I obviously do not own Harry Potter or any part of the Wizarding World. All credit to JK Rowling. Any characters or locations or plot lines not featured in JK Rowling's work belong to me. The image used for the story cover came from " kitchenghosts" Instagram account.

The Potions Appreciation Club

By Dante Alighieri1308

Chapter I: The Hatched Plot

"I have bad news, Vaughn. You're going to become sick."

Vaughn Rzhevsky didn't even bother to look up from his Arithmancy book, Numerology and Grammatica. This was now the fourth time his best friend and fellow Third Year Slytherin, Giuliana Cumano, had predicted some horrid future for him. At least this time, "sickness" seemed more manageable then the other omens Giuliana had given him.

"With what? Plague? Dragon Pox? I'd even take Spattergroit if it means getting out of this Arithmancy exam. Pretty sure only Granger is going to pass this one."

Giuliana shook her head, adjusting her glasses as she tried desperately to decipher the tea leaves in front of her. Behind Giuliana, a merman swam by, offering a haughty wave to some awe struck first-year Slytherins who, three months into the term, were still mystified by the view into the Great Lake that the Slytherin common room offered. No one begrudged them for it. Nailed into the black marble wall next to the windows was an old chalk board, marking the number of days since the Giant Squid had been spotted. It was updated diligently by all Slytherins, and dates and times in which the leviathan was spotted were accurately kept. As of now, it had been four days since it had been spotted. The chalk board was the only "cheap" furnishing in the Slytherin common room, with every piece of furniture and detail proudly displaying the wealth and class Slytherin associated with, along with the Slytherin colors of green and silver.

"The leaves don't say what disease you're going to get, just that you'll get sick." Giuliana elaborated, now flipping through her new Divination book, Unfogging the Future.

"See, that's the issue with Divination. At best, it only offers ideas or mumbo jumbo on what the future holds." Vaughn explained, setting down his Arithmancy book to smile smugly at Giuliana. "Arithmancy is about numbers. It's about accuracy. It's about coming to the logical conclusion of what the future holds for someone."

Giuliana merely rolled her eyes. "I will say it again, the idea that the number seven is important to me because my name starts with 'G' and that translates to the number seven is bloody ridiculous."

"It is not ridiculous! It's Arithmancy and it's not just that seven is important to you. It's seven in combination with other numbers."

"Oh? Such as?"

Vaughn sat the common's rooms leather chair silent, mouth agape, before responding. "I-I don't know that yet."

Now it was Giuliana's turn to offer a smug smile. "Shocker. Here, give me your hand. I want to practice my palm reading to see if I can figure out what kind of illness you'll get."

Like the dutiful best friend, Vaughn handed over his palm. He already knew that Giuliana wanted the left hand. This wasn't Giuliana's first run at Palmistry on Vaughn, and apparently since he was left handed, that was better for palm reading. Although, being left handed supposedly meant something sinister too. To Vaughn, Divination was all nonsense and, as his father and mother had told him, the profession of charlatans.

While Giuliana detailed the lines on his hand, Vaughn looked around the common room. It was relatively empty that night, with only the First Years at the window, a lone Sixth Year studying in the corner, Vaughn and Giuliana, and Draco Malfoy with his flock. As usual, the platinum haired menace was in front of the hearth while his "friends" sat on the leather couches and chairs near him. They were enraptured by Draco's two favorite sermons, his annoyance with Headmaster Dumbledore and hatred of Harry Potter. The topics were neatly intertwined tonight, thanks to the lockdown Hogwarts had to recently endure.

"Are you able to 'see' if Malfoy is going to get hurt anytime soon?" Vaughn asked Giuliana, his eyes still locked on Draco's sneering face. He had apparently just said something funny as Pansy Parkinson and Vincent Crabbe started to crack up, their laughter reverberating across the common room's stone ceiling. In the corner, the Sixth Year shot them such a dark glare that it could rival a Basilisk's.

"Sadly, no. Haven't picked up that skill yet. Oddly, though, Draco is one of the few students Professor Trelawney hasn't said will die by the end of their time in Hogwarts."

"Well, with Trelawney, there's a pretty solid chance she'll be wrong and we'll get lucky." Vaughn replied. Since he had met Draco, Vaughn had not cared for him. However, his parents, aunts and uncles, and even his ancient great-grand parents had instructed him to be nice to the Malfoy boy. It was frustrating considering the Malfoys had a habit of looking down upon the Rzhevsky, upset with their Eastern European customs and mannerisms.

It was also well known that the Malfoys perpetuated the rumors that Vampirism ran rampant in the Rzhevsky family due to a supposed connection to Vlad the Impaler. All of it followed some supposed dalliance an ancestor of Vaughn's had with a muggle noblewoman in Eastern Europe. As far as family rumors went, it wasn't as terrible a rumor as squibs in the family, but the British Wizarding World was far more skittish about vampires then a lot of the rest of the world and the rumors had a negative effect. To balance that out though, it helped that the Rvhevsky were viewed more favorably as Purebloods then the Malfoys as none of their lot had gone along with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, unlike certain platinum haired toads.

It wasn't a deep hatred for Draco though, just a constant annoyance with his behavior. Vaughn did agree to an extent with Draco and his rants. In particular, those relating to Dumbledore. The man's bias against Slytherin was shameful, and Vaughn – as with many Slytherins who were around that year – had never forgiven the supposedly neutral Headmaster for taking the House Cup away from Slytherin in Vaughn's First Year. The Seventh Years, livid over having the House Cup stolen from them in their last year, had even debated organizing a Curse to place on the Headmaster.

Vaughn's thoughts on the subject of Draco's other favorite rant, Harry Potter, were rather ambivalent. While it was well known that Potter didn't care much for Slytherins, it wasn't as though he was outwardly hostile towards them. His red-haired friend, whichever Weasley it was, was far more of a nuisance. Vaughn had never had a conversation with Potter, but he seemed decent enough. It was annoying how he seemed to suck up all the air in the room though, but Vaughn had to admit, being a Parseltongue would be extraordinary. Who didn't want to talk to snakes?

"I wish they would stop talking about that night." Giuliana complained, apparently haven given up on trying to read Vaughn's palms. "I'd rather not think about that stuff or the Dementors flying about outside."

Vaughn shrugged, too distracted to return to his Arithmancy. "Sirius Black is roaming the halls of Hogwarts. Harry Potter in danger, again! How can people not talk about it."

"Harry Potter." Giuliana spat out, looking cross. "Did you see him getting escorted down the hall yesterday? Apparently, that's something that all teachers are doing now. Of course, none of them are offering it to any other student though, are they? We're all expendable of course, but let's make sure that Potter and his gang are protected just fine."

Giuliana's views on Potter were decidedly not ambivalent. Vaughn had never been able to figure out what exactly Giuliana didn't like about Harry Potter, but at one point she had even been angry that he had glasses like her, or something like that. Giuliana's glasses were off now and she was cleaning them with her robes, a tic of hers when she was angry or flustered or anything similar to those emotions. For a while, Vaughn was worried she disliked Potter due to one of her distant family members being arrested for being a Death Eater, but Giuliana was one of those Purebloods who didn't care much about blood status.

"Well, if they are doing that, it's ridiculous. But I'm sure Dumbledore ordered it." Vaughn replied, closing his Arithmancy book.

"Are you done with studying?" Giuliana asked, the anger mostly flushed from her face.

"No, I'm moving onto potions. A subject that makes a-hundred percent sense." Vaughn said, trading his Arithmancy book for his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions. Vaughn had always felt at home with potions. Everything was neatly ordered and arranged. There were no surprises when you did things right. His favorite uncle used to teach him how to brew potions at his winter dacha. Because of that, Vaughn had come into his First Year a prodigy at potions. He had even gotten an approving snort from Professor Snape when Vaughn presented his Forgetfulness Potion for his final.

Of course, he wasn't nearly as good as Granger, a constant sore spot as he thought about how a girl with no magical upbringing could excel so much at potions.

"Oh, I can't even think about Potions now. I'm still behind thanks to Black's break in."

"I could help if you needed some." Vaughn offered. Not that Giuliana needed it. She was also proficient in potions, almost at Vaughn's level.

"No, I'll be fine. I really ought do it on my own. And if not, I can always do Potions with Lisa. Go back to Arithmancy."

"I'm getting tired of failing to predict the future." Vaughn said, already opening up his potions book.

"Well, you have to study!" Giuliana insisted. "The exam is in three days. Maybe you could study with Theodore Young?"

At the mention of Hufflepuff's name, Vaughn's heart fluttered. Thankfully, Giuliana didn't seem to notice the flush on Vaughn's face. Vaughn himself wasn't quite sure why his heart grew warm like it did when he thought of "Teddy", but it made him happy. He had never had those feelings for a girl before.

"Maybe. I'm sure he's busy. He's pretty popular." Vaughn muttered.

"Yeah but he seems to like you. He even likes me! I'm sure you two could study together. It would beat having to study with Granger."

"She's a bit uppity and loudmouthed, but not wrong about Divination."

"She's such an annoyance though! Always ready to start a row with Professor Trelawney just because she isn't good at Divination." Giuliana complained. "Maybe if she focused on just one branch of seeing the future, Arithmancy or Divination instead of both, she might be better!"

"Well, Giuliana, it's not like she's wrong-"

"Oh don't start-"

"-Divination is a silly topic!"

The argument progressed in a joking manner, as it had many times before that. They would argue over the style and "art" of seeing the future, if it was even possible, and if so, what was the preferred method. Vaughn would argue the ridged and clearly defined Arithmancy was superior, while Giuliana would argue that the undefined and mystical Divination was the golden standard. It had been an argument they had when deciding their two electives for Third Year. In the end, they both agreed on Care for Magical Creatures, so they could still have an elective together.

The two of them were thick as thieves and had been since their Sorting. They had both never quite fit in with their fellow First Year Slytherin's. They were both Pureblood like many Slytherins, but their non-British families had always left a space between them and other Purebloods, who proudly and loudly declared legitimacy from long dead British witches and wizards.

"Well, I can't study now." Giuliana jokingly complained. "Thanks for distracting me, like always."

"I try my best." Vaughn laughed, his mind still on Theodore. "Though, you know…"

Giuliana looked at him quizzically, "Know what?"

"If we wanted to be able to focus better, we could also just-"

"Don't!" Giuliana hissed, furiously looking about the common room. Malfoy's gang was still lost in their own conversation, and the Sixth Year and First Years had left. Only a pair of Mermen were looking at them through the window, but they couldn't understand English. At least, every Slytherin with a secret hoped they couldn't. Quickly, Giuliana leaned over to Vaughn, grabbing him by the arm to drag him in closer. "We shouldn't speak about it here."

"Nobody will know what we're talking about. Remember? We can use the codes I came up with." Vaughn replied, failing to wrestle his arm out of Giuliana's talon like grasp.

"And I told you that was stupid. All we need to discuss is that we are not doing that again."

"You had fun though!" Vaughn said, egging her on. Giuliana opened her mouth to refute it, only to shut it quickly. She did have fun. She had said as much while they snuck through the halls of Hogwarts, careful to avoid any candle light that might give them away to a ghost, or worse, a professor. They had moved as quietly as they could, carrying their supplies and cauldrons, looking for a suitable room to set up in.

"I did. But we should still avoid doing it. We got lucky once, but we'll for sure get caught again." Giuliana said, though Vaughn could already tell she was wavering.

"I doubt it. Like you said, unless you're with Potter, the school doesn't care. Dumbledore certainly doesn't care at all about us Slytherins. And we can go back to that laboratory! It was set up perfect for everything we need."

"Where did that room come from though?" Giuliana asked, loosening her grip on Vaughn. "I went back to where I thought it was and the room wasn't there!"

"You must have gone to the wrong place. Room aren't like the staircases, they don't move. I'll bring us to the right location and get the supplies we need."

"How?"

"Same way as last time. We just sneak off during Care of Magical Creatures and pick up what we need from the Forest or Hagrid's… err… I guess you'd call it a garden?"

It really had been that simple. Hagrid was not the most observant professor and kept his focus on Harry and the Gryffindors for most of it. Either on them or whatever beast was out of control for that day. It was easy for two thirteen-year-old Slytherin students to slip away for a bit to pick up some necessary roots or ingredients for a potion or two.

"That potion would be really helpful." Giuliana considered, letting her guard down.

"And if we followed the formula I tinkered with, it's quite simple." Vaughn said, glad to have Giuliana now on board again. It really was easy. Vaughn had copied some of his Uncle's note regarding a concentration potion. The ingredients had been rather easy to come by, but the effect hadn't been nearly as strong. Next was the simple matter of distilling and enhancing the potion with some equipment and before long, Vaughn and Giuliana had produced a potent concentration potion that allowed them to focus on work for hours.

Giuliana had now released her grasp on Vaughn and leaned back into her leather chair, pondering her next words. "I still think it's a big risk. We could lose more than just House Points. We could be expelled!"

"For what? Brewing potions? Or did you see our expulsion in your tea leaves too?" Vaughn quipped.

"Bloody hell, Vaughn, be serious. Should we do this?"

Now it was Vaughn's turn to lean in. "Giuliana. We are not doing anything wrong. We're just using the skills we learned. I promise, there absolutely no way we will get caught."

In response, Giuliana offered a smile and quick remark. "Did your numbers tell you that?"

"Maybe." Vaughn replied, smiling now too. "Come on, let's have some fun. We'll get the ingredients tomorrow during class and sneak off during the night. That potions lab we found will be more than enough to get us up and going for another batch of our concentration potion!"

"We honestly must find another name for this potion if we're going to keep making it." Juliana laughed.

"So, you're in?"

With a flair of the dramatic, Giuliana let out a heavy sigh, continuing to smile as she did so. "Yes. Yes, I'm in. Let's make some potions."

With their plan hatched, both students attempted to go back to studying, though their minds wandered as they thought of their adventure the next night, completely forgetting about the Azkaban escapee and the Dementors on the loose.

This story was started on a bit of a whim and is based on an issue I have with the Wizarding World, an issue I've seen other fans and Fanfiction authors comment on. The Wizarding World has a fairly laissez-faire attitude towards many serious topics. It's understandable. When you have the power to teleport across the globe, change the way people look, and live decades longer then non-magical people, consequences seem more like a minor inconvenience. The issues covered in this story will deal with the Hogwarts curriculum, mainly the fact that Hogwarts students are taught basically how to make drugs and have easy access to the ingredients to make it happen.

I don't have much of an end goal with this story. We're starting off in Year 3 of canon and plan to follow Vaughn, Giuliana, and the others that will join them for as long as I can. For those curious, Vaughn and Giuliana are based on unnamed Slytherin students that I found on the wiki.

As an FYI, while the main canon characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, etc.) will make appearances, the main characters of this story won't be influencing major canon events. They will certainly be influenced by major canon events though as all Hogwarts students were, and they'll have plenty of thoughts about them as we go on.

Also, I apologize in advance for the fact that the dialogue isn't really "British." I am American, and will work harder on making it more appealing to the British Dialect.