Chapter 31: Historical Help

The air was cold and musty, Lucy could taste it on her tongue. The walls seemed to close in around her and her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. Her hand was frozen to her wand and her eyes searched the empty corridor for something that wasn't there. 

A breath caught in Lucy's throat and she felt her eyes well up with tears. She rammed a fist in her mouth to silence her sobs in case anyone heard but nobody was there to hear. When she had calmed down, she let her hand fall and began to walk out of the corridor. 

"LUCY! LUCY HELP ME!" 

Matt. 

Lucy had no idea what she was doing but she'd broke into a run. Matt's voice had put her into an uncontrollable frenzy. She had to get to him before he was hurt or hurt any worse. Her heart ached and she wheezed, trying desperately to inahle precious air. But it didn't seem to matter when Matt's life was on the line. 

"MATT!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice was hoarse. She had to get to him. That was all that mattered. She needed him. She needed to save him. He had to be okay. "MATT! WHERE ARE YOU!" 

His voice was a continuous echo in her brain and she didn't know how to stop it, it was driving her absolutely insane. If she didn't get to Matt soon, he would die. Her whole body shook in fear. Her legs were just about functioning, they threatened to buckle at any moment. 

Lucy began throwing open classroom doors in a desperate attempt to find Matt because wherever she went his voice sounded the same, not quieter or louder. It was just incredibly loud and terrifying. She began kicking locked doors open, getting the feeling back into her legs. 

The fear was waking her up, it wasn't shutting her down. 

Eventually she made it to a massive corridor and at the end a vast pair of double doors were open. Lucy could sense Matt was inside that room as this time his screams had got louder. Lucy pelted towards the doors, ignoring the length of the corridor. 

She skidded to a halt inside the room. All at once the doors slammed shut and someone's wand activated the 'lumos' charm. Lucy stared in that direction and saw Matt. She was going to tell him how relieved she was when she realised that Matt's eyes were purely black. He looked demonic under just the light of his wand. 

Matt grinned evilly, like he had before they were dating. "Everyone is going to die...and it's going to be all your fault." 

Snape's eyes flew open and just like Lucy, fear was making him shake. He didn't care about Matt, he didn't matter. He cared about Lucy. Matt was going to attack Lucy and Snape didn't know why or how that situation had come to be...or would be. 

It was definitely a reoccurring vision, he'd seen it at Christmas and now he was seeing it again but this time it was clearer and even worse. He didn't want it to become real, he had to warn Lucy about it. 

But how? 

He wouldn't get anything much from her except a lot of yelling and her telling him that Matt was a wonderful boyfriend and he would never do anything of the sort. Snape wanted her to know that most of the time, his visions were right but she wouldn't listen if it was Matt doing anything bad. 

Usually right. Not always. Zuc had probably forced that into his head so he would have trust issues with Lucy and Matt. He thought he didn't need this until he realised he was thinking in a positive manner like Matt had told him too. 

He cursed Matthew Jarvin as he fell asleep. 

*      *      * 

Matt and Lucy sat in the Transfiguration courtyard that break time and continued reading the book that Matt had had the other day. Their eyes scanned the pages while Dean read one of Lucy's Potions books with sincere concentration while Johnny, Alex, Chris and Tyler tossed a quaffle over Lucy and Matt's heads. 

"You two are so BORING," Alex huffed at Lucy and Matt while he threw the quaffle to Chris. 

"And too in love for our liking," Johnny chimed in as he knocked the quaffle out of Chris' hands. 

"You're just jealous," Matt shrugged, not looking up from the book. 

"Of course we are," Tyler rolled his eyes but Johnny glared at him. 

"Oh God," Matt announced all of a sudden, slamming the book shut as if to trap a fly that was bothering him. Lucy gave him a strange look. 

"What's your problem? I was enjoying the book," Lucy huffed and crossed her arms. 

"Ellen's over there," Matt threw the book in his bag and turned to Lucy. "We're still laying low, I promise. If we give her one photo for the year she'll be satisfied." 

Lucy nodded. "Agreed." 

Dean hopped off of the bench and readied himself in case Ellen got too out of hand with taking photographs. When Ellen was near enough, Matt lent in and kissed Lucy while Matt's friends made gagging noises in the background. The two of them prepared themselves for endless flashes until Ellen's camera could print out no more pictures. 

Click. 

That was the one dull sound that Ellen's camera made. One photograph was taken and that was it. Matt looked up at Ellen with a frown, Lucy copied him. 

Ellen looked absolutely terrible, there were dark circles under her eyes and were even more prominent because no make-up dominated her face. Her hair that used to be a beautiful blonde colour was now dim like hay, it was pulled into a messy bun. Even her school uniform didn't show off her usual style, the high heels she usually wore had been replaced with sensible flat shoes. The only thing that looked good about her was the brand new camera in her hands that Lucy presumed her parents had bought her for Christmas. 

"Ellen?" Lucy turned her head, looking at Matt quickly as if asking if this really was Ellen. Matt nodded and Lucy turned back to the girl. 

"I just wanted one photograph, that's all," Ellen sighed and placed her camera into her old designer bag. 

"Are you sure?" Matt wondered. "We're here all break, don't you want a few good photographs for your 'next article'?" Matt threw in a few quotation marks with his fingers. 

"No, one's enough for the article I might write," Ellen gazed down at her shoes that she obviously wasn't happy with. 

"What's the matter? Did Dumbledore get on your case?" Lucy asked, feeling hopeful. 

"No," Ellen said again. "I just don't feel up to much now that Ben's gone." A sob caught in Ellen's throat. 

"Oh I'm sorry..." Lucy tried to sound sympathetic but it sounded very sarcastic, luckily for her Ellen didn't notice. "Maybe he just wasn't the right one." 

"No, h-he probably wasn't..." Ellen sniffed and swiped furiously at her tears. "It made me think I'm not a very nice person if he dumped me!" 

Ellen covered her face with her hands and Lucy looked at Matt with wide eyes, he seemed pretty shocked as well. But underneath their small layer of shock was much relief, they wouldn't be constantly stalked now. It was as though a weight had been lifted from both of their shoulders which they had been dealing with together. 

"Maybe he'll come around," Matt suggested just as the bell rung, signalling the end of break. "Or maybe you'll meet someone better." 

"Maybe..." Ellen sighed. "I hope so, anyway, I miss him. He won't even look at me in lesson." Ellen sighed again. "I'll see you two later, I'm going to write a nice article on the two of you for that advice. Bless you both." With that, Ellen walked off. 

Matt and Lucy got up and when Ellen was out of earshot Matt cheered and lifted Lucy up and spun her around. "WE'RE FREE!" 

"I KNOW!" Lucy laughed. 

"I'm not letting down my guard though, I still don't trust her," Dean scowled. "I never will." 

"Dean has a point," Matt admitted as he placed Lucy down. "Under no circumstances do we trust her." 

"I feel a little sorry for her though," Lucy picked up her bag. "But I still don't forgive her, as long as she's not with Ben there won't be many pictures of us lurking in the newspapers." 

"Well isn't that amazing!" Matt cheered once again. "What lesson do we have now?" 

"History of Magic!" Dean grinned, he enjoyed that lesson but Lucy and Matt groaned. 

"I don't think I can be doing with that lesson."

Lucy handed Matt his bag, "Neither can I but we've got to do it. I think we have Charms afterwards though." 

"Thank your great ancestor for that." 

They walked off to History of Magic and took their seats next to each other while Dean sat on the end of the table in his seat, eagerly awaiting his favourite lesson. Dean's favourite part (despite the knowledge) was when Professor Binns would appear from the blackboard as he was a ghost, it fascinated Dean a lot. The first time he saw that he had cheered, causing him to receive many strange looks from his peers and Professor Binns. 

Binns started the lesson with his bored voice that everyone fell asleep to except Dean. He continued this way until they were asked by him to take notes from their textbooks which Dean already had on his desk. He shifted it towards Matt and Lucy. 

"I don't understand why you hate this lesson, it's so interesting!" Dean marveled as Professor Binns began lazily writing on the chalkboard. 

"Probably because I study a different sort of history," Lucy shrugged. "Medieval history." 

"Wait, this is a lesson? I thought this was the time slot where we got an extra hour of sleep," Matt yawned and rested his head on the desk. 

"Mr Jarvin, remove your head from the desk please," Professor Binns sighed, not even turning around from the chalkboard. 

"Maybe the Half-Blood Princess' book is medieval?" Dean suggested going back to what Lucy had said. "I mean, there are a lot of Princess' and Princes in medieval time and there's always been a King or Queen on the islands." 

"I'd never thought of that..." Lucy muttered. "Maybe you're right! And Harry has the Half-Blood Prince's book! Maybe they were brother or sister or maybe they were going to rule the medieval islands?" 

"It also has the words 'Half-Blood' in it remember, that usually relates to magic," Matt chimed in. 

"Half-Blood can be any creature," Lucy reminded him. "You can get half vampires and things so why not half-blood other stuff?" 

"True, I just wanted to point out that fact though." 

The minutes ticked slowly on till the end of the lesson and when it finally came, Lucy leapt out of her seat and towards the front of the classroom. Matt and Dean waited outside for Lucy while all the other students went to their next lesson. 

"Professor, can I ask you something?" Lucy asked politely. 

Professor Binns looked up from the work on his desk and at her. "Lucy Snape, the one to save us all. If only I was alive to see her tale." He laughed dryly at his own joke. 

Lucy smirked a little. "I'm sorry to interrupt you but I have to ask you about a matter regarding the Medieval Islands." 

"The last time I taught something about the Medieval Islands was when you were in your first year," Professor Binns stood up and walked around his desk. "Since then my memory has become foggy on the subject because I have been forbidden to teach it as it scares some people. It's a shame though because it's one of my favourite areas of history to talk about. Nevertheless, I'll try and answer any question that you have regarding it." 

"Thank you," Lucy reached into her bag and pulled out the Half-Blood Princess' book and handed it to Professor Binns. "The book belongs to the Half-Blood Princess and I need to know as to whether she was a member of the Medieval Islands. There is also a Half-Blood Prince and I want to know how they are connected." 

Professor Binns froze at the next name, as it had triggered some sort of nostalgia but he soon shook it off, thinking nothing of it, and walked over to a shelf of books. He pulled one off and opened it up on his desk, Lucy followed him and he flipped to a section called 'Notable Rulers on the Medieval Islands.' 

"They could be related to absolutely anyone," Binns flicked through the chapters. Every ruler had two pages dedicated to them with a full length picture and a lot of information including their offspring. "And as I have no idea who these Half-Blood's may be we could be here sometime. You should probably come back after lessons so we can look together." 

"Thank you, Sir, I really appreciate it," Lucy smiled.

Binns handed her back the Half-Blood Princess' book. "My pleasure, Miss Snape." 

Lucy stepped out of the room and walked to Charms with Matt and Dean, they were both eager to hear the news so Lucy began immediately. 

"Do you want me to come with you after lessons?" Matt asked when she was finished. 

Dean shook his head. "I think Lucy needs to deal with this matter alone, although we might help her with protection, this Medieval information is private to her." 

Matt looked a bit offended but Lucy stepped in quickly. "Dean's right but thank you so much for the offer, Matt." 

"It's okay, I'm here anytime you need me." 

Charms finished quickly (especially after Matt had annihilated everyone with his Charms knowledge) and when it was over the three of them walked to the Great Hall for lunch. Lucy sat down and Matt joined her on one side and Dean on the other. They grabbed themselves some sandwiches and Lucy took a newspaper to read. 

"Hey, Lucy," Katie called a little way down the Gryffindor table, Lucy looked up from her newspaper. "When are you holding the next Quidditch practise?" 

"Uh, soon," Lucy called back, she wasn't exactly sure when she was going to hold it again. "I'll put a notice in the common room...soon." 

Katie's shoulders slumped. "I don't mean to pressure you but we have a game not long away and we need some practise." 

"I promise I'll get practise on the pitch sometime this week," Lucy replied a little guilty. She didn't know if she was going to be able to do this but she'd be shunned by the whole of Gryffindor if her team didn't win or come close to winning because she'd been too lazy to set up practise. She loved Quidditch and she knew that it would take her mind off of things if she participated in it a bit more now that she was captain. 

Lucy noticed her prefect and Quidditch team captain badges on her robe and sighed, she didn't know if she deserved them. In her first year she would have done anything to be team captain and now that she was, she wasn't putting the effort in. 

"I really do promise, I'm sorry the practises haven't been so frequent I've just had a lot going on," Lucy admitted to Katie. 

Katie smiled in understanding. "It's okay, we respect your decisions, Lucy." 

"You've got too much on your plate, girl," Matt smirked as Lucy returned to her newspaper. 

Lucy looked down at her plate, at the sandwich she'd only taken one bite out of. "I'm going to take that as a metaphor." 

"It is a metaphor, slow down with all the activities you've got." 

"I'm not stopping Quidditch for anyone, I've loved Quidditch since my first year and if eleven year old me could see me now she'd probably cry out of excitement." 

Shona entered the Great Hall all of a sudden and sat down opposite Lucy. She looked incredibly tired, Lucy didn't know how to start a conversation with her in fear she'd spit some foul comment at her. 

"Hello," Lucy said bravely, not looking up from her newspaper. 

"Hey," Shona replied, shoving her bag under the table and grabbing herself a sandwich. "I overheard Quidditch, what's happening with it?" 

"I'm going to host some practise this week as Katie so politely reminded me that we have a game coming up soon." 

"Oh good," Shona looked genuinely happy. "We're going to beat Slytherin this year, I just know it." 

"All this house rivalry is so stupid," Matt yawned but then added to his sentence. "But we're going to beat you." 

"Alright, Jarvin, whatever you say," Lucy snorted then turned to Shona and finally put down her newspaper. "Where were you at break?" 

"The library," Shona replied simply. 

"Doing what?" 

"Studying." 

"Doing what?" Lucy repeated, knowing Shona was lying. 

"Studying..." Shona's voice trailed off as Lucy glared at her. "Studying Ben." 

"That's more like it." 

"How did you know she was lying?" Matt wondered. 

"Shona doesn't study, Matthew, even you know that." 

"I knew that!" Dean pointed out, excitedly. He seemed very proud of himself. 

"Why were you studying Ben, Shona?" Lucy continued. 

"He's single and it's not illegal to look at him anymore." 

"Why don't you just ask him out? What's the worst he can say — ?" 

"NO," Shona cut Lucy off. "I'm not doing that, I just won't do that." 

"Why though?" 

"Because nobody wants to date a McGuire!" 

"How do you know?" 

"I don't, but I have a bad reputation! I'm from Worthing for crying out loud!" 

Lucy sighed as the Great Hall began to fill up a little more with people coming out from their lessons. "Look, I don't know why you won't give it a try. If you just ask him and he says no you can't say you never tried and you have your answer and you can move on. If he says yes you'll thank me for asking him." 

"Write a book, Lucinda, and tell someone else because I'm not doing that," Shona folded her arms after she'd finished the first half of her sandwich. 

"I'm only trying to help you because I know you love him, don't say I never tried to help." 

"I'm not but you don't understand how scary that is for me! You've got men falling at your feet and I'm sure some magazine has voted you prettiest girl or something! Do you know how many boys asked me to the Yule Ball?" 

"None?" Lucy wondered. 

"Exactly! You had the whole of Durmstrang after you! Not to mention Hogwarts!" 

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Just because you think you have a 'reputation' doesn't mean Ben doesn't like you. Ben might even feel the same way! You never know! I didn't just go out with Matt blindly, I got to know him. You've got to get to know Ben and maybe he'll fall for you if he hasn't already so go arrange a study date with him now. He's just over there." 

Shona glanced over Lucy's shoulder and saw Ben sitting there on his own eating some lunch. Shona swallowed. "Will you come with me?" 

"Of course, I'll even ask him for you." 

"...Okay." 

The two girls got up from their table and walked towards the Ravenclaw table where Ben was sitting. Just as Lucy had tapped Ben on the shoulder, Shona had darted out of the Great Hall and into the Entrance Hall where she hid behind some knight's armour. 

"Hey, Ben," Lucy smiled and took a seat next to him. "Did you have a good Christmas?" 

"Yes thank you, it was lovely knowing Ellen wasn't going to stalk me," Ben chuckled. "How was Christmas with Matt?" 

"Really good, it was the best Christmas I've ever had," Lucy admitted. "But that's not what I came here to talk about." 

"What do you want to ask?" Ben set down his sandwich and faced her. 

"You know Shona McGuire, don't you?" (Ben nodded.) "Well would it be okay if she came and studied with you sometime because she admires how intelligent you are." 

"Of course, I'd be happy to share my knowledge with her again." 

"Again? There's been a first time?" 

"Yes, it was before I went out with Ellen but I'd really like to study again with Shona," Ben smiled. "Where is she, then?" 

"She was a little too shy to ask you so I came and asked for her, she thought you'd reject her." 

"Aww, well would tonight be okay for her because I'm going to the library anyway, I've got quite a lot to catch up on." 

"I'm sure it will be, straight after dinner, yes?" 

"Yes, I'll meet her there." 

Lucy waved goodbye to Ben and walked out of the Great Hall and into the Entrance Hall. Shona peered around the knight's armour at Lucy. 

"Alright, you can come out now," Lucy commanded and Shona walked around the knight. 

"What did he say?" Shona asked excitedly. 

"You're going studying tonight in the library straight after dinner, be prompt and remember all your textbooks." 

"Really?!" Shona gasped. "You're joking aren't you!" 

"Not at all," Lucy shook her head. "And this is where you thank me." 

"THANK YOU!" Shona yelled and high-fived her friend then ran into the Great Hall, back to her seat. Lucy followed after her.

"If you're that good at match making," Matt stated as Lucy sat down. "You can get my friends on some dates; they're desperate." 

*      *      * 

When lessons were over, Lucy returned to Professor Binss' classroom ready to learn more about the Half-Blood Princess. She didn't know what to expect in the book Binns had got out earlier or anything else he had in his classroom regarding Medieval rulers. But some small part of her craved that there would at least be a couple of sentences on either the Half-Blood Prince or Princess. 

"Hello, Lucy," Professor Binns smiled as Lucy entered the classroom and closed the door behind her. She held the strap of her bag in anticipation, the book was inside her bag and she was ready to finally get some answers. 

"Hello, Sir," Lucy replied and grabbed a chair and slid it over to Professor Binns' desk. He got out the book from earlier from his drawer and placed it on the desk. 

"Lets get to work, shall we?" 

He opened up the book to the chapter he was on earlier and began flicking through it with her, the two of them instantly paused when they saw the word 'Princess' but swiftly moved on because it wasn't relevant. 

Lucy even saw the word 'blood' at one point but it was just about a King slaying dragons and keeping their blood for remedies that were supposed to cure some diseases that Lucy had never heard of before. She was hopeful towards every word that was 'blood', 'prince', 'princess', or 'half' because there wasn't really much to find. 

"I don't think we're getting anywhere," Binns sighed after a while, giving up a little. 

"No, don't say that, we haven't made it to the end of the chapter yet," Lucy pointed out desperately, she refused to give up. 

"My dear, you're only working on false hope, you do know that don't you?" 

"Yes but, this has been bothering me for a very long time and you seem to be my only hope," Lucy mumbled as she began flicking through the pages. 

She made it to the end of the chapter without finding anything about what she needed so she checked the chapter again while Professor Binns went to get more books that could contain something about the Prince and Princess. 

The two of them spent most of the evening searching for what they needed but they didn't seem to be finding anything of any use. Lucy ground her teeth in frustration after she closed every book that didn't have what she needed but still didn't give up. 

"This is insane! Who were these people!" Lucy cried out. "Who were they and what did they do?!" 

"Frustrate people in the future?" Binns suggested. 

"Perhaps so but I need to find out who they were." 

"Miss Snape, if I were alive I'd be cursing you of the hours I'd be losing in my life. Fortunately for you, I am not alive." 

Lucy closed the last book and took out the Half-Blood Princess' book. "Do you have any idea who they could have been?" 

Binns took the Half-Blood Princess' from Lucy and turned to the page which had the Half-Blood Princess' font in. He studied it and then he studied the front cover, soaking in as many details as he could about the book. 

"It must have been a students," Binns suggested, it was the only thought he could conjure up. "It has to have been, it's an old Potions book and you found it at this school, yes?" 

"Yes." Lucy nodded. 

"Maybe it was a students nickname? Maybe she wasn't royalty at all?" 

"Do you think the same goes for the Half-Blood Prince?" 

"Maybe so, maybe they were a couple and they gave each other the nicknames to sound more superior as if to crown themselves Prince and Princess of the school." 

"Or maybe because they were really intelligent and thought they deserved the names," Lucy suggested. "Or they were a fan of the Medieval Islands? There's so many possibilities..." 

"There are and we cannot sit and ponder about them all day, it is foolish we must get on with our lives and not worry about what once was," Binns pointed out. "This could be something as simple as a nickname or a mighty Prince and Princess who thought they were better than everyone else. But we can't think about that." 

"Maybe they were brother and sister," Lucy suggested and Binns glared at her. "Sorry." 

"You can't keep dwelling on things like this, you have to keep going on what is important. I understand your frustration towards this book but you must also remember what is right in front of you or what is to come." 

Lucy's shoulders slumped. "So you don't think I'll ever find out as to who these people were?" 

"No, I don't think you will unless someone from their time was here to tell you and even that's practically impossible as we don't know what era they were from as the textbooks that we use now have been around for a very long time. I can even remember using them when I was a boy." 

Lucy chewed on her lip, all hope was lost. She had been wondering about something so stupid for a very long time and it was all for nothing. How could she be so stupid? Of course it didn't have anything to do with the Medieval Islands, just because their titles were Prince and Princess it didn't mean they were associated with the Medieval Islands but she had hoped so desperately that they were. 

"I don't mean to upset you but you must trust me in that your studies are more important, as well as what you're part of," Binns said. "You are Merlin's descendant and it is your destiny to defeat Zuc." 

"Thank you, Professor, I appreciate your time and patience you have given me with this matter," Lucy took out her wand and put all the books back in their proper places. 

Binns handed her her book back. "I must ask, though, how did you come by this book?" 

Lucy remembered the time when she had been making a potion in her fathers Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and had left her book in her bedroom and needed it to confirm the potion. Snape had allowed her to borrow the copy and since then she had wanted to know about the Half-Blood Princess. 

"My dad's classroom, I needed to borrow a copy when making a Potion and it was in his top drawer."

"I suggest, if you really want answers, you should ask him about it as he is the one you borrowed it from," Binns pointed out.

"That sounds like a good idea, thank you so much, Professor," Lucy smiled. 

"Goodbye, Miss Snape, good luck with your mystery." 

Lucy walked out of Professor Binns' classroom and into the hallway. To her surprise, when she rounded a corner, her father was walking down the corridor. He was alone and looked a little troubled. 

"Dad!" Lucy called as she ran towards him. 

"Lucy," Snape frowned. "Where on Earth have you been?" 

"With Professor Binns...going over something for History of Magic, I didn't quite understand it; I got the dates wrong," Lucy lied, she didn't know how comfortable she was about asking her dad regarding the book as Professor Binns had pointed out to her it could be someone's nickname. She didn't want to sound stupid. 

"I'm glad you take your studies seriously, but surely it couldn't have taken that long? Lessons finished two hours ago." 

"We went through a lot in the textbook," Lucy added, she felt terrible for lying. 

"Okay..." Snape nodded slowly. "Well, I'm heading down to the Great Hall now, do you care to join me?" 

"Of course," Lucy took Snape's side and together they walked down to the Great Hall. Snape shuddered as this corridor looked very much like the one Lucy ran down in his vision but then again many corridors in Hogwarts looked the same. 

Lucy and Snape didn't say anything to each other, they just simply walked through the school to the Great Hall. Lucy couldn't think of a conversation starter and neither could Snape, it had become awkward between them and neither of them knew why. 

"I wonder what they've got for dinner," Lucy blurted out. "I'm starving." 

"I'm hoping they have the pie," Snape joined in. 

"Why the pie?" 

"Why not?" 

Lucy looked up at Snape and both of them burst out laughing. 

"Oh, you do make me laugh," Lucy ceased laughing as her chest began to hurt. She hugged Snape all of a sudden. "I'll see you later." 

Lucy walked into the Great Hall, leaving Snape to stand there on his own. It was times like these that he felt most guilty for lying to Lucy about the unbreakable vow he had made. But he couldn't tell her. 

"Ignorance is bliss," Snape murmured as he stepped into the Great Hall.