Disclaimer: Ladies and gentleman this is the disclaimer! Woo, I love the Offspring. Anyway, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from the book series. I own any character in here that are not in the books. Let's go.
A week later, Sebastian came at breakfast and dropped two letters neatly next to her glass of pumpkin juice.
The first one was addressed to her in emerald green ink. The letter said for her to go to professor Snape's room at 6:30 that night, and from there they will go to Professor Dumbledore's office and discuss her aptitude test. The next letter was from her father and mother. It read:
Dear Raychel,
We received a letter from your Head of House about what you are trying to do. We wish you luck on getting in to an advanced class. We both know you will do well in whatever class you are put in. Just remember to study hard, honey.
Love Mum and Dad,
She smiled and put the letter down to her right. It was quickly snatched up by Draco and he said "awww" mockingly.
At the Gryffindor table Ron and Harry laughed heartily at Seamus, Dean, and Neville. Neville had attempted a spell that they learned the day before in Charms. It almost worked until Seamus was startled by the racing jug of pumpkin juice and made a movement into Dean who then bumped into Neville who, being quite jumpy, moved his wand, breaking the spell. The jug tipped at the abrupt stop and the juice spilled all over the three, on Dean the most.
That night Raychel made her way to Professor Snape's office. They then went together to Dumbledore's office.
"No student has ever asked to go into a higher year class before, as you know Miss Garretson." Dumbledore informed her, his eyes twinkling.
"Yes sir, I do. Professor Snape had told me." Raychel responded back, with respect.
"Ah. Professor Snape has told me that you have a talent in Potions." Dumbledore said, and Rachel was not sure how to reply.
"Uh, my father, he owns many apothecaries. He loves Potions. I grew up around him making them, and sometimes," she chuckled, "when everyone was upstairs, I'd sneak down to where he keeps his cauldron and potion books, and make them. Some never worked for me, but sometimes I made them correctly. I made a few of my own potions as well."
"Ahh," Dumbledore said again, a smile playing on his lips. "Did they ever find out?" he asked,
"Yes, after a while. My father as not mad or anything; I think he was happy that I loved potions like he did." Raychel smiled.
"Well," Snape started, "You can do your test in an unused classroom. This weekend is when you will do it. Some potions need to stew overnight. You will have three cauldrons. It is a lot of work, but we will need to find out where to put you. If you have difficulty with any of the three potions, you can stop. This work is not mandatory or graded."
"Great, sir!" Raychel exclaimed, her blue eyes shining.
"Come to my office on Saturday morning after breakfast. I will show you where the room is, and you can go there straightaway on Sunday." Snape instructed.
"Thank you, Professors!" Raychel said, genuinely.
"You may go now." Dumbledore informed, and she left to go to the library and tell Hermione. She wouldn't gloat though; the potions are bound to be hard.
That Saturday she was informed on what three potions she was to make. Two of them had to stew for at least one night. A Strengthening potion was the sole potion that could be made in one day. The other two were a potion for dreamless sleep and a potion to put on wounds to help them heal faster.
She started on the Strengthening potion and finished that in a relatively quick amount of time. Professor Snape popped in and out at random intervals. By dinner her potions were stewing for the night, and she would be able to begin again on it tomorrow. She was told by Snape that unfortunately, she would have to take her written test on Halloween. She volunteered to do it during dinner; he agreed, saying she could eat while testing and he would grade it that night, with results the next morning.
During charms, Harry was paired with Seamus and they tried to get a feather to hover. Seamus somehow caused the feather to burst into flames.
Hermione and Ron were fatefully paired together. They bickered about the spell.
"You are jabbing your wand around and you are likely to poke someone's eye out!" She cried exasperatedly.
"If you are so good at this, I'd like to see you make it hover." He shot back.
Hermione, who was already known to be good at everything, well, not flying, made the feather hover, and earned points from Professor Flitwick. That seemed to put Ron in his place for the rest of the class, which he spent scowling at the feather as if it wronged him.
When the bell rang, Harry and Ron jetted out of class, and while they were walking to the Great Hall for lunch, Ron mocked Hermione.
"Oh, you're doing it ALL wrong. It's like this, agh." He spat, "It is no wonder she hasn't got any friends." Ron said viciously.
Hermione who was trailing behind them within earshot, started to cry, and ran forward, accidentally bumping into Harry.
"I think she heard you Ron," Harry said with some concern. He passed off, but looked guilty and uncomfortable.
While Hermione made her way to the bathroom, she passed Raychel in the corridor. She did not respond when Raychel asked what was wrong, so Raychel tailed her to the bathroom.
"Hermione! What the bloody hell is wrong!?" Raychel screamed, which seemed to be the only way Hermione would hear her between her own sobs.
"It's just...that Ron Weasley. All I did was correct him—I did not deserve to be made fun of. But I guess he's right. I don't have any friends." She whined.
That hurt Raychel a little bit, because she considered Hermione a good friend. She liked her; she made more sense than anyone else in their year.
"I'm you're friend," Raychel put in quietly. Amazingly she heard it through her crying.
"I'm so sorry. I know you are my friend, but it's just—"
Raychel cut her off, "I know. It's okay." She understood Hermione, and tried to make the slight hurt pass. "I'll go get lunch for both of us, and I'll eat in here with you."
Hermione gave her a water smile, and agreed.
During their lunch together, Raychel told Hermione about how Ron stiffed her the way he did a few weeks back after they got on okay on the train. She was shocked, and then called Ron a prat. She also said that she did not feel like seeing him in her class for the rest of the day. It was unlike her to not go to class, but she can understand her annoyance. Besides, Halloween is supposed to be a happy, fun day, why ruin it with the likes of him.
She said she'd see her later if she could, because she had to take her written aptitude test. Hermione told her that she knew she would do well, and the bell rang for afternoon classes.
Raychel took her written test while eating food from a tray that magically made more food appear when it was empty. She knew most of the material, and felt she did well. She went to check the bathroom to see if Hermione was there.
"Hermione, have you eaten!?" Her friend must have resumed crying because her cheeks were still wet. Raychel embraced her, because Hermione needed one. The feast should still be going on, lets get you some food!" Raychel said, trying to instill some sort of cheeriness into Hermione. "Come along, now."
She just got Hermione out of her stall, when she turned around and said, "Oh, Merlin." Color drained from her tan complexion, and her mouth gaped. A troll was in the bathroom. She was so busy trying to cheer up Hermione that it wasn't noticed that anything entered, let alone a troll. Hermione went out to see what caused Raychel to stop so suddenly. She let out a loud, ear piercing scream. What were they going to do!?
You guys know what's going to happen next…or do you? Kekeke.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed thus far. Review this please, I love feedback and suggestions.