Chapter nine
"The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between the great and the insignificant is energy – invincible determination – a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory."
By
Sir Thomas Fowel Buxton
Storm had to stop herself from biting her lip as she walked towards the Potion Classroom. She knew it was stupid, but she was terrified of Potions, terrified of whom would teach it because of whom had taught her. Even with her sister assuring her that the teacher was great she was hesitant.
Arriving she took a deep breath before entering the room and finding a seat at the back. A few moments later others started to enter and then Damien joined her and gave her a wink.
"Nervous I see." He whispered and she gave him a glare.
"I hate potions." She muttered before following his example and setting her things up.
"Don't worry if she taught you everything she knows, then you will do great." Damien remarked and Storm had to stop herself from snorting.
After a few minutes, the teacher arrived and Storm raised an eyebrow at the woman's appearance. Professor Hawkeye was a young woman with silver hair and purple eyes. Eyes that were all too different and which made her seem unique. She wore black jeans and a purple tunic with black leather boots.
"Alright you little devils, let's get started, today as your first Potion lesson I'm letting you pick and do any potion you can make in the time frame of this class. Whoever can make a perfect potion will get a prize." She announced before raising an eyebrow. "They all have to be at least fourth year level potions, so get a move on."
With hurried work Storm took her book out and started to look through it. She didn't know what potion she was going to do, but then she thought about the other book in her bag. She had brought two Potion books, ones that she had gotten from the manor and the textbook. The one from the manor though gave a list of potions that was organised by length of time and level of difficulty.
Hurriedly putting that book away, she took her other one and started to look through that. They had a six-hour Potion class since it was a double period. At last she arrived on a potion that she could make, it was a potion she had already taken before hand and never wished to take again because it was disgusting. Skele-Gro. The potion took about 5 and a half hours to make and twenty minutes to cool before it could be bottled and used. Making a list of what she needed, she left and got all of it. Returning to her table she got to work.
First she julienned one Chinese Chomping Cabbage then chopped 3 puffer-fish, making sure to be absolutely precise with every cut. Taking a bowl, she started to crush one scarab beetle at a time.
After doing the rest of the ingredients, she got to work by making sure that the small amount of water at the bottom of the cauldron was boiling before she added the minced ginger, Goosegrass strands and salt. With her large spoon, she started to bind everything together until it made a salve like substance. From there she added three drops of Salamander blood, two drops of Bouncing Spider Juice before adding two cubs of water, the Chinese Chomping Cabbage and one Sopophorous bean. After two minutes of stirring and mushing, everything together she was pleased to see that it was a light purple colour. Looking at the instructions she was proud to see that it was just the colour they wanted.
Damien grunted as he added Horned slug to his potion and as he waited for the time to past looked to see his best friends sister working on her own. What he saw made him smirk. This girl was really Tempest's sister because they had the same expression when concentrating on potions. Looking at her cauldron, he was just in time to watch as she added Fluxweed, which made the potion turn from the dark purple colour it was to a light pink. He wounded what potion she was doing, but shook his head and turned to his own potion.
In no time, the six hours passed and Professor Hawking called for all potions to be bottled and handed to her with tags. Smiling brightly, Storm was very proud to see that her own potion was colourless and was smocking. It had the same odder she remembered and she was positive that if she tried it now it would burn her throat. Gently bottling it all she labelled one vial and went to the front of the class to hand in her potion to the Professor. Returning to her station after she started to label the rest. She had learned from Tempest that they were normally allowed to keep the left over potion they made, if it wasn't a danger to others and if it was made properly. If it was really well made, the teacher would normally ask for some bottles to be given to the hospital wing, if needed.
Taking a small box out of her bag she enlarged it before opening it. Inside were multiple small yet tall slots that could house a vial perfectly. Swiftly placing them inside with unbreakable charms on each vial she smiled before closing the box and returning it to her bag.
"Alright class, I'm proud of today's work. To what I see, only a few of you need a bit more improving. I have received quite a few fourth year level potions and only a handful of upper level potions. My favourite though is the Skele-Gro, made by Tempest, well done, perfect colour, and texture and odder. You my dear win the prize come to see me after class and I'll give to you. For now pack up all your things and get going, time to eat." Professor Hawking announced and hurriedly people got to work in putting their things away.
Not feeling all that hungry, Storm started to clean her cauldron, making sure it was perfect before putting it away with the rest of her things. When the last person left the room, she went down. She was slightly shocked that her potion had been the best, but decided to push that to the side.
"Well done Miss Dumbledore, always capable of doing well in Potions. I didn't expect people to do Skele-Gro since it's considered a seventh year potion." The Professor remarked causing Storm to blush. "Well prize is three potions, one is Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, made by myself, a Wound-Cleaning Potion and finally the cream of the cream and something that you can't use just like that, is this little vial here." Professor Hawking remarked while showing Storm a small vial with a golden potion inside. "This is Felix Felicis also known as Liquid Luck. Look up on it before using it because it's very important."
"Sure thing Professor." She agreed before accepting the potions. Before she left though, the Potion Professor asked if she could take a few of the Skele-Gro potion off her hands for the infirmary. Storm agreed and after handing a few over, left for her dorm to put everything away.
Thankfully that was her only class of the day and so she was able to do a bit of homework and some research on the potions she received from her Professor, while making reports for Tempest. Her research was mainly for the idea about teaching Tempest Defence. She knew she couldn't go to Hogwarts to do it because that was just silly, but she had an idea about teaching her sister by memory. The only thing they needed was a pensive, which was very rare and expensive.
"Maybe, maybe I don't have to buy one." She whispered before hurriedly locating the folder that contained a list of all artifacts in her vaults and their uses.
Browsing through the rather lengthy list she always cheered when she saw that she had not only one, but two Pensives. One that came from her great, great grandfather Potter and another that came from the black family that was somehow connected to the Potters in marriage. Going to her writing desk she penned a swift yet polite note to the goblins. In moments an owl arrived and she handed the letter over.
"Go to Gringotts in London, England, Diagon Alley, they will know what to do with it." She ordered and with a hoot the owl flew off and she was left to think about other things. "Wonder how everybody is doing?"
Knock, knock!
Turning to the door she gave a frown before getting up and going to her door she opened it to find Damien standing there with two plates of food.
"You weren't in the Great Hall to eat so I brought you some food, not a good idea not to eat.", He said before walking in leaving her standing there in shock.
Shaking her head she closed her door and walked over until they sat on the bed and started to eat. Damien had brought Chinese food since it was one of the choices that night.
"You know, never had Chinese food before." Storm remarked causing Damien to chock.
"How could you not have had Chinese food before!" He exclaimed causing Storm to snort.
"Never had it because the Dursleys never gave it to me. Whenever they bought it I was only given two pieces of toast, and a bottle of water before being sent to my cu ... room." She stated saving herself before she could say the word cupboard.
"You ... those ... how could they do that?" He asked her worried.
"They hate me Damien, and I hate them. Plus now I have the joy of seeing what everybody loves about Chinese food." Storm announced before taking the chopsticks and taking a hug bite of some noodles. Instantly her eyes lit up. "What is this?"
"Beef Noodle soup with hot peppers added." He answered making her laugh.
"Tempest did say you loved thing hot, but this is really good. What else did you get?" She asked.
"Well that's Fujian thick soup, fried rise, those are Wonton's that have been fried, Kung Pao Chicken, Mapo Dofu, that's fried shrimps and that's desert, not really Chinese, but triple chocolate cake with brownie and fudge sauce." Damien announced causing Storm to brighten. "Got enough for at least five people so that we have enough."
"We best get to work then." She stated and in minutes they had both piled food on their plates and started to eat.
As they ate, they talked about different things, such as Storms life at Hogwarts and her likes and dislikes. He found that the only food she ever had was English yet that she always wanted to try different dishes and also wanted to travel to different places in the world. Something he also wanted to do.
"You know in my room I have a TV and a bunch of VHS's. Would you like to watch them, after all we don't start until late tomorrow. We can eat the rest of the Chinese food and the cake there." He suggested and for a moment Storm didn't know what to say.
"Are pyjamas okay to wear?" She asked unsure.
"They are mandatory." He stated and with a squeal of delight she put her plate down before running to her closet.
Damien chuckled as she got ready, before tonight he hadn't thought that anybody could act like that except for Tempest, but he was proven wrong.
In moments Storm was in a pair of fluffy and baggy hot pink playboy bunny pyjama pants and a white tank top, her hair was in a ponytail and she had a happy smile on her lips.
"Let's go!" She cheered causing him to grin at her enthusiasm.
In moments they had gathered the food and left for his own room. When they arrived he told her to go through a bunch of the VHS's while he changed. After a few moments, he returned and he had to chuckle.
"Chose something?" He asked while sitting down.
"What about this?" She asked while handing something. Looking at the title he grinned. Friday the 13th.
"Fine by me, I will set it up you give us both some more Chinese food.", He said before putting the movie in and setting everything up. When he returned they settled in before they dimmed the lights and started their night of bounding.
…
Weeks soon turned to a month and a month to two and before Storm could notice, things were flying by and she was having the time of her life at Salem. She had gotten in the rhythm of the Salem schedule and was top of her class in many of her classes. Damien had gotten her to eat a bunch of new foods like Indian, Italian, Jamaican, Lebanese, Thai, and all sorts of others. The Quidditch Season had also started and after being seen flying on a broom Storm had been recruited to play for a team in the tournament and so she was now Seeker of the Blue Hawks, a team of all girl players.
Currently she was talking with Tempest who was having a slight panic attack because it would be her first Quidditch game since she had never played before with the exception of playing with Storm.
"Tempy, you have nothing to worry about, you will do great, you and I share our talent for flying and you have a good idea. Who cares if it's against Slytherin, you are amazing after all I helped refine your skill. You will be amazing and you will show them what you are capable of even if they think you're me. You will see you will do great and I'm with you. My firebolt, may just be a broom for everybody else, but it's mine and you have me with you at all times. Just remember it's no different from what we did during the summer.", Storm said causing Tempest to sigh.
"I know, god I wish you could be here cheering me on." Tempest whispered, her voice soft.
"Hey now I am, I'm always cheering you on and you will see things will go great and you will win this match and every other match." Storm stated a grin on her lips.
"Well you had better have confidence for both you and me because right now I don't feel very much like a Gryffindor." Tempest chuckled weakly.
"Oh pish posh, just go out there and fly like you've never flown before. You will do great and Gryffindor is cheering for you.", Storm said before letting a yawn leave her lips.
"You look tired I had better leave you Storm, get your rest and I'll talk to you later.", Tempest said.
"Okay, by the way, you look very sexy in the Quidditch outfit." Storm laughed causing Tempest to grin.
"That's what I try for; by the way, your two friends are coming around. Man they can be stubborn though." Tempest joked and Storm laughed softly before they broke connection and she went to bed all her well wishes going towards her sister and what would be her first Quidditch game.
In the middle of the night, though Storm was woken up by searing pain in her ribs followed by searing pain in her head. She did not know what had caused it, but a sudden worry filled her mind as she thought about her little sister.
