The Princess and the Bezoar
"Alright, class. Time's…UP!"
The air in the potion's classroom was thick with sickly grey smoke. Several students were coughing and frantically waving their arms through the air. Various odours emanating from different cauldrons had combined; creating a pungent smell that could only be described as rotten eggs crossed with burning rubber and petrol.
"My apologies, everyone," said Professor Slughorn as he cautiously peered into one of the smoldering cauldrons. "Typically, antidotes pose a great challenge to my sixth and seventh year students. It was a bit foolish of me to ask so much of you so soon, despite the fact that you are, for the most part, a very bright group. Class dismissed."
The fifth year students scrambled for the door, attempting to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the putrid fumes which consumed the classroom. Only two students remained, huddled around their cauldron and apparently impervious to the horrifically awful smell. Slughorn beamed at them as he studied the contents of their cauldron.
"Miss Evans, Mister Snape, what have we here?" Slughorn said as he waved his wand over Lily and Severus's attempt at their antidote. "Oho! Excellent. Excellent. You are far closer than I imagined you would be. This is precisely why I allowed my students to work in pairs today; I just knew the two of you would be able to combine your strengths effectively."
"Thank you, Professor," Lily said politely. "Unfortunately, we appear to be stuck at the moment."
"Ah. Yes. But I have a confession to make," Slughorn began. "I ordinarily would not have expected any student to successfully prepare this particular antidote until well into the seventh year."
Lily beamed at Slughorn while Severus continued to feverishly stir the cauldron, not taking his eyes off the brewing antidote.
"Now. I am sure that the two of you won't rest until you have conquered this challenge. I'll be in my office in the unlikely event that you require any assistance."
Slughorn gave Severus and Lily one final grin before turning to leave the classroom. He left the door open, evidently feeling that the room could use a little fresh air. As soon as he left, Lily turned to Severus.
"Alright. What was that incantation you used to take care of the smell? It's not another one of your unregulated inventions, is it?"
Severus nodded furtively, smirking in the direction of his cauldron.
"It is!" Lily exclaimed. "Well, as soon as we're done here you'd better teach it to me. Those spells of yours are dead useful."
Severus shot Lily a brief smile before turning back to the task at hand. Bent low over the table, his brow furrowed, Severus examined several ingredients, carefully measuring their amounts. It appeared as if Severus was taking his current lack of success highly personally, despite Slughorn's words of encouragement. Lily, too, was quite intent on successfully brewing her first antidote, yet was able to remain far more relaxed than Severus. She perched on a desk, resting her feet on a chair and balancing her copy of Advanced Potions-Making on her knees. She flipped quickly through the pages, scanning the margins and trying to decipher her own handwriting, which often obscured the original instructions. She reread Golpalott's law several times, trying to fit her existing knowledge of ingredients into Golpalott's principles. She tapped her quill against the spine of her book, thinking hard.
"Mm, Sev?"
He grunted to show that he had heard her.
"Hrm. What exactly happened when we added the beetle's eyes?" she asked slowly.
"That, I believe, is what caused the particular odour of petrol in this classroom."
"Right. Right. How could I forget? But, was that before or after the sneezewort?"
"Before."
Lily nodded and then swiftly returned to her textbook, making a few more notes in the inside cover.
"Mm, Sev?"
Another grunt.
"Mind if I borrow your textbook?"
Severus picked up the book and thrust it over his shoulder, not turning around. He was stirring the antidote fiercely. Lily held the book in her lap but did not open it. She was watching Severus closely. He concentrated with such intensity, muttering to himself as he made quick calculations and added a few more ingredients. Lily began flipping through his textbook and comparing some of his notes to her own. She glanced over at the potion bubbling in the cauldron, ideas of necessary ingredients swiftly forming in her head.
"What are you doing?"
Lily jumped. Severus had finally stepped away from the cauldron. He appeared to be waiting for something to happen.
"Just trying to see which one of our textbooks has been most severely destroyed by excessive note making," Lily said matter-of-factly.
Severus raised his eyebrows at her.
"You appear to be winning," she said.
Lily turned Severus's tattered book over in her hands. Her eyes fell on something written along the bottom of the back cover in Severus's small, cramped handwriting.
"This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince?" she questioned.
Severus turned bright red. He hurried over to Slughorn's store cupboard and began to rummage for ingredients in a rather transparent attempt at avoiding Lily's inquiry.
"Half-Blood Prince? Is that-?"
"It's just a nickname," Severus said quickly.
Lily sighed. "But- but why must it be about blood status? I just think that, well- never mind."
Lily was instantly sorry she had asked Severus about the Half-Blood Prince. Blood status was rapidly becoming a very sore topic between them. Lily spent a great deal of time concentrating on not wondering what Severus's friends were undoubtedly saying about her lack of wizarding genealogy. Lily wracked her brains for something else to say.
"Hey," she began, hoping her voice sounded cheerful enough. "I thought there was some unwritten rule about not making up your own nickname!"
Severus flushed once more but seemed genuinely glad to hear the humour in Lily's voice.
"Let's say I start calling you…I don't know, er…the Potions Prince. How's that? It's a real nickname because I choose it for you and…and no mention at all of your birth," Lily finished softly.
"Potions Prince?" Severus asked, his eyes drifting over to their unfinished antidote. "Perhaps not right at this moment."
"Right! Sorry!" Lily leaped off the table, and hurried towards Slughorn's store cabinet.
She returned a few minutes later with an armful of supplies. Taking Severus's place in front of the cauldron, she carefully examined each ingredient before selecting a few to add to their antidote. When she had finished, Lily stepped away from the cauldron, watching the thick bubbling liquid turn from dark brown to a far more pleasant maple colour.
"Lily, that was brilliant," Severus declared. "I know we're very close."
Lily returned to her perch on the table, continuing to flip through Advanced Potion-Making. Suddenly, a rather hilariously obvious idea struck her.
"Sev? Could you do me a favour?"
"Anything," he said absentmindedly.
"If I am ever poisoned," Lily began. "Please don't spend two hours preparing a complicated antidote that will smell bad and taste horrible and possibly not even work. Just make sure that I swallow a bezoar."
Severus stared at her for a moment before a wide smile slowly crept across his face and he burst out laughing. Lily could not have been more pleased with his reaction. It was so rare that she heard Severus laugh. And this was a true laugh, brought about not by spite or sarcasm, but by genuine happiness.
"Oh, that's too easy. Especially after all the trouble this has been," Severus said, still grinning at Lily.
Severus picked up his own copy of Advanced Potion-Making, rapidly flipping through the pages until he came across a long list of antidotes. Lily watched as he scrawled something across the centre of the page.
Just shove a bezoar down their throats.
"Well then, I suppose we ought to carry a stash of bezoars with us at all times, in the off chance that I am poisoned," suggested Lily.
"No one would want to poison you, you're too- oh, billywig stingers!"
Severus dashed off to the cabinet, apparently having been struck with a solution. He did not finish his original sentence.
"Get some bezoars," Lily called. "Just in case."
Severus returned with a small cardboard box, which he set on the table in order to better examine the billywig stingers that had also been retrieved from Slughorn's supplies.
"I'm going to try grinding them," Lily said. "Just keep stirring."
Severus did as she said and soon he was stirring the antidote while Lily sprinkled the powdered billywig stingers over the cauldron. He knew instantly that they had finally been successful. The potion was now a pale, creamy colour. Silver steam rose into the air in tight spirals.
Lily grinned triumphantly as she ladled their antidote into a clear vial for presentation to Professor Slughorn.
"Hrm. Severus, have you ever really given any thought as to what it is that makes potions just so, so…"
"Superior to every other subject?"
Lily giggled. "Alright then, Mister Potions Prince. What is it that makes your subject so vastly superior?"
Severus stared over Lily's shoulder, clearly trying to come up with an impressive response.
"Because…because it's not about waving a wand around or memorizing textbook explanations. It's an art and a science. You need to use your intuition."
Lily watched him carefully. He was so incredibly enthusiastic about potions, it was infectious.
"And," Lily said as her voice took on a more mystical tone. "You can bottle fame…brew glory…"
"Even stop death," Severus continued as he gestured toward their antidote.
"Exactly."
They stared at each other, smiling and basking in the joy of their success.
"Oho! Miss Evans! Mister Snape! You can't possibly be done already!" Slughorn had bounced into the room, clearly shocked to see Severus and Lily talking instead of working.
"Actually, I think it is possible," Lily said slyly.
Slughorn peered into their cauldron, blinking rapidly. He was unable to hide his surprise.
"I-well, congratulations, both of you! You've exceeded my expectations, something I had originally thought was utterly impossible. Ten points to both your houses."
"Thank you, Professor," Lily said. "In fact, we have two antidotes."
"Two…?"
Lily held out her hand to reveal the small, wrinkled bezoar sitting in her palm.
Slughorn stared down at the bezoar for several seconds before he roared with laughter.
"A bezoar! Excellent. It certainly would act as an antidote to most poisons. Another five points to both Gryffindor and Slytherin for your cheek, Miss Evans and Mister Snape."
Severus and Lily turned to leave the classroom, but Slughorn called after them.
"Miss Evans! Why oh why aren't you in Slytherin? That could have been twenty points for my house!"
"I've no idea," Lily said without turning around. "Perhaps you should ask the Sorting Hat. Besides, you've got Severus. Isn't that enough?"
That night, Lily found herself alone in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. Grateful for the silence, she planned to spend a quiet hour studying before falling asleep. She grabbed hold of her school bag, dumping the contents onto her bed. Several books dropped out, landing in a pile in front of her. On the top, Advanced Potion-Making had fallen open, and Lily picked it up, turning it over in her hands. She immediately noticed the writing along the bottom of the back cover. She certainly had not seen it there before. Lily smiled as she read the words written in the familiar small, cramped handwriting.
This Book is the Property of the Potions Princess