The Potions Assignment
"Today," Snape began ominously, already roaming his black cold eyes over the class warily.
"we will be beginning with the term assignment." There was a wave of whining murmurs and moans. Hermione beamed. "Silence!" The sounds stopped abruptly. Snape continued his way through the class. "This potion will take approximately fifteen days to create if you follow the procedure correctly. It is known as the ''Oriri Legatus Potion'' This powerful potion will allow one to find out just where did they inherited their magical powers from. In addition, it will also list your most forward magical traits and thus will be able to guide you into the career in which you would thrive." The Potions master stood still for a moment for his students to absorb the magnitude of the task. A lot of the kids wore depressed and dejected faces whilst Ms Granger's was with gleaming eyes. Mr Malfoy was as coldly indifferent as was expected, never one to show overt emotion, although Snape knew that his godson was just as, if not more, thrilled than the Granger girl.
"This potion will count for ten percent of your overall year mark so I suggest you don't take it lightly. You will be making the potion with your regular partner as per usual." There was another rumble of moans and grumbles. Snape smirked triumphantly. "The ingredients that you will need will be listed on the board. Note however, that some ingredients you will not find in this classroom. It is your responsibility you get hold of them when the time comes to add them into your concoction. Some that are missing can be found in the Apothecary in Hogsmeade and some in the Forbidden Forest." Snape lilted the last, enjoying the terrified faces on the students when he mentioned the latter, especially Mr Longbottom's which was drained of colour.
"This is how I will grade your potion: The rate at which the potion reveals the magical traits and abilities that the drinker possesses is directly proportional to the quality of the potion. If your potion takes more than about a minute to do so, you will automatically be rewarded fifteen percent for it. If it reveals in the exact time it takes for you write all the magical properties down you will be rewarded ninety percent. After twenty seconds – seventy percent, after thirty seconds – sixty percent, forty seconds – fifty percent, fifty seconds – forty percent, fifty five seconds – thirty percent and beyond that you will be automatically graded fifteen percent as previously stated."
There was a cacophony of mixed emotions around the Potions classroom. Snape headed back to the front of the class and stood in front stoically. "Now this does not mean that you will not be given anymore work, teaching will go on as usual. Now get on with it." Snape immediately turned around and left for his study, leaving a morose and frustrated class behind.
Hermione squeaked in delight. "Can you believe this Harry, this is so great!" Harry answered her with a scowl.
"Oh come on Harry it's not that bad. Plus you're working with Malfoy so your potion is bound to be perfect," she tried to assure him. Harry's scowl grew even deeper, she just complimented Malfoy.
He sought revenge. "And you'll be working with Neville," he reminded her, his mood having lifted a little. It was Hermione's turn to scowl. She packed up and stood up to move to Neville's desk huffily. Harry did likewise and packed up his things to head to Malfoy.
"Malfoy," Harry greeted. He dropped off his things and crossed his arms.
"Potter," Malfoy greeted back impassively, already setting up the table. He then stood up and also crossed his arms after tossing his head to rearrange his impeccable hair. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, neither backing off and admitting defeat. "Why do you love to look at me so much Potter?" Malfoy asked finally with a hint of a smirk on his lips.
Harry instantaneously blushed and averted his gaze. "I don't love to look at you, Malfoy," he pouted, his tone bordering on petulance.
The infantile smirk graduated to a full blown one. Malfoy got to work. "You can start by collecting the ingredients that you can find that are listed on the board. I had already known of the assignment so I know which ingredients that we are missing, and three of them I can tell you are in the Forbidden Forest." Malfoy finished off with a curious undertone.
Harry ran away from the table to get the relevant ingredients so that he couldn't hang out with Malfoy any longer than he had to, especially when the git kept referring to that blunder that was the Modelling competition.
Harry came back with the relevant sample ingredients and deposited them on the table.
"When are you free so that we can collect some ingredients from the forest?" Malfoy asked, remembering the first year encounter with a dark monster in black robes when he was serving detention with Potter in the Forbidden Forest. He would never admit that he was relieved in having Potter as an accomplice because he was the most powerful student in the school.
Harry was a bit taken aback at the early start, he should have known Malfoy wasn't going to slack on the Potions work. Aargh. "Er, I'm not su-"
"Tonight it is," Malfoy interrupted, he wasn't going to go around Potter's diary of all people. "Seven 'o clock. Don't be late," He warned with a stern look in his Harry's direction.
"I haven't even been given a choice in the matter!?" the raven-haired boy exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in indignation.
"Of course not," Malfoy replied, looking slightly affronted at the words. "Now you can begin by shredding those and finely chopping these," Malfoy ordered the young Gryffindor. Harry huffed and invariably did as he was told. God the guy was beyond insufferable.
After a few minutes, Harry and Draco had settled into a harmony of diligence. Harry was pulverising the mistletoe and Draco was slowly stirring the magenta brew under licking flames. It was short-lived though.
"Potter, what exactly was that thing you created when we were duelling?" Malfoy asked Harry in a drawling tone that belied the curiosity behind it. Draco wanted to know just what was that thing that nearly made him see his end. Potter seemed agitated since he was starting to grind the mistletoe harder into the stone of the mortar with the pestle he had clenched tightly in his right hand.
"Leave it, Malfoy," Harry replied tightly. He was concentrating on grinding and twisting, grinding and twisting. He didn't have to tell Malfoy what happened back there and how on earth did he conceive to create such a monstrosity of hell. A slight trail of shivers left Harry's hair on end at the back of his neck.
"I think I have a right to know exactly what nearly killed me that night, Potter,"
Malfoy said, his arms now folded, having finished the required twenty four anti-clockwise stirs.
"I don't know," Harry finally answered in a small whisper which was barely audible.
Draco was the master of subtlety and he caught that silent answer. "What do you mean you don't know, you're the one who made it?" Malfoy persisted, unperturbed by the other boy's passionate pulverisation of the mistletoe plant into fine grey powder. Although he did start to notice some of his exquisite cutlery beginning to oscillate, albeit minutely. The sudden rush of adrenaline through this blood squeezed his heart into a pumping hysteria of muscle tissue; Manifestations of raw power.
Harry's jaw worked a little before he warned the blonde Slytherin. "Malfoy, just drop it, okay. I told you, I don't what happened, it just did,"
Malfoy didn't pay heed to any of Potter's words, he wanted to know how Harry had achieved such a feat of creating a stadium high fire snake, and he wanted to aggravate Potter even more so that he could see where the slight vibrating of the potions utensils would end. "No Potter, I will not leave it, I was nearly engulfed by that huge thing and I want to know just how you did it," Malfoy demanded heatedly.
Harry had to control his emotions, just like he had been instructed to, he couldn't let the snobbish ponce get to him. Harry closed his eyes for a few seconds to control the fear and anger welling up inside him. He opened his eyes again which were resolved and fixed and then continued with grinding the mistletoe. The plant was reduced to very fine dust at his extensive hand, he observed.
Malfoy saw that Potter was trying to actively calm himself. That infuriated Draco immensely. He wanted to see Potter's power and he wanted to know why Potter didn't want to reveal how he had done that spell of the huge fire snake. He needed a way to aggravate Potter and he needed it now. Ah, yes, always reliable to fall back on, the boy was disgustingly Gryffindor and thus wouldn't take too kind in hearing his friends' insulted on their person, history or overall worth. But he couldn't just start such insults out of nowhere, he needed a substrate, a precursor he could latch on.
"Potter you are not answering me," Malfoy said with barely hinged irritation and mostly anger, though his tone was still measured yet forward and demanding at the same time.
"We should be concentrating on making the potion, Malfoy, not on big scary fire snakes," Harry replied with a soft, flat, almost sing-song tone which was sufficiently patronizing as Harry noticed with the white of his eye, Malfoy sporting two feint blotches of pink on either cheeks. One really did have to had to admire the self-control the blonde git possessed. He never showed an adequate amount of emotion that would do justice to the relevant situation, even though you could see he was seething behind that mask of cool indifference, he would always make you doubt that observation by blind-sighting you with a very sharp retort or do something graceful that left you feeling you really were inferior. And this could be achieve with the boy just walking past you with an impassive countenance after having a heated argument which happened very seldom because Malfoy usually had the last laugh.
"Potter!"
"JUST LEAVE IT OKAY!?!"
The windows shattered instantly into a thousand pieces. The potion jars and containers exploded in a hundred colours, covering the classroom floor in a rainbow of colours and textures. After all the broken pieces glass and ceramic, there was stunning silence. No one moved, no one spoke. All stood stock still, their arms and hands over their faces protectively to guard against the flying shards. There only two souls still standing were Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Harry had maintained a deathly glare trained straight at Malfoy throughout the entire fall out of the destruction of the Potions classroom, and Malfoy was effortlessly returning the gesture.
Draco had prepared himself for anything when he began his interrogation of Potter knowing that the boy was capable of almost anything, so he tried his best not to flinch at anything that was to suddenly happen. He wasn't particularly proud of his performance when the sudden thing did happen but he wasn't too disappointed either. Malfoy did flinch when things started exploding instantaneously but he didn't throw his hands over his face instinctively like the rest of the class.
He then concentrated on holding Potter's piercing, emerald violation of his eyes. There were green and white sparks that were sparking along the line of their eye contact but neither of them saw them.
A few moments had gone past, the class was still inert. Then, slowly, the door to the study of the Potions master opened. Professor Snape walked slowly out of his quarters and made his way carefully into the classroom, avoiding the mysterious horizontal line of green and silver sparks crackling between Mr Potter and Draco. Both were free of glass pieces and potion stains as well as their immediate surroundings, while the rest of the class was covered with his well established and sought after potions and the shattered glass windows which looked like they had been blown clean from their frames from the inside out since there was little of the glass on the classroom floor.
"What happened here?" Snape asked mainly at the class since the other two were too engaged in killing each other with their eyes. The class slowly came to after being stupefied to inaction by the violent explosion.
Hermione Granger was the first to break of out it and answered the black clad man, though she lamented to because it was his friend's head on a platter, especially considering the rare dragon scales that had been obliteration as well. "It was... Harry, sir," Hermione admitted, her eyes searching for Ron in the aftermath for consolation after such an inadvertently perfidious act. Snape's strong suspicion was confirmed. He turned to the perpetrator and walked to stand in between them, but not in the line of fire.
He eyed the sizzling sparkles warily before addressing the two, not granting the impressive and never before seen magic works any more appreciation. "Mr Potter, would you kindly explain yourself?" Snape said tersely. The sparks instantly vanished as soon as Snape had spoken.
Harry finally averted his eyes to the floor in shame. "Sorry, sir," he mumbled.
"I didn't ask for an apology Mr Potter, I asked for an explanation," Snape sneered in a clipped tone, albeit a little shakily; he was still absorbing the fact that a good proportion of his potion ingredients and whole potions were blown to smithereens. Now all he had was the what was in the supply room.
A moment of silence passed where everybody anticipated Harry's answer and the Potions professor eyeing the raven-haired boy with an unreadable countenance. "I guess I overreacted a bit," Harry finally said in a small voice, head still downcast.
Snape gave Harry an appraising look and then to his godson. "Are you alright, Mr Malfoy?" he asked the lean blonde.
Draco turned to his professor with emotionless eyes as usual and answered; "I'm fine, professor,"
Snape nodded curtly and then turned towards the rest of the class. The class collectively gasped, waiting for the explosion from the professor since he hadn't bellowed out yet in fury. Snape swept his wary gaze across the room, taking in the damage with dispassionate eyes. "Nobody touch anything. Everybody will calmly retrieve their belongings and make their way carefully to the door. It appears that the potions have somewhat mixed amidst what had happened here and it thus gives rise to chances of volatile reactions. Class dismissed."
The students looked appreciatively shaken at their professor's words. They cautiously packed their quills and grabbed their bags and slowly walked out of the class, some even tip-toeing, now knowing that any part of the floor could literally blow up in their faces.
Harry and Draco didn't move from where they were, knowing that since their were involved in the mess, they would have some answering to do or detention to receive. Draco on the other hand wasn't as worried as Harry; his godfather probably wouldn't give him the detention since the entire class was gone and mainly because he wasn't the cause of the destructive phenomena.
The last of the students trickled out of the devastated Potions classroom. Professor Snape looked over the damage again and fought down the surge of fury and frustration that threatened to rise up to his sallow cheeks. He went back to the two boys. "Well, Mr Potter, you've truly outdone yourself today," Snape sneered. "Since I cannot give you the detention of cleaning the mess that you created because of its volatile status, I will however let you spend your detention in the Forbidden Forest, looking for the ingredients that you and your lab partner need for the assignment I just gave out today. Alone," Snape smirked down satisfactorily at the unruly boy.
Malfoy contributed with his own patented smirk. Now he wouldn't have to go into that dreaded forest after all. Malfoy was forever indebted to his mentor, because he really wasn't up to braving the same place where he had an frightening encounter with a big, black floating figure that had just feasted on a unicorn again.
Great, just great! Harry thought miserably. "Yes, sir," he said, rearing his head up again and tentatively glaring at Malfoy for his misfortune. Malfoy responded with a quirk of a groomed blonde eyebrow.
Snape nodded. "Very well. You're both dismissed." Snape said. He went back into his study and shut the door tightly.
Harry started collecting his things. "Well, Potter, that was quite something. Are you proud of yourself?" said Malfoy smoothly.
Harry ignored him. He heaved his bag and walked to the door, and went out, Draco soon following after allowing a chuckle to himself.
Draco walked slowly to his Arithmancy class with a smile on his face. Did you see that, Potter just blew up the entire Potions classroom! Merlin! I swear I nearly pissed my pants off back there. How in Merlin's name did he do that!? In this area, Draco didn't feel at all guilty about thinking about Potter and how powerful he was. It was something far removed from his natural and grown hatred towards the Golden boy. When Potter did these sort of things, Draco regretted not approaching Potter more properly when he proposed for a friendship back in first year.
"Sweety, whoever gave you that smile does know they will have to go through me first, yeah?" Pansy Parkinson warned lightly as she linked her arm with Draco's.
Draco got out of his marvelling mental recount of the events in Potions that day. "Of course, Pans." He smiled brightly at her, not seeming at all contrite at being caught thinking about Potter of all people. They entered the classroom wit the air of a royal couple and took to their seats.
Today they were learning about the speed with which an object travels to the caster of the 'Accio' spell as a function of first order sound frequency, magical maturity (basically how powerful a witch or wizard you were) and second order aerodynamics, mass and Gravitas (the equivalent of Gravity in Muggle terms).
Draco had read somewhere that Gravitas originated from a curse which was cast tens of thousands of years ago by seven godwizards which visited the earth at one point. Apparently, the godwizards upon their return to the heavens or wherever they came from, didn't want to inspire the people of earth to attempt to do what they did. So in order to leave them grounded, the seven godwizards cast a very powerful curse that apparently, amongst their enchantment when activating the spell, the word 'gravitas' was heard and thus was called that from then one, created a very powerful force that attracted everything to the surface of the earth. He had read this story from one of the books in one of the libraries of Malfoy Manor but he had his own misgivings about the tale.
After a double lesson of challenging and brain-jerking Arithmancy, Draco made his way back to his dormitory to go and chill out, he would go to the Great Hall later for lunch.
Snape, after going into this study for do something, later emerged from the room and went out of the classroom to the headmaster's chambers before his next lesson which would have to be theoretical since the hardware had been obliterated. The spilt potion ingredients were unpredictably unstable and someone with superior cleaning skills to sort the mess on the tables and floors, as well as the superior ability to reduce the contaminating effects of active magic when dealing with magically sensitive ingredients, was needed. And Professor Snape had one of the best wizards alive who could do just that within earshot: Albus Dumbledore.
"Come in!" he heard the old coot's muffled voice beckoned in after rapping twice on the large oak doors. Snape walked into the uselessly cluttered office and stood in front of Dumbledore's desk. Snape nodded his greeting.
"Severus, my boy, how good of you to join me during tea," Dumbledore exclaimed elatedly.
Snape wasn't at all shaken by the man's ridiculous statement, he was used to them. "It's ten in the morning," he drawled brusquely. Dumbledore just twinkled his eyes at him and Snape rolled his eyes. "It's about Potter," he said curtly, getting to the matter at hand to escape the weird inclinations of his superior.
Dumbledore raised an aged eyebrow. "Yes, Severus? What about Harry? Lemon Drops?"
Snape didn't entertain the gesture. "He has struck again. It would seem that whatever you advised him for the problem that he has proved to be ineffective. This morning in my Potions class he somehow managed to clear my window panes of glass and my containers of potions. I found the classroom in devastation when I came out of my study,"
Dumbledore furrowed his forehead and then stroked his beard. "And may I ask what provoked such a reaction from young Mr Potter?" the headmaster asked.
"It was another confrontation between him and Mr Malfoy, and you know what those two are capable of around each other or to each other to be more precise," Snape replied.
Dumbledore made an agreeing nose and then steepled his hands. "Did Mr Malfoy do anything specific to upset Mr Potter, Severus?" inquired Dumbledore.
Snape came up short. He hadn't bothered to investigate the events preceding the incident because, well, he just didn't give a owl's feathery arse about Potter or anything else that was. And his favouritism for the Slytherin Ice Prince might have to be blamed as well to a small extent. "I believe Mr Potter was just being his merry self, always thinking he's above everyone else and thinking the rules don't apply to him," he replied confidently.
Dumbledore quirked a curious eyebrow at the Potions professor. "And exactly what punishment did you deal young Potter?"
Snape looked congested. There was no use lying to the old man, he could probably see through walls let alone a five millimetre thick cranium. Damn the man's Legilimency skills. "I sentenced him to a detention in the Forbidden Forest to collect some ingredients that would be necessary for the term project their currently working on," Snape answered guardedly. He knew the man would never perform Legilimency on a person without their express permission. This fact alone swayed Snape without a doubt and without need of any other evidence, to the conclusion that Albus Dumbledore was a Gryffindor in his much younger years.
"Really, it sounds rather interesting. I do believe that his term project is a dual one am I correct?"
Snape exhaled tiredly, the man knew everything. "Yes," he said tersely, all but hissing, he knew where the man was going. "Then I suggest young Mr Malfoy join him in this little disciplinary expedition would you agree? Seeing that it would serve as his input in the assignment as well as Mr Potter's concurrent punishment?"
"Of course," Snape agreed detachedly with a bitter smile that fell too soon. Dumbledore nodded with a small smile of his own. He made to stand up. Snape now knew that the headmaster knew of the initial purpose of his visit. Snape joined the man alongside out of the office and to his annihilated classroom.
Draco found a ratty school owl on his study desk when he came into his private room. He approached the bird with caution as it seemed the owl was agitated, probably having waited for a while. Draco deftly removed the note from the legs of the bird and immediately the owl hooted indignantly and shot out of the open window. Draco shook his head in amusement at the actions of the owl. Really, birds shouldn't be allowed such personality. He read the note:
Mr Malfoy,
You have detention this evening at 20:30 in the Forbidden Forest together with Mr Potter.
There will be no supervision. Meet Professor Hagrid at the Care of Magical Creatures class site who will note your and Mr Potter's attendance.
Professor Snape
What the? Didn't Snape just let him off the hook? Dammit. Draco couldn't explain the note so he just burned it and collapsed on his bed for a while. Well, he was planning on getting the ingredients that evening so it was no biggie. It was his free period and he wanted to lie down a little and get some studying done before CMC; he had two graphs to plot; one for the 'Accio' spell and the other for the 'Lumos' spell of which its intensity was a function of the magical maturity alone (physical factors that influenced its intensity are never covered). He sighed. Damn Potter. The morning Potions incident was still fresh and raking on his mind which inadvertently lead to thinking about Potter, the boy didn't deserve such consideration.
"Harry how did you do that!?" Ron asked in awe as soon as his friend had caught up with them in the hallway on their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"Do what?" Harry asked reluctantly, knowing exactly what his friend was referring to.
"I mean, I can understand the explosion, you're a very powerful wizard Harry, but, what was happening between you and Malfoy?" Ron squeaked in disbelieve. Hermione was also curious herself and eyed Harry with barely hidden expectation and patience.
"What?" Harry asked bemusedly. He didn't know what they were talking about after all.
"Harry, what we saw when you and Malfoy were giving each other death glares was like, sparkles, green and white brilliant sparkles, Harry," Hermione informed her friend, her usual eloquence survived by astonishment.
Harry furrowed his head in confusion. "Green and white sparks? I didn't see that at all," he said, genuinely confounded.
Ron and Hermione shared a look. "What do you mean you didn't see that... thing between you too? It was bloody magical!" exclaimed Ron.
"So you didn't see anything strange when you were eyeing Malfoy?" Hermione asked reasonably.
"No," Harry replied. What were his friends on about?
Ron shook his head, refusing to lay the case down. "It was like there was so much hatred between you to that it was physically manifested!" Ron said, his voice light with unyielding amazement. Harry and Hermione raised their eyebrows simultaneously, impressed at their friend's words, Ron wasn't the most articulate of people in Hogwarts, or the Wizarding World for that matter.
Hermione then furrowed her head, considering the statement. "It could it be a possibility. But, if that was possible, then wouldn't that happen with you and You-Know-Who Harry? Has that happened when you two meet? What am I saying, of course you wouldn't be able to see it if you apparently couldn't with Malfoy back there,"
"Maybe it does," Harry said, somewhat trying to console her friend at her lack to find a solution to a problem.
"So what did Professor Snape do?" Hermione asked, trying to move on from her defeat. Perhaps she could stage another confrontation between Harry and Malfoy again and have that thing recreated in control conditions and then draw up hypothesis and – she should get over this.
"He gave me detention in the Forbidden Forest, alone," Harry said dejectedly.
Hermione gasped before looking indignant. "He can't do that to you! Surely you have to have some supervision from Hagrid or something, what if something bad happens to you and then who are you going to look at?" Hermione frantically asked.
"Slimy git," Ron growled curtly.
Harry shrugged. "Well it's Professor Snape, and he did it. At least I won't have to die alongside Malfoy," he said a little with hope.
"He let Malfoy go," Hermione half asked, half stated dryly.
"Slimy git," Ron declared again.
"Yes, Ron, your considerable observations have been duly noted. We should go to Dumbledore about this, he can't let you go into the Forbidden Forest alone, Harry, especially considering what happened during first year," The bushy-haired girl argued further.
Harry shrugged again. He wasn't as freaked out as one would expect. Harry had been through a lot and a few creepy sounds and breaking twigs couldn't scare him, right? I mean, he has duelled with Death Eaters who were solely using the Killing Curse as if it was quickly going out of fashion. A forest full of creatures and plants couldn't hurt him, right? That's what Harry figured at length.