Chapter Ten: Potions Race
I disclaim anything recognized as being made famous by JK Rowling.
I hope you enjoy it!
Keena's Point of View:
The first day of classes usually would mean no students entering my classroom unless they were sent in by Snape. Instead I found myself tutoring a muggle in geometry. I had never taken geometry before, maths are only used at Hogwarts in Potions, Arithmancy and occasionally in Herbology. I hadn't done that well in Potions, I hadn't taken Arithmancy and I had never been advanced enough in Herbology to need to use math. It had never been a problem before because I always knew what was going on in those three classes and could easily ask for clarification of the appropriate professor.
"I just can't do it!" Kaleb complained loudly when his quill's tip snapped for the third time. "And why can't I use a pencil or something?"
"I'll send a house-elf out tonight to get us one, but for now you're going to need to use the quill. You don't need to press quite so hard," I reminded him again, fixing the quill with a flick of my wand before turning back to my teacher's edition of the geometry book. I was reading ahead a little bit to get a better grasp of the situation. "Merlin's beard, are you supposed to do all of this in your head?" I muttered, unable to keep my mouth shut.
I looked up at the sound of a thump. Kaleb's head was resting on top of his paper.
"This isn't going to work, is it?" he asked, his voice muffled as he spoke into the desk.
"We don't have a choice, so yes it is going to work out. I promise we won't let you fall behind."
"You can't promise stuff like that," he said, peeling his head off of his parchment and looking at me, inky numbers scrawled all over his forehead.
I sighed and took my wand out, flicking it in his direction in order to give him a clean forehead.
"I just can't promise that I'll be the one to deliver all of your lessons, that's all," I explained patiently. "I'm fairly certain Professor Sprout can help you with biology, it shouldn't be so terribly different from Herbology and the differences that are present should be easy enough for us to figure out. Literature is something I can help you with, I'm sure. Sirius already volunteered to help you with Physical Education—"
"I still have to take Gym?" he groaned, slumping backwards in his seat. "Why do I need Gym?"
"Who is Jim?" I frowned.
He stared at me, his hands frozen as they raked over his face while I stared back waiting for an explanation.
"Wait, you aren't kidding?" he asked after several moments.
"No."
"Gym is short for gymnasium, it's where PE is taught, if you can call it teaching," he shook his head dramatically.
"Well, it is on the curriculum from your secondary school, so yes, you still need to take it. I think Dumbledore said something about teaching you a language, but I need to double check that it's a human language first," I frowned to myself but I did notice the way his face lit up. "Anyway, Professor Burbage knows enough about muggle history to help you out there; we're just lucky it's supposed to be European history this year for you. She's going to do some extra research into US history in case you're still with us next year as well. I'm afraid you won't learn anything about technology at all while you're here though."
"I've lived without my Gameboy this long I guess," he sighed unhappily. "And my Nintendo..."
"Now there is also a class called Life Sciences that you're supposed to take," I said, choosing to ignore his whining; Kailey had explained about video games and they just sounded like a waste of space and time. "According to the book I read it talks about…your body." We both turned bright red. "Madame Pomfrey is going to help you with some of that."
"Why not Sirius? Or Remus or James? Or even Kailey's dad?" I managed to suppress a snort at the idea of any of them talking to Kaleb about what this class entailed. Especially Snape. "Why does it have to be a girl?" his voice went up a pitch as he complained. "Dad already tried to give me the Talk," he added hopefully.
"Tried?" my lips quirked.
"It amounted to me uh… 'keeping my rocket in my pocket'…" he trailed off when I snorted. "Do I really need to take a Health class?"
"I'm afraid so," I nodded. "Don't worry, I won't even help you with that, if you have trouble go straight to Sirius."
He gave me a pleading look for a moment longer before sighing and shaking his head.
"When are they all going to have time to teach me?" he asked finally accepting the position he had been placed in. "And where am I going to go to talk to them all?"
"You can go to the Hospital Wing while you're with Madame Pomfrey just in case a student needs her while you're in there. Sirius said something about commandeering the Quidditch pitch but I don't know if that's actually going to work, you might go to the Room of Requirement instead—it turns into whatever you need it to be. I still need to talk to Professor Sprout and Professor Burbage just for confirmation," I sighed when I caught the bored expression on his face. "Here, look at this list of books and let me know which one you would like to start with."
"I get to choose which books I read?" he asked excitedly, though his face fell when he saw the list I had given him. "Do I really need 'Romeo and Juliet'? Everyone knows how that one goes," he groaned.
"You know the basic storyline, but I doubt you know the details and those are what drive a story," I replied with a shake of my head. "And like I said they're on the curriculum. Don't you want to keep up with your friends?"
"If I have to read I want it to be something good," he countered immediately.
"How about this; for every muggle book you read, I'll find you a wizarding version. Sound like a deal?"
"There's no wizarding version of 'Romeo and Juliet'…" he trailed off, frowning at me.
"Of course there is," I grinned. "It's just considered the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, a witch and wizard who are destined to be lovers but the unfortunate presence of a jealous witch animagus plots to tear the two apart. It's like that with a lot of Greek mythology now that I think of it…" I trailed off in thought for a moment before I caught the look on Kaleb's face. "Would you care to begin Shakespeare's best-known love story now?"
He pulled his chair closer to his desk, sitting up straight while I summoned two copies of the play from the stack of books Dumbledore had ordered for Kaleb's benefit.
Kailey's Point of View:
"I can't decide if I like having a free period first thing in the morning or not," I confessed as Harry, Ron and I made our way to the dungeons where we would have our first DADA class with my dad. We had spent the morning doing what amounted to nothing. Ron and Harry had played a few rounds of chess with me inserting moves for either side whenever I saw fit.
"Why not? Don't you think it's a relief?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Just think; we won't be rushed at breakfast ever again."
"This year," I reminded him. "But I'm more afraid that I won't bother to do my homework until the morning it's due."
"You are pretty good at procrastinating," Harry nodded with a small smile. "Like the time you didn't finish your History essay until lunch the day it was due."
"Exactly, and I don't think I can get away with that stuff with dad."
"You couldn't get away with it with Binns," Ron reminded me. "Didn't you get a T on that one?"
"I got a P thank you very much, Mr. I-Get-T's-Routinely-In-History," I corrected, laughing when he stuck his tongue out at me. "Doesn't matter, we never have to deal with Binns ever again."
"No, we're just all stuck with your dad for the rest of our years here," Ron rolled his eyes. "I don't care what you say, Kailey, it's still a right pain to have him harass us all the time."
"No one ever said it wouldn't be a pain," I shrugged, secretly hoping that we would have to deal with my dad for the rest of our schooling. As in, he wouldn't get hit by the stupid DADA curse.
We found Hermione standing in front of the classroom with a small group of our fellow sixth years, including Draco. He ignored us as though he hadn't just spent an entire summer living under the same roof and befriending my brother. That suited me just fine; I didn't need to deal with his bull anyway.
Hermione just had enough time to bet against my dad in the homework department before the door to the classroom flew open. Snape surveyed the class briefly, his lip lifting into a sneer before he gestured for us to go inside and find seats. He took attendance, managing to skip my name completely and then giving me a look of challenge to see if I would correct him. I glared at him, pleased when I caught the flicker of approval that flashed across his face. Maybe I was getting better at copying his expressions. Either way it didn't matter as long as I fulfilled my role as an abandoned daughter.
Anyway, after the most disturbing description of Dark Arts I had ever heard (Harry gave me a look that said I should have warned him), Snape allowed us to pair off to practice non-verbal casting. Harry looked between me and Ron for a moment, obviously not sure if he was supposed to pair with me because I was his girlfriend or with Ron because he was his best mate. I winked at him and moved to stand with Hermione.
We faced off for a few minutes, our faces turning a bit pink as we tried to figure out how to defend ourselves and cast spells at the same time. Luckily, I had thought to ask Keena what the best thing to do for this type of lesson would be beforehand; I was the only person in the room who was still breathing consistently, though I was pretty sure Hermione would still beat me out in casting first.
Expelliarmus…Expelliarmus… I thought, feeling sweat beginning to accumulate on my forehead. I gripped my wand harder and stared straight at Hermione's wand. Snape paused to watch us and I felt a strange sensation in the back of my mind. Of course he needed to see what I was thinking. Instead of thinking about snogging Harry to gross him out, I fueled my anger into my next attempt. EXPELLIARMUS!
Light shot out of my wand, shocking me into a gasp, and Hermione's wand flashed white light, repelling my curse effectively. We both let out a sigh of relief that we had actually succeeded and I couldn't help but grin and glance at Snape. No approval but no sneer either. And, of course, no points for Gryffindor.
A few others looked between us enviously and I'm fairly sure some of the Slytherins were muttering about how "Of course it would be Granger and Snape, the know-it-all and the Death Eater's daughter for all that they hate each other now." I ignored the mutterings in favor of high-fiving Hermione.
"How'd you do it?" Ron muttered, his wand still trained on Harry, though Harry seemed to be asking Hermione the same thing.
"A lot of concentration and remembering to breath," I whispered back, glancing towards Snape, who was now staring Neville down. "That's what Keena said to do, anyway."
"You talked to Keena first?" he sounded put out that I hadn't shared the knowledge before.
"Course I did; I knew I'd be paired with Hermione."
"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape spat suddenly from behind me. "This lesson is about silence, Mr. Weasley."
He swept away from us to help a Hufflepuff who was turning blue. Apparently Keena was right about the whole not remembering to breathe thing. Unfortunately I was too aggravated with my dad to care at the moment. I wasn't sure if he normally would have taken five points from us each and he was just choosing to take all ten from Ron or if he was just taking ten points from Ron.
I turned to face Hermione and took a defensive stance. She took a deep breath and held it for a moment, aiming her wand at mine. We had both agreed beforehand that we would only use spells that we had mastered in third year. I had asked why not fourth and been told that that was when my Reductor curse had really come into its own. I chose to take it as a compliment.
It didn't take me long to discover that being on the defensive was much harder than offensive. I had no clue how close she was to casting her spell and so had to constantly repeat "Protego" in my head. I felt like I was wasting energy. If I was forced to defend myself in the real world, wouldn't I want to do it verbally anyway?
The thought caused me a moment of hesitation and suddenly a light was barreling towards me. I slashed my wand through the air, all of my energy focused on repelling her Petrificus Totalus jinx. The shield barely went up in time, but it came up with such a force that it caused the jinx to rebound and go flying towards my dad, who had been about to torment Harry by the looks of it. Harry noticed the spell before my dad and dodged out of the way, leaving Snape wide open to the attack.
He threw a shield up, but only managed to block part of the spell and his unprotected arm went completely rigid. The class, though silent before, went completely still as we watched our professor's face turn to one of complete and utter rage. For a split second, I hoped that he would blame Hermione and not me before realizing that that was a terrible fate to wish on anybody. Luckily, Hermione wasn't the one that he blamed.
"Ms. Macauley," he said through his clenched teeth, his eyes rising to lock with mine. "Stay behind. The rest of class is dismissed," he finished just as the bell rang signifying the end of class.
My peers scurried out of the room, though my friends lingered a little longer, trying to gauge exactly how dead I would be when I saw them next. Hermione offered me a horrified apology which I shook off and Ron gave me a look of sympathy. Harry looked like he wanted to stay behind with me, but Ron dragged him out without even waiting for me to give him a look. Entirely too quickly I was left alone with my furious father. He flicked his wand at the door with his working arm and I managed to stop myself from gulping.
"Twenty points to Gryffindor for two successful attempts at non-verbal magic on the first day," he began and my jaw dropped. "Don't be so surprised," he sneered. "You know I have to act that way in front of everyone."
"I know but I can't believe you're only giving us twenty!" I cried, flinging my hands in the air, sparks flying from my wand which I hastily set down when he glared at me. "Especially after you took ten off of Ron just for asking me how I managed to do it!" I continued glaring at him when he rolled his eyes at me. "Seriously, dad, this is wicked unfair even for you."
"I think it is fairer than I ever am with Gryffindors," he argued pointedly. "I can't just give you more points because you are my daughter."
"Dad, you only give Gryffindors points because I am your daughter," I pointed out, folding my arms and giving him a look.
"Then you should feel thankful that I give you any points at all," he stated, turning his attention to his arm. "Especially after what you did to my arm."
"I didn't do it; I was on defense that time," I smirked. "I didn't realize my shield was strong enough to repel her jinx."
"Actually, that means her jinx was strong enough that your shield was unable absorb its power. Perhaps I should take the points back…" he raised an eyebrow at me when I sputtered confusion. "Surely you were taught that the Protego shield is meant to absorb jinxes so that they cannot rebound accidentally and attack another wizard?"
"No one ever taught us the Protego charm, dad," I shook my head. "Harry and I learned it out of the book for the tournament and then last year he taught it to the DA."
"The DA?" he asked warily.
"Dumbledore's Army? The reason that Dumbledore got sacked last year?" I suggested slowly. "Harry took over as our DADA professor after Umbridge stopped Keena from helping us. How else do you think so many people passed their OWLs?"
"It might explain Longbottom's case," he admitted grudgingly. "How many points should have been taken off each house for this illicit club of yours?"
"Nice try, dad, but Sirius told me that you can't hand out detentions or take points off from previous years come September first. I checked with Remus to make sure he wasn't wrong," I added with a smirk when Snape opened his mouth to argue with me. "Can I go now? This is eating up my break time if you hadn't noticed."
"What I noticed was that you have a free period after break and another after lunch. Why aren't you taking Arithmancy?"
"I don't have an OWL in Arithmancy," I shrugged. "I don't need it anyway, not to do what I want to do."
"And what exactly is it that you want to do?" he asked, a sneer preparing to escape from his lips.
"Experimental Potions," I replied promptly. His face soured. "For the twins," I added brightly, privately disappointed that he wasn't pleased that I was doing something with Potions. "I've already helped them out with a few of their products and they pay me really well—"
"And what happens when their little shop fails and you are left on the streets?" he snapped. "You will have no real experience to offer on a decent resume."
"First off, their shop won't fail I happen to know the future remember?" I shot back, glaring at him. "Besides, Remus thought it was a good idea."
"Lupin is not your father," he hissed, his eyes glittering ominously.
"Well according to the Ministry of Magic, yes, he is," I snapped my mouth closed when I realized what I had said. Snape's face was murderous and anyone with any common sense would have bolted. "And don't you dare be angry with me or Remus for that one, dad; it isn't our fault that you decided to join up with his royal darkness all those years ago! Not to mention, Remus is getting married so I'll finally have a woman to call 'mom' again. I have my own Potions room and I don't have to live at the castle by myself in the summers or feel like the outcast at Potter Mansion anymore. Sorry if I go to Remus for help now, but he doesn't have to pretend to hate me every time someone else is in the room!"
I finished my rant panting, my glare matching Snape's completely. I was willing to bet that we had never looked more like father and daughter than in that moment.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Ms. Lupin," he sneered.
"Go wash your hair," I sneered back before turning on my heal and marching out of the classroom, slamming the door behind me before he could manage to take any more points off of me.
Keena's Point of View:
The door to my office slammed open and Kaleb and I looked up from our reading to see Harry stalking towards us. He halted his march when he stood right in front of us and Kaleb spared me a nervous glance before hastily moving to pack his things away so that he could go out into the classroom. Harry didn't even spare him a look of remorse as he shut the door quietly behind him.
"I just spent the last half hour trying to convince Kailey that no, Snape doesn't actually hate her and that she was right to be angry with him for how he was talking to her. I want to go and yell at him, but he'll just take more points off of Gryffindor and she doesn't want me to end up with detention with him this early in the year," he said calmly, though he clenched his jaw at the end of it and his hands were tightly fisted into balls.
"Okay," I said slowly in reply. "So they had a fight, not terribly unusual of them, Harry. Why was this one worse?"
"He insulted Remus and told Kailey that she shouldn't think of him as her father. And he disapproves of her working for the twins," he said, though it looked like it was dawning on him how insignificant the argument really was. "She's really upset though, Keena," he sighed, sitting down across from me. "He called her 'Ms. Lupin' and you know how she hates when he does that to her name."
"I do, and I'm not saying she shouldn't be upset, but I think you might be overreacting," I said, folding my arms and giving him a small smile. "It is the first day of school and this is the first time she's seen Snape in a few months, Harry. Think about the fights you have with your father; do you really mean everything you say to him, or even to Kailey, every time?" he shook his head quickly. "Don't you think this might be the same thing?"
He thought it over for a few moments. I waited patiently for him to come to his conclusion, though I did glance at the clock on my desk briefly; didn't he have any classes after lunch?
"Okay, I suppose you're right," he finally admitted bringing my attention back to him. "I was just mad that she was upset, I guess…" he trailed off and kicked at the floor.
"Harry, are you alright?"
He jumped and looked up at me with wide eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just…" he trailed off when I gave him the look. He blew out a gust of air and shook his head. "I'm confused. Happy but confused."
"Any idea as to why?" I pressed gently.
"I really like Kailey," he said simply, though he wouldn't look at me while he said it. "More than like her, really, I think I might…that I might…" he struggled for a few moments before looking up to see if I understood where he was going. "Anyway, how do I tell her? And how can I tell if she feels the same?"
"I don't know if there's a way to tell you that, but as far as actually telling her…" I shrugged my shoulders. "Just tell her. But only if you're prepared for what words like that can lead to."
"I know but…I just can't help it, I want to be with her all the time and…and…" he turned bright red. "I just get these feelings that I want her to want me the same way…"
Before I could reply to that, a pop in the corner of the room distracted us. We looked over to see that it was Sparky holding the baby, who was screaming her head off.
"I is sorry, Mistress, but little miss is only saying she is wanting you," Sparky explained, her eyes watering in her distress. "It is being like this all day," she added over Aradia's wailing cries.
"It's alright, Sparky, I'll take her," I replied, standing up and taking my daughter in my arms. "I'm sorry, Harry," I added when I caught him watching his baby cousin.
"N-no, it's fine," he answered, standing up as well. "I should go now anyway, Potions is coming up and I don't want to be late."
He left the room in a hurry and shut the door gently behind him. I glanced at Sparky to see she looked as confused as I felt.
"Why is Master Harry not liking little Miss?" she asked quietly.
"I'm not…oh," I smiled widely. "Never mind, Sparky, it seems we had good timing today."
Kailey's Point of View:
I dropped my bag onto my desk in the Potions room, not at all in the mood to do anything having to do with Potions. Yeah, it had turned into one of "those" days. Hermione humphed something about safety in the Potions lab when the knives and scales clanged together but Ron had shot her a be-quiet-she's-angry look. Harry had done nothing. Smart boy.
I sat down heavily on my stool and waited for Slughorn to waddle to the front of the classroom, absentmindedly staring at the three small cauldrons at the front of the room. It would be interesting to see if I would be able to make better short cuts than my dad for the Draught of Living Death. If I had, I was definitely going to brag about it as soon as I had the chance. If not, I would work on it until I had. Just to spite him.
I took a deep breath and was hit with a wave of scents, mainly consisting of burnt wood and a musky sort of smell that reminded me of pine. I felt Harry shift beside me and immediately felt stupid for not remembering about the Amortentia that was sitting not too far away from us. I snuck a glance at him and saw that he was slowly turning red.
"What's wrong?" I muttered as the class arranged itself.
"Did you put on extra perfume or something?" he muttered back, sounding choked.
"No, it's just a potion," I answered, nodding towards where it sat steaming at the front of the room. "Besides, I don't even wear perfume. Do you want me to switch seats with Hermione?" I teased, secretly hoping he said yes because it would be easier for me to concentrate on staying mad at my dad.
"No," he grinned, bumping shoulders with me. "I might need your help with this class after all."
Slughorn brought the class to order before I could reply. He directed Harry and Ron to the cupboard to gather scales, ingredients and a copy of the book. While they went to gather their things, he took attendance. A slight curl of his lip formed in distaste when he got to Malfoy's name. When he got to mine, I was given a cheerful greeting. I smiled briefly in reply but he was not deterred by my apparent attitude; I probably had my dad to thank for that. Nobody could look rude next to Snape.
Harry slumped back down in his seat next to me, his book landing on the table with a thump. I gave him a confused look and he jerked his head towards Ron's book, which looked almost brand new. I rolled my eyes at Harry and he shrugged back while Ron grinned widely in victory.
"Now, to start off today's class I have prepared a few potions for us to take a look at. Just so that you all get an idea of what you should be able to do after you've completed your NEWTs," he added proudly, puffing up his chest and causing his already tight waistcoat buttons to strain. "Can anyone tell me what this one here is?"
Colorless, odorless, looking deceptively like boiling water; it was clearly Veritaserum.
"Yes, dear?" he said, pointing at Hermione.
"It's Veritaserum, sir, a colorless odorless potion that forces a drinker to tell the truth," she answered with ease while I mentally patted myself on the back.
"Very good! Now, how about this one, the Ministry has been warning us about it lately—yes?" he broke himself off when he spotted her hand in the air again.
"It's a Polyjuice Potion, sir," she answered promptly.
"Yes, yes it is indeed!" he answered merrily, glancing around the room briefly before he continued, "Now this third one—yes, dear?"
"That's Amortentia, sir!"
"Indeed it is, but it seems foolish to ask if you know what it does?"
"It's the most powerful love potion in the world," she answered quickly, leaning forward slightly on her stool.
"Correct, my dear, correct! I assume you noticed it's rather distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?"
"And the steam is rising in the characteristic spirals! It's also supposed to smell differently to each person," she paused for air and I kicked her shin before she could open her mouth again. She turned slightly pink but didn't look away from Slughorn who was staring at her as though he had caught the last canary from the cage.
"What is your name, my dear?"
"Hermione Granger, sir," she answered confidently, the pink draining from her face.
"Granger as in Hector Dagworth-Granger, founder of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?" he asked excitedly.
"I don't think so sir," she frowned. "I'm a muggle-born, you see."
"Ah ha, so you must be the muggle-born friend Harry here was telling me all about!" he boomed and I felt Harry shift uncomfortable beside me while Hermione leaned forward in front of me to give Harry a curious look. "You certainly live up to the expectation, Ms. Granger! Best in the year, indeed! Well, go on and take twenty points for Gryffindor!" he clapped his hands once or twice as he grinned at Hermione. This time she did turn bright red.
"It's only true," Ron grunted, annoyed. "Everyone knows it."
"Why did you kick my shin?" Hermione muttered to me, ignoring Ron completely.
"I didn't think everyone needed to know that you smell freshly mown grass and new parchment with Amortentia around," I smirked at her and she blushed. "Though I am curious about the third scent?" she didn't answer me, just bumped my shoulder and pointedly turned to face forward.
"Sir, you haven't told us what is in that cauldron," Ernie was pointing to a small black cauldron sitting on Slughorn's desk.
I turned my full attention to the golden concoction, wondering if I would be able to make my own batch someday.
"Ah yes, Felix Felicis," Slughorn grinned at Ernie. "I'd wager Ms. Granger knows what it is and probably you as well, Ms. Snape?" he paused offering me the answer.
What the heck?
"It's a luck potion, sir, but it can become dangerous if taken too often thanks to how the body reacts to some of the ingredients over time. But, if taken sparingly, it will help you to accomplish anything your heart desires. Well, almost anything," I corrected myself with a shrug. "The street name is Liquid Luck," I added and he beamed at me.
"Excellent, and perfectly correct; Felix Felicis can be dangerous if taken too often. Ten points to Gryffindor, Ms. Snape!" he said, placing lids over all four of the potions before turning to face us once more. "And it is our prize today for the best potion brewed! One vial of Liquid Luck to whichever wizard, or witch," he paused to wink in my and Hermione's direction, "Can best brew a Draught of Living Death, which may be found on page ten of your book. I should first warn you, however, that you may not use Felix here for any sort of organized competition, such as exams or a Quidditch match. You will receive enough for a twelve-hour dose of luck, so to the winner, use it wisely! Now, off you go!"
The class immediately went to work; several people even brought their books forward with them to read which ingredients they would need. Harry gingerly opened his stained and inked copy, clearly afraid that it might fall apart. I gave the book a nasty glare for a moment before throwing myself into my work.
Seven minutes in and my potion was already emitting bluish fumes into the air. I was paying close attention to Harry's potion as he worked. So far I had changed two of the steps and he had changed none. I smirked to myself and looked closely at the next set of instructions, waiting for my one minute of sitting time to be up. My potion was turning slowly to a lilac color now. If I cut up the sopophorous bean I would get less juice, which meant more beans and more time. If I crushed it, I would get more juice and less time to brew. But, if I crushed it part-way, used half of the juice, stirred seven times counterclockwise and once clockwise before adding the rest of the juice, it would cut down on even more time as well as cutting down on stirring because the juices would begin linking to the other ingredients earlier so that when the rest were added they would just join up with the first round of juices.
The minute was up and I put my plan into action. I squeezed half of the juice into my cauldron, noting mentally that Slughorn was watching me, before I began to stir. He made a noise in his throat but I ignored him. I finished stirring and added the rest of the juice. The lilac color immediately began fading into clear liquid. Slughorn made an interested noise again, but I just moved on with my stirring and he left to inspect another table.
"How are you doing that?" Hermione hissed and I looked up at her. Her hair was as bushy as ever and she was glaring at my potion. "Harry? How did you do that?" she demanded before I could reply.
"Just add a clockwise stir every—"
"No! The book clearly says counterclockwise!" she replied angrily turning back to her stubbornly purple potion.
Harry and I exchanged looks and I grinned while he shook his head. I looked down at his potion and was pleased to see that mine was far lighter. One last look in the book told me I would be done once my potion was clear. I sighed; I hated when potions books didn't have clear numbers for me to play around with and I immediately wished I had kept better count.
"Time is up!" Slughorn called. "Please remove your cauldrons from the fire," he added.
He went around the room slowly, inspecting each potion, some more carefully than others. He stirred Draco's potion once and clucked his tongue at Nott's attempt. One of the Ravenclaws looked like she was going to burst into tears when Slughorn passed hers by without a second glance. Finally, he made it to our table. He smiled ruefully at Ron's mess and gave Hermione's a pleased nod before he paused between me and Harry.
"My goodness!" he crowed happily. "It looks as though the two of you have nearly tied!"
I looked down at Harry's potion again. It was slightly less translucent than mine was. I smiled proudly at the idea that I had beaten my father in Potions. He had made those changes when he was sixteen after all.
"In fact, my old eyesight does not permit me to determine the winner," he continued and my smile faltered. What was he talking about? Mine was definitely lighter! "Luckily, I have a way of testing these magnificent potions," he finished happily, waddling over to the front of the room to his desk.
"Kailey, yours is definitely lighter," Hermione muttered, her face clouded with confusion. I nodded in agreement but watched warily as Slughorn returned with two bright green leaves.
"Professor Sprout brought these in for me this afternoon just in case something like this happened," he explained. "These oak leaves have been treated with a solution that should help them stay green longer. However, if placed into these potions they should quickly disintegrate. Whichever leaf disintegrates first will show us which potion was closer to completion," he finished, waving everyone else forward to watch.
He held the leaves over each potion, counted to three and released them.
I breathed a sigh of relief when mine was the clear winner by a full three seconds.
"Well that settles it, then! Ms. Snape, congratulations my dear!" he cried happily, pulling a small vial out of his pocket. "You are the lucky winner today! But be warned; you must use it wisely," he cautioned me as I reached out to take it.
"I will sir, thank you," I smiled, holding tightly to my prize.
We were hardly out of earshot of the classroom when Hermione began hounding me.
"You shouldn't experiment in the classroom, Kailey!" she said sternly.
"Where else would I experiment?" I countered, rolling my eyes. "Slughorn is a great potioneer, like it or not, so he's probably the best one to screw up around. He's the one who taught when my dad went here," I added.
"That's not good enough, Kailey, what if we all got hurt or poisoned while you experimented? Look at what happened to Harry over the summer," she gestured to my boyfriend as he turned bright pink.
"That's not fair, I told him not to stand so close to the fumes," I countered angrily. "Besides, not following the book is more interesting."
"It might as well be cheating," she grumbled. Ron shook his head while Harry bit one of his lips.
"It's not cheating!" I replied shrilly. "I'm doing my own work, aren't I?"
She huffed but said nothing else for a few minutes. And then…
"Harry, how did you get so far today?" she demanded.
"For Merlin's sake," Ron groaned, looking up at the ceiling as we approached the Fat Lady's portrait. "Does it really matter, Hermione?" he continued while I gave the password.
"Yes, it does, because if he was following Kailey without knowing what she was doing when she hardly knew what she was doing then we could have been in even more danger!"
"That isn't what was going on, Hermione," I grumbled, giving a first year a look that I had learned from my dad. He squeaked and got himself and his things away from the couches in front of the fireplace.
"Then what? Did you tutor him over the summer or something?"
"I got it out of my book," Harry interrupted, taking Hermione's attention off of me. "Someone messed with the margins."
"So you were just following whatever that person wrote?" she was horrified and the frizz of her hair made her look slightly insane. Before he had a chance to reply she was hounding him. "I can't believe you would do that, Harry! That is so dangerous!"
"What's so dangerous?" I half-turned at the sound of my little brother's voice. "Hey Kailey, how was school?"
"It was good," I replied, happy to have him here to distract Hermione. "How about you?"
"It was actually interesting," he admitted. "Keena knows way more than I thought. There are lots of connections between the muggle world and this one, did you know?"
Hermione huffed loudly and the two of us turned to give her identical looks of annoyance. Unfortunately she wasn't deterred.
"How do we know that that book is safe to use, Harry?" she said, much more calmly this time.
"It's safe," I replied, waving a hand. "As long as he's not an idiot about it," I added quickly, thinking of Sectumsempra. "Like, the potions notes are definitely fine."
"There's more than just potions notes?"
I grinned and motioned zipping my lips and throwing away the key.
All three of them groaned simultaneously.
That's the end of this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! (Also, thanks for the review, Will Catch a Grenade 4 TL!) Up next will be chapter 11!
:-D