Back into school rhythm

With Theo I headed down. "Nice job, Draco," Theo says. "Got us quite some points from professor Vector."

I feel pleased. "Yeah, well. Most of my knowledge was from Severus."

"You must learn a lot," Theo says slightly envious, "With Severus as your godfather."

"Well," I then say, "I like professor Vector. She doesn't accept mediocre answers. I like that."

Theo laughs. "Did you see Granger's face?"

"That was brilliant," I say. "I thought her head would explode. God, that must have been tough for her, not to have been able to take notes for once."

"I know right," Theo then reacts. "She probably even takes notes of the conversations she has with her friends."

I laugh. "How do you think care of magical creatures went?" I then add eagerly. "Maybe some Gryffindor lost his fingers to one of those horrid books." It is not that I wish some Gryffindor pain or illness, it is just fun to complain about them sometimes.

Theo laughs. "We can always wish."

We walk into the gloomy classroom. Severus smiles warmly at me for a second, then goes back to looking menacingly at Gryffindors, when everyone seemed to have arrived, he shortly addressed us. "Today you shall be making a shrinking resolution. I expect this should not be a problem, since I have assigned you an assay over the summer vacation. So you should all be properly prepared." He then looks a little smug. "None of you should have any reason to be fearful if I say we might try out some of your concoction on your familiars." He gives Longbottom a long, menacing look, making him wimper. Maybe Severus sometimes goes a bit far. I frown. Or Longbottom should just grow some backbone. Then he waves his hand. "The recipe is on the board. You still have forty-five minutes, so I guess you all better start."

Theo is getting the ingredients, while I'm preparing the right temperature for the potion. He throws some caterpillars on my desk, that I carefully start slicing. Theo is peeling the shrivelfigs.

I add the five caterpillars to the cauldron and heat them, watching them slowly turn red. Theo is now shaking the peeled shrivelfig. Then Theo questioningly looks at me. I nod. the potion is bright red and the shrivelfig looks just fine to me. We slowly add it, stopping abruptly when the potion turns yellow.

Theo adjusts the fire, so now the potion is softly simmering. Theo then starts preparing the rat spleens. So I take the daisies, which I carefully mince. Potions really felt quite peaceful.

Normally I worked with Pansy, but she had already paired up with Daphne and Theo showed to be quite adequate and a lot less talkative. I decided I did not mind the change in partners.

Every few minutes Theo and me check the colour of the potion, but it is still not the desired shade of purple. Then Severus scowls loudly. "Idiot boy," he sneers, standing before a panicky looking Longbottom, "You used too much leech juice and rat spleens. I hope you have put some effort in your essay, cause we will feed some of your.. concoction on your toad." Longbottom gulps. I feel a bit bad for him, but really how hard was it to follow some instructions. Severus even gave his own adjusted recipes. Theo nudges me.

The poison now has a deep shade of purple. I should not have allowed myself to have been so distractive. Still, it would be an adequate potion. Theo adds four rat spleens, then I start adding minced daisies, while carefully studying the colour. Theo appreciatively looks at the colour. It is Slytherin green.

I add the leech juice, then Theo adds more shrivelfigs, after which he stirs the potion. I glance at Longbottom. Granger is whispering encouragements and instructions to save his potion.

Ours is pink now. I think I liked the green colour better. It is almost done and settles for a green colour at the end, like it should. I look at the clock. Just a few minutes till the end of class. I put off the fire and lean back, looking amusedly at Longbottom who seems to have managed an adequate potion with some help from Hermione.

When Severus tests it on Longbottom's toad it works just perfectly, leaving behind a little tadpole, where first was a pudgy toad.

I stay behind, looking expectantly at Severus. "Not up to your usual work, Draco," Severus notes. "I hope you have not been slacking of this summer."

I shake my head horrified. "Of course not, Severus. I was distracted by Longbottom. Unfortunately, I added the rat spleens too late," I spat. I then feel a bit embarrassed, I still should have tried concentrating more.

Severus nods. "It is an utter shame we have to put up with such dunderheads," he drawls. "Though I would like to advise you to not get this easily distracted during potions again. There could be more dire consequences than a drop in grades from an outstanding to an exceeding expectations."

I smile, feeling relieved we still managed an exceeding expectations. "Of course, Severus."

"So," Severus says, "You still wish to learn more about muggles?"

I nod eagerly.

Severus sighs. "If you are sure."

"I am," I say. "I am sure."

Severus nods sharply. "Visit me sunday at eleven am. We'll have more time then, I think a field trip would be more informative than any text book."

I smile. "See you sunday, Severus."

I walk to the great hall for lunch. I sit next to Greg, who looks quite sullen. "What's up, Greg?"

Greg hesitates. "You probably wouldn't care." It wasn't exactly accusatory. It sounded more like a statement.

I hesitate too. "You could still tell me." I then answer.

"It was magical creatures," Greg says. "Hagrid showed us hippogriffs." I feel confused. Did Greg not get along with those hippogriff-things? "They were beautiful and he really knew a lot about the hippogriffs. Hagrid is really great and nice, Draco," he looks pointedly at me. "It was Zacharias Smith. He was just awful to Hagrid and so were most of the Slytherins and then Smith called the hippogriff's ugly and stupid and it was just awful.." Greg looks sullen again. "I don't want Hagrid or Buckbeak to get in trouble."