These characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Ten: Potion-Making
Amelia was jolted awake late one night in May. Violet stood over her, looking annoyed.
"Your friend is here. He's woken the whole house, practically. You'd better go down before he causes anymore trouble."
At first, she didn't know what she was talking about. But then she sat up, rubbed her eyes, and ran her words through her head again.
"Neville is downstairs?"
"Yes, would you listen?" Violet exclaimed, "He says it's urgent."
Amelia quickly pulled on her dressing gown and slippers and ran down the spiral staircase to find Neville surrounded by angry Hufflepuff prefects in their pajamas. When her feet touched the ground, they all turned to face her.
"What's going on?" She asked, ignoring the older students as she tied her robe tightly around her.
Neville looked wild, "The Mandrakes are ready. Professor Sprout said she's given us special permission to help get them ready since we volunteered. We need to be quick. Apparently, a student's been taken."
"Taken? Where? Into the Chamber?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Don't know. Professor Sprout wouldn't tell me."
Amelia felt jittery. So many things were happening all at once.
She glared at her prefects before following him out of the common room. He was walking quickly so she needed to run to catch up with him. When she finally did, she was panting.
"Where's Professor Sprout?" She asked.
"Already there. She had Professor McGonagall retrieve me. I don't know what she did to convince her. She was not keen on letting me out."
"I can see why, what with the missing student."
"Anyway, I was told to get you and then head straight toward the greenhouses. So I did. I wonder what she'll have us do."
"Nothing too dangerous, I hope." Amelia said quietly, "We're already risking our lives by being out of the common rooms."
"There's nothing to worry about. The professors will protect us from anything that may hurt us." He smiled reassuringly at her before pushing the doors to the greenhouse open.
There, Professor Sprout was counting the Mandrakes and muttering to herself. She looked up when they entered and forced a smile on her wrinkled face.
"What would you like us to do?" Neville asked, rolling the sleeves of his nightclothes up.
Professor Sprout grimaced, 'There's a lot. Since ear muffs won't block the Mandrake's cry now that they're grown, we have to put them to sleep so when we pull them up, they won't kill you."
"Okay." Neville huffed, "How do we do that?"
"Sleeping draught. Professor Snape is bringing all he has."
Both Neville and Amelia tensed at the mention of Professor Snape. He was someone neither of them enjoyed working with.
"We'll bathe the Mandrake in the draught and they'll fall asleep almost instantly. We have to be quick to pull them out, cut their roots and toss them into the potion. This part is really quite too dangerous for you too which is why Madame Pomfrey and I will be doing it. You two are prepare the rest of the potion. Professor Snape will also be helping as the directions are slightly above your level, understand?"
"Yes." Amelia said, though she was less willing to help the cause now.
She and Neville looked at each other. Then he gave, her a reassuring smile, flashing his teeth. This half-hearted grin lifted her spirits, just enough to face the terrifying teacher.
As if on cue, the room seemed to grow a little bit colder, a little bit darker. The hairs on Amelia's neck stood on end.
"Ah, Professor Snape, there you are. Have you brought everything?" Professor Sprout said.
Professor Snape looked at Neville and Amelia curiously. "I have. I must asked, Pomona. Why are these two out of their common rooms? Neither of them could possibly be much use to us. They're both dreadful at potion-making."
"They're here because they are both excellent Herbology students, Severus. And I would advise you hold your tongue. If I'm not mistaken, Amelia's father holds quite a high position in the school council. He could very well get you fired if he hears of you talking poison about his daughter."
Amelia didn't think that would happen at all.
"Nevertheless, they are children and students. Surely, it is dangerous for them to be roaming about the school."
"They're safe here." Professor Sprout insisted. "Their help is going to be very beneficial."
Professor Snape narrowed his eyes at them, "What will they be doing for us this evening?"
"I thought they could assist you with the brewing of the potion. But since you mentioned their performance in your class, perhaps that isn't the best place for them. I wasn't going to allow them to help me with the Mandrakes but-"
"Fine." He said, slowly, as if it pained him to say.
Professor Sprout nodded firmly before making her way to the Mandrakes on the other side of the greenhouse.
"This is a relatively easy potion so between the two of you, perhaps you won't manage to muck it up too badly."
He handed them each a copy of the directions. "Why don't you start with the slicing of the rat's tail, Mr. Longbottom. And Miss Malfoy you can measure out the goblin extract, yes?"
"Yes." She replied timidly.
With trembling hands, she took the bottle up and began pouring out the specified amount. She could feel Professor Snape's cold, black eyes on her while she worked. Even though they weren't in class, she knew that he was judging her, that he was thinking of ways to humiliate her later. It made her dread her next potions lesson.
She could see Neville working on the other side of the cauldron, his head bent diligently forward. He kept sending nervous looks at Professor Snape, who didn't seem to notice. Finally, he looked at her and gave her an assuring smile.
With this act of kindness, Amelia gained the courage she needed to continue working under the firm gaze of Professor Snape.
This process took much longer than she originally thought. Amelia wasn't even sure what time of night it was, or maybe it was morning. Her eyes drooped only once and she never yawned. The stress of completing the work was keeping her on edge.
She could hear Professor Snape working as well, in complete silence. Once, she looked at him and he was glaring forebodingly at the instructions for the potion. Amelia wondered if he was always glaring, no matter what he was looking at.
"I've finished with the Mandrakes." Professor Sprout said suddenly, startling Amelia. "How close are you with the potion, Severus?"
"We are finished, much to my surprise. Perhaps these two aren't as useless in crisis as they are in class." Professor Snape hissed.
"Excellent. Let's get the Mandrakes into the cauldron then." Professor Sprout said. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get those poor kids out of the hospital."
They all worked together to throw the cut-up Mandrakes into the cauldron. Afterwards, Amelia and Neville stood over the bubbling cauldron, watching as the Mandrakes dissolved. It suddenly began emitting a terrible smell that made Amelia's toes curl.
"I believe that's quite enough excitement for these students tonight." Professor Snape said finally, shall we get them back to their common rooms?"
Professor Sprout nodded, "Of course. I'll take them while you deliver the potion to Madame Pomfrey. I'm afraid we still have a long night ahead of us."
Amelia was abruptly out of her mind with exhaustion. Everything was numb and inaudible buzzes. She hardly remembered leaving the greenhouses with Professor Sprout and Neville and walking through the cold corridors in the pitch black. She closed her eyes and suddenly, Professor McGonagall was there, wide eyed and anxious.
"Ginny Weasley's been found. Harry Potter brought her out of the Chamber. Ron Weasley's got Lockhart. And somehow he's gone loopy. I need everyone."
Professor Sprout turned to the two students. "Are you two okay getting yourselves to your common rooms?"
Neville glanced at a zoned-out Amelia and said, "I think so, Professor. You should go ahead."
"Good night then. Thank you both immensely for your help. I'll see to it that Professor Dumbledore rewards you for your work." She said before hurrying after Professor McGonagall.
Amelia followed behind Neville slowly.
"Are you okay? You haven't talked in a while." Neville said eventually.
She yawned as she replied, "Yeah. I just got tired all of a sudden." She laughed quietly to herself, "Do you ever get so tired that you can't move?"
"Maybe sometimes." Neville said, smiling at her. "Are you really that tired?"
"I think so. I've never stayed up this late. Mother and Father always make sure I'm in bed at a decent hour and I've been doing the same thing on my own."
"Well here, if you really can't move, I'll help you out." He took her hand gently and pulled her along the corridor.
She laughed giddily and stumbled beside him until they were standing outside of the Hufflepuff common room. Their hands were warm against each other and when he let go, her palm felt cold.
"Thank you." She slurred, "I probably would have gotten lost if I'd been left to get back myself."
"I've gotten lost before and I know that's not fun. I wouldn't want you to go through that. Especially in your current state."
Amelia rubbed her eyes and stifled another yawn, "Well, I'm going to bed. Good night, Nev."
"Good night, Mel. Don't hurt yourself getting into your dormitory." He said this with a sly smile, one that Amelia had seen on the rare occasion when Neville was completely comfortable and at ease. This was one of her favorite versions of him.
She gave him one last fleeting smile before knocking on the door and sliding into the dark common room, alone once again.