any more ginseng, and that he should go on the continent. Ginseng is a main ingredient in Aurora's Breath and Snowhit Draught. Being so vital, Snape makes Rigel the Potion Master of the Hospital Wing, telling her to use acai berries as a substitute for both potions, and leaves to find Ginseng. She is excused from classes, and spends the rest of the night doing Flint's homework.

Rigel spends all her time brewing Aurora's Breath and Snowhit Draught. For the first time, she feels magically tired from imbuing when comes dinner. Tuesday evening, Draco can't bear anymore that she's overworking herself. While talking to her, Draco fell to the sickness and to the floor. Panicked, she goes to Salazar's portrait to ask him to get Snape even though she knows he's not here. Trying to keep her calm, she finds Flint in the common room and asks him to help. First, she has to get Draco in the common room, as only First years can go in the First year hallway. Managing to haul Draco, she gets him to the common room, and Flint takes over, taking him to the Hospital Wing. Rigel thinks about telling Pansy but decides not to, to let her having one last good night of sleep. She has a terribly foreboding feeling for Draco.

## Characters (by order of appearance)

* Severus Snape
* Rigel Black & Harry Potter
* Marcus Flint
* Cho Chang
* Quirinus Quirrell
* Alesana Selwyn
* Pansy Parkinson
* Edmund Rookwood
* Horace Burke
* Draco Malfoy

## Settings

### Hogwarts

* Snape's office
* Great Hall
* Quidditch storage shed
* Library
* Slytherin common room
* Entrance Hall
* First year dorm

## Potions

* Sweat Inducer
* Snowhit Draught
* Pepper-up Potion
* Boil-Cure Potion
* Aurora's Breath
* Fever Reducer

## Deep foreshadow

* The fact that Harry's Sun is inside the Mountain (SS1 no aura & AA14 repression of her magic)

## See also

* The Sleeping Sickness
* Magical core
* Sealing Curse