Chapter 4: Fascination
Finally after a long wait the room door opened and an icy voice behind it said, "Enter." Placing down her book and looking at her companion who was gazing at the door with a frightened expression she asked, "Aren't you already used to this by now?" Lea looked at her and shook her head no, "Not really." It seems for Alena that the girl had frozen on her position so grabbing the other girls arm she dragged her inside the room.
The room was quite gloomy in atmosphere, honestly in her opinion it suited the cold and dark dungeons as well as the personality of the Potion's Master. Looking everywhere she spotted an empty seat at the end of the class and dragged the girl with her. When they had settled in she looked at the direction of the Professor and wondered on why he always seems so uptight about everything.
Professor Severus Snape stood in front of his advance sixth year class with a grimace on his face, although the class number is fewer than usual he still thinks that not all of them deserved to be there, like for example the new student whom based on the grades that was given to him is has more than advance skills than any of the room but Severus Snape is no fool that he would believe those kind of things until he sees her real ability, "Rich pureblood like her could have paid the professor there to give her excellent remarks." With a sneer he started his annual speech, "I expect that since all of you had gotten enough marks to proceed not only on the NEWT level potion class but qualify to the advance class to know and have a single knowledge on what is the purpose of potion making. Therefore, I shall not see anyone of you exploding cauldrons and misusing your potion ingredients. Failure to obey these and you will be suffering my complete …" he looked around maliciously "… displeasure."
"Now, to test whether you are really deserving to be in this class," he paused and looked at Alena's direction, this of course didn't escaped her notice and looked at him rather coldly. "Today I will be assigning you to brew a particular potion which you had already brewed during your OWL's, however since this is an advance class and I presume that since everyone of you managed to get here unless you had made a miracle to receive such marks…" once again he shot her a cold look, "…you would be brewing this potion without any written instruction. You can find everything that you need in the store cupboard"—with a flick of his wand the store cupboard sprang open—"you have an hour and a half… start."
Alena momentarily closed her eyes and rearranged her thoughts; then she looked at the direction of the store cupboard where the students swarmed eager to get their ingredients though most of them as Alena had observed were wearing troubled expressions when the professor announced that the potion have to be done without any instruction materials. When she had noticed that there were only a couple of students left on the cupboard she made her way there, "No point of rushing, it would only take up unnecessary energy." She thought as she started to get the ingredients that she needed.
After getting everything that she needed she went back to the worktable that she shares with Lea, once she was settled in she tied her hair so that it wouldn't get in the way while she was making the potion then she started brewing. One thing that she like about Potions that is unlike any other branch of magic it needed the brewers utmost attention and control over things without relying so much on magic. Whenever she brews she feels some sort of peace within herself and momentarily forgets her problems.
Severus was discreetly looking at the new student utterly fascinated by the aura and the persona that she gives off; although he still suspects that she did not deserve the ridiculously high marks that her last Professor had given to her. "We'll just see Miss Rochefort how well you do," with that he stood and began examining the works of his students.
"I suggest not adding another moonstone powder Mr. Bartelby unless you find cauldron explosions amusing which I do not," he sneered as he passed the Gryffindor boy; he continued his inspection until he reached her table. He looked at her cauldron, the potion is in the perfect shade of silver as it should be; clearly he had underestimated the girl. Severus looked at the position of the girl and almost smirked, she was sweating but the look on her face was a look of pure concentration and looks like her attention is only focused on the potion. Turning on his heel and continuing his inspection he didn't see a pair of dark eyes glanced at his figure before getting back at what she was doing.
Turning down the heat on her cauldron she bottled and labeled her potion and walk to the teacher's desk, "I'm finished." She said looking at her professor expectantly. Severus wasn't shocked at all when she handed her potion early, as far as he had observed she was brewing on an advance speed, "Place it on the table," he replied without even taking a glance at the student.
It was the first time ever since she had arrived at the school that her professor's voice was somewhat velvety and pleasant to the ears though most of the time he sounded cold but the containment and coolness of her voice was pleasant to hear.
Shrugging the thoughts she nodded and placed her vial on the table. Walking back to her worktable she cleaned after the remains of her brew and looked at her seatmate who appeared to be struggling, "Try stirring counter-clockwise twice then three times clockwise." Lea looked at her and muttered small thanks. After cleaning up her workspace she glanced around and saw that everyone is almost finished with their potions and some were just bottling theirs.
She sat down silently and observed the room since it was the first time that she had been inside of the classroom; jars adorned the walls and she doesn't want to guess what is inside of the jars. Then her eyes fell on the Potion's Master who was sitting behind the teacher's table writing at some parchments. He was not ordinarily handsome that when you look at him you would easily fall in love though his face is the classical type and his aristocratic nose is pretty attractive to those who knows how to look, but the frowning and scowl that was written on his face was enough to drive someone with sense away; his demeanor however fascinated Alena, it was attractive the way he, without much effort, could show dominance even on the slightest action.
It wasn't uncommon for Alena to have a crush on a person much older than her, there had been several men on whom she had have crush on but she didn't act upon it because for her it's just a matter of idolization and nothing more than that. A light tap on her shoulders shook her out of her musings, "Hey, I'm Melissa Miles. From the noble house of Slytherin too, if you don't mind me asking, what are doing with that loser?" A pug faced girl looked at Lea's direction with disgust on her face, "Actually I mind. So don't ask me anymore," she replied. She wasn't really in a mood for another mindless debate with a blood supremacist.
"How dare you—you filthy little bloodtr—" before the girl could even finished what she was saying red angry boils suddenly appeared on her face; Melissa screamed as she felt the harsh boils on her face. "Professor! Help me!" Alena's demeanor didn't change nor did her body posture so it was hard to determine if it was her who did the spell, but if anyone had been looking the entire time they would see a swift moment when her eyes flashed red. "Mister Williams please escort Miss Miles to the infirmary." Severus Snape looked at the new student with narrowed eyes, he had heard the whole ordeal but he wasn't certain if it was the Rochefort girl who had hexed Miss Miles.
Alena didn't feel like eating, she was full yet she doesn't know the reason why. She was sitting at the end of the Slytherin table, whilst she could feel the piercing glare that Melissa Miles and her group was sending on her she decided just to ignore it.
"Ey, It seems like you had gathered some hoard of hags," Alena looked at the person sitting on her right and smirked, Chase Bazet was a family friend and she was used to his harsh words. "Imagine, she was just a new student and already managed to get people hate her; Wow! That's a brand new record." Of course Chase presence wouldn't be complete without his twin Chuck who was grinning at her. "I just wanted to make an impression, besides it's that idiot who assaulted me first and you know me, I don't like rude people."
"Whatever you say Darling. So, you'll be joining the quidditch team?" Asked Chuck, "I hadn't really thought about that…" She can't believe that the whole quidditch try-outs had slipped on her mind, if her sister was here she had probably been smacked in the head. "I plan too—thanks for reminding me—how about the two of you?"
"Well I'm a chaser in the team while Chuck here is the seeker of the team. You should try-out for a chaser position, we could always do some of our aerial moves on the game, I'm sure you'll give professional players a run for their money." Alena actually chuckled at this, she like quidditch but she had a different perspective in life than most people, although she is capable of reaching fame easily by pursuing the quidditch field just like her sister but her heart had already been lured by the delicious smell and the sweet promise that the potion mastership as well as the mastery of the dark arts.
"I will."
AUTHORS NOTE:
To all of my readers I'm sorry about the chapter delay; I transferred at a new school and got a lot of problems there so I didn't have the time to write a new chapter. Please tell me what you think about this chapter.
