4 – The Doppelganger

The class fell into complete disarray for the next five minutes, and despite Slughorn's best efforts, he couldn't squelch the side discussions being carried on with the enthusiasm normally reserved for Quidditch talk. Students were whispering about Riddle's "magic that had never been seen before." They spoke of charms where a castor could apparate a subject anywhere in the world upon command. They dreamt of potions that could make you invisible for a day. One student who aspired to work at Gringotts Bank predicted Riddle could materialize money out of thin air. There wasn't a theory too large or too small about what Tom Riddle would bring to Hogwarts in a few short days.

When Slughorn finally turned the discussions away from Riddle, he quickly lost control of the class again. Now, ideas for the Christmas Challenge were moving through the room as fast as the latest Nimbus model. Students were asking what spells could animate tiny muggle skiers to move down a rock ornament and then return them to the top again. Others wanted to make snowmen ice skate on miniature frozen lakes, witches fly on brooms to cover the ceiling in mistletoe, and Harry's favorite—a tiny version of Slughorn who falls into a cup of eggnog, then resurfaces saying, "Yum. Give me another cup, m'boy."

After hearing this last idea, the Professor flicked his wand and shouted, "Carpe retractum!" A purple flash of light shot out of his wand and wrapped itself around a plum, his temporary stand-in for demonstrating the eggnog ornament. The plum quickly shot out of the student's grasp and flew to the front of the room where Slughorn caught it in his other hand. The classroom banter finally died.

"Nice one," said Sirius.

Other classmates nodded in agreement.

"Glad I could get your attention." Slughorn flicked his wand again and the words "Carpe Retractum" wrote across the blackboard. "This is the charm we will learn today. Please put yourselves into groups of two, and we will begin to practice."

The students began to pair off. Snape looked down at his table.

"Hey Snivellus! Want to be my partner?" Sirius called over to him and snickered.

"He's already with me," said Lily loudly.

Sirius quieted. He and James took their place as partners while Pettigrew and Remus matched up.

"The object we're going to retract today is something near and dear to my heart." Slughorn held a bottle of butterbeer in the air. "What's special about this is only twenty bottles were brewed, and it has the most fabulous honey from the Forbidden Forest's rare killer bees.

"This means I do not want you to drop the bottle. If you do, five points will be taken from your house."

The students groaned.

"We already spent too much time discussing Mr. Riddle and the Christmas ornament, so that should inspire you to learn the charm quickly. Sirius and James, I want you to demonstrate first."

Sirius lit up. He strolled down the center aisle that divided the room in two. Once he was about twenty feet away from James, he turned to the class with a fearless confidence.

Slughorn handed the honey butterbeer to James. "Now remember, Sirius. When you say the incantation, it should be said with gusto."

James held the butterbeer a little to the right of his body. Sirius didn't waste any time in shouting, "Carpe retractum!" Purple light blazed from his wand stretching the center aisle in a blink, immediately wrapped the butterbeer in a delicate embrace, then ricocheted back to him. He caught the glass bottle as if it had been in his hand the entire time.

"Bravo, Sirius! Bravo! Five points for Gryffindor!" Slughorn was beside himself. "Now, James, I think you can top that."

James didn't look too confident but he shouted, "Carpe retractum," with nearly equal force as Sirius. The purple shot from his wand with comparable speed, but it didn't grip the bottle the way Sirius's had. The bottle flew back but suddenly the purple light disappeared two feet from James. He saw this coming, so he dove forward and caught the butterbeer just before it shattered on the floor.

"Magnificent! Only a Quidditch star could do that. Ten points for Gryffindor. What an effort!" Slughorn immediately patted the boys on the back. "With that performance, these gentlemen won't have any problems getting dates to the Yule Ball."

James turned to Lily, who blushed a little and immediately looked away. Then, he looked at Snape and the boys locked eyes for a moment.

"Okay, now who wants to go next?" asked Slughorn.

The students looked at one another with terrified expressions. After that performance, things could only go downhill.

"Don't be shy wizards and witches in training. You can be just as good as Sirius and James. Who's it going to be?" Slughorn paced a few times up and down the center aisle, until finally leveling his gaze on Lily. "Miss Evans. Why don't you and Snape take center stage?"

Lily's hand was on the table, and it started to shake a little, but then it immediately stopped. "Okay. Come on, Severus."

Lily walked to the front of the room as Snape took the butterbeer from James, looking in any direction but his.

"All right," said Slughorn. "Now remember, Lily. Say it with gusto."

"Carpe retractum." Lily didn't shout the words, but there was a strength to them and her wand responded accordingly. The purple light enveloped the bottle held by Snape and shot back in a controlled, straight line, flying smoothly into her left hand.

"Very, very nice, Miss Evans. Yours didn't have the glitz, but you showed immeasurable consistency."

Snape's eyes were glued to the floor a few feet in front of him. Sirius and James were whispering something to each other, but even if Snape heard them, his focus stayed on the floor, arms resting at his side, a picture of calm.

"This is the way a wizard should look before performing grrreat magic," Sirius whispered in his best Quidditch announcer voice.

When Snape shouted the incantation, the purple light shot down the aisle with ferocity that neither Sirius nor James had achieved, but where Snape's charm dominated in speed, it lacked in accuracy, and his light missed the butterbeer hitting Lily in the left breast.

Initial shock consumed the class.

Lily was pulled forward several paces before Snape reacted to what happened and lowered his wand to his side. His face became a chalky white and his hands began trembling. "Lily, I'm so sorry..."

His words were drowned out by the students' gasps. When Slughorn reassured the class that the charm wouldn't cause any physical harm to Lily, the initial shock turned to laughter.

Snape remained in the same place, his feet implanted in the floor like pillars. As the laughter swirled around him, it became apparent that he might never move from that place; he'd become a statue frozen in eternal infamy.

"Bravo, Snape! Bravo!" shouted James.

"I think he was going for a cheap feel," said Sirius. The Slug Club thought this was hilarious, and they congratulated each other with high fives.

Snape remained in the center of the room, taking all of the hits, until slowly the color returned to his cheeks. He turned to Sirius Black and flung his arm in the air, "Carpe retractum!" The purple light shot out, but Sirius dodged it with a ballerina's grace, as if he'd been five steps ahead of Snape. The light deflected off a glass stature of Merlin and split into four separate beams, one of them crashing into the butterbeer held by Lily. Lily, unfortunately, didn't have Sirius's precognition, and the bottle fell from her hands shattering on the floor—dark, killer bee honey, the rarest in the world, slathered the classroom floor, completely wasted.

Snape's mouth formed an O shape. But before he had time to take anything else in, Sirius fired back his own charm. The purple light hit Snape on the right leg. Sirius twisted his wand a little, and the light circled the left leg of his robe as well. After a small ripping noise, the robe's lower half glided back to Sirius, and Snape stood in his undergarments. "I knew it," said Sirius. "Always thought you'd be a tight guy instead of a free wizard."

The class erupted in more laughter.

Slughorn canceled the rest of the class that day after The Great Butterbeer Incident. Or Undergarments Incident. He wasn't sure which description fit better. After all of the students had left the room, only he, Snape, and Sirius remained.

"Detention for both of you. Twenty points from Slytherin. Five from Gryffindor," said Slughorn.

"What?" Snape clenched his wand. "How can you only take—"

"We can't always give in to our anger, Severus."

"No, no we can't." Sirius lowered his head to the floor, stifling a laugh.

"He's right," said Slughorn. "Teasing is one thing. Using a charm to get back is quite another. Sirius, you're free to leave, but detention this Thursday."

"Understand, sir."

"Good day, m'boy. And you, Mr. Snape. Is there anything else you need to say to me."

The anger Snape had shown moments before had now vanished. He held his wand, but it was dangling at his side. "Yes, Professor, there is something I would like to say."

Slughorn raised an eyebrow.

Snape eyed the corner of Lost Magic of the Dark Arts in the black, leather sack at his feet. "I first would like to apologize. Charms are normally a strength of mine, and I was embarrassed about what happened."

"Hey,"—Slughorn slapped him on the back—"it happens to the best of us."

"Not me," said Snape, his lip curling to a sneer. "But that's not what I wanted to say. I have an idea for the Christmas ornament, but I need your help."

"Oh?"

"I don't want my animation to stop after a few hours. That's the only kind of magic we know right now. I want to do something better."

Slughorn sighed. "If you're going to ask about—" He stopped.

Snape waited for him to finish and only spoke when it was clear he wouldn't continue. "I wanted to ask about the doppelganger root."

"Oh dear, I'm afraid I can't help you. We're fresh out of that. Last time I used that in a potion was ten years ago."

"You're sure there's none left? No reserves?"

Slughorn shook his head. "None whatsoever."

"Very well," said Snape. He stood and began to head to the door. "I can find it in the Forbidden Forest."

"Wait. Wait." Slughorn anxiously moved towards Severus. "You can't do that."

"Why?"

Slughorn looked around the room to make sure no one was listening. "The only doppelganger root is in the Willow Gorge. And it's dangerous. Grindelwald used doppelganger on the unicorns there years ago, but the results…"

Snape didn't say anything.

"Well, the results," said Slughorn, "were less than optimal."

"Doppelganger root should only copy the spirit of the living. Surely a double of a unicorn would be a safe—"

"It wasn't safe at all. Grindelwald created a new species. He should've known something was wrong when they came out blue instead of white."

"Blue unicorns." Snape showed touches of a grin. "You expect me to believe there are blue unicorns?"

"And they're ferocious beasts. Dumbledore didn't catch all of them. And the ones that remain supposedly have stayed near the Willow Gorge protecting the doppelganger root like a rare gem."

Snape stood abruptly. "Well, that does sound dangerous, professor. I was hoping to make the doppelganger potion to bring my ornament to life—extended life. I thought Mr. Riddle might be impressed." He shrugged and left the room before Slughorn could say anymore.

It wasn't until Snape was down the hall and out of sight that Lily stepped back into the room. "Professor Slughorn?"

"Lily, you're still here, dear."

"Yes. I was standing behind the door outside. I wanted to make sure Severus was… you know, okay."

"You're a good friend."

"Thanks. But you know Severus won't listen to you, don't you? You know he'll go into the Forbidden Forest looking for it?"