The Keeper
Chapter 2
Yulisa was so excited to finally be at Hogwarts, though in the beginning it was quiet difficult to navigate. With the shifting staircases, portraits that wouldn't stay put, and all manner of trick doors, the new first years got lost more than once. The older Gryffindors were usually more than happy to point them in the right direction, but since their classes were by year, the house's first years kinda banded together; often left to fend for themselves. Everywhere they went, people stared and whispered as Harry Potter walked within their group. Yulisa started to feel bad for him; having everyone point when he obviously just wanted to fit in. She too would get a weird look here and there because of her eye, but at least she was used to it.
Most of all, though, she was excited to start her classes. Yulisa was a bit of a book worm and had a great passion for learning; but she wasn't arrogant or a loud mouthed know-it-all. Her and Hermione seemed to get along rather quickly and they often sat next to each other. They liked to see who would get picked to answer questions more, and thought they would make good study partners; since none of the other students were as serious in their studies, nor would they agree to sit in the library with them. Side by side, Yulisa and Hermione walked down to the dungeons, cheerfully discussing their favorite potions as Ron and Harry followed behind them talking about Quidditch. Yulisa was looking forward to their first potions lesson. Potions had always been something she enjoyed helping her mother with. The dungeons were cold and a little creepy with pickled animals in jars along the walls. Trying not to look at any of their shrunken faces, Yulisa took her seat near the front with Hermione and took her parchment out ready to take notes.
Snape, like Flitwick, began class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name. "Ah, yes." he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new celebrity." Yulisa heard some Slytherins behind her snicker. When he finished calling the names he looked up at the class. His eyes were black, cold and empty. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death... if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Silence. Hermione sat on the edge of her seat desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. Yulisa felt similarly motivated yet she wasn't as enthusiastic as Hermione to prove herself; Yulisa already had a bad feeling about this professor.
"Potter!" Snape said suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Hermione's hand shot up instantly while Yulisa hesitated, but soon straitened up and gently rose her hand into the air. "I don't know, sir." said Harry. Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut... fame clearly isn't everything." He ignored the two raised hands. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Hermione stretched her arm lifting her hand even higher, Yulisa kept her hand up as well but didn't move. "I don't know, sir." Harry replied again. "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming? What's the difference, Potter, between monkswood and wolfsbane?" This time Hermione actually stood reaching her hand to the ceiling. "I don't know, but I think Hermione does, why don't you ask her?" Harry said quietly, obviously tired of this. A few people laughed. "Sit down." Snape snapped over to Hermione. She instantly obeyed and Yulisa too dropped her hand. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of the Living Dead. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" The room suddenly filled with the sound of rummaging parchment and quills. Over the noise, Snape said, "A point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter." At this Yulisa was ready to say something, this had gone far enough. Though as she opened her mouth to protest her better judgment caught up to her and she just took a deep breath and tried to let it go.
Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching and criticizing every move they made with the exception of Malfoy. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron and their potion was now seeping across the stone floor. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry boils sprang up all over his body. "Idiot boy!" Snape snarled, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Neville whimpered. "Take him up to the Hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville. "You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor." "Enough!" Yulisa suddenly shouted. Everyone immediately turned to look at her as she stepped down from her stood. "Harry wasn't Neville's partner and if it was anyone's responsibility to watch him, it should have been yours." Her voice wasn't very loud but firm. "How dare you..." Snape started in cold, venomous tone. "How dare you!" Yulisa interrupted him. The other students stood watching in amazement. "Passing yourself off as a teacher, when all you do insult us and pick on innocent people who haven't done anything. You've been acting just like a child." Snape's lips slowly turned into a smile, complete silence laid heavy in the air. "Detention, Carmona. And another point from Gryffindor." He said quite smoothly. He didn't need to tell her off, the wickedness in his smile was enough to deter any other students from making the same mistake. Yulisa just stood tall and calm, staring defiantly into his eyes. She should have known she couldn't have won against a teacher. After a few seconds of a rather intense staring contest, Snape finally whipped around and headed back toward the front of the room. "Bottle up your samples and clean your station. If I see even a spot left behind, I'll make you scrub cauldrons for a week." Snape threatened as everyone hurried to obey. Yulisa turned back toward her cauldron where Hermione stood with a rather disapproving expression.
Later that evening, an hour before dinner she reported back to the Potions classroom as Snape had instructed her. Firmly, she knocked on the door and waited. "Enter." she heard his low voice from the other side of the door. She obeyed. "Shut the door." he replied lazily as he looked over to a clock. She was five minutes early. "You are to scrub each and every cauldron until they are spotless... without magic." he added with a slight smile. "Yes, sir." she said quietly before immediately beginning. Despite his warning to the students earlier, many of them had missed several spots. However, not only did she have to clean the cauldrons from her class but from every other class it appeared. Some of them had crusty, caked on spots, others a slimy residue, and some were particularly nasty. Yet, she didn't complain or even appear disgruntled. She was used to muggle cleaning since she did all the house work at home and of course couldn't use magic because she was underage. One by one she cleaned each cauldron until it literally sparkled. Punishment or not, she had pride in her work and didn't half-ass anything.
After an hour into dinnertime she asked him. "Sir, will I be allowed to go for supper?" He looked up from the work he was grading. "Have you finished your task?" he asked even though he knew she wasn't even half through. "No, sir." she said calmly. "Then I guess you won't be eating." he answered with a cruel smile. Yulisa just went back to her work, her composure not faltering for a second. Snape didn't seem pleased with her apparent lack of disappointment.
Three hours later, she finished; cleaning her sponges and wiping any water up from the floor. Her hands were pruny and her arms and fingers ached. Yet, she put everything away and made sure the cauldrons were neatly organized the way she had remembered them being from the beginning of class. Satisfied, she walked over to Snape's desk to report her completion. He looked up from his papers and stared at her arms. Yulisa looked down suddenly remembering that she had forgotten to unroll her sleeves. Her arms were covered in old bruises and cuts, she quickly hid them. He just smiled coldly up at her and commented. "Just as clumsy as you are foolish, I see." She said nothing. He stood from behind his desk and went over to inspect her work. She hadn't missed a single spot, nook, or cranny. "Mediocre, but I guess it'll do." he concluded. "You are dismissed." She nodded and turned to leave. He followed behind her and as she reached for the door handle, he pushed his arm in front her grabbing it first. She quickly looked up him, taken a little off guard. Standing less than a foot from her he looked down, towering over her. "Don't ever insult me again." he said slowly in a dangerous tone. She just stared up at him, slightly frightened. "Now, get out." he hissed as he opened the door and glared at her. He didn't need to tell her twice.
It was late; the halls seemed deserted. She was tired and her stomach ached with hunger. As she made her long way up to Gryffindor tower she wondered if she could convince one of the twins to tell her where the kitchen was. "Why did Snape have to be so mean?" She wondered to herself. He was quickly becoming her least favorite teacher, and the way he had looked at her just then. She shuddered as she remembered his cold, cruel eyes staring down at her. They reminded her of her father.
{The first potions lesson scene was taken word from word from the book, with of course me adding in the new character. So that belongs to J. K. Rowling, not me; and of course the character Yulisa Carmona is SkrinklesLover4Ever's.}
