Year 3: Friend Like You

Chapter 26: February 2014

"I hate her," Victoire cried.

She and her friends were sitting in a corner of the common room playing a game of exploding snap while Teddy and Beverly Longman, the female fifth year prefect, made out on a couch across the room.

"Why do you even care?" Brianna demanded.

"I don't," Victoire frowned. "It's just, why do they have to be so public about it?"

"Just don't look," Brianna insisted.

"Teddy's such a hypocrite," Victoire continued, as though she hadn't heard Brianna. "First he yells at me for kissing Nathaniel in an empty common room, and now he's practically glued to her in plain sight of the entire population of Gryffindor Tower."

"And I repeat, who cares?" Brianna said, exasperated. "Lots of upperclassmen make out in the common room, we see it all the time. This isn't anything new."

"She thinks she's so perfect with her perfect straight brown hair and her little prefect's badge pinned to her robes," Victoire sniffed. "I could be a prefect one day if I wanted to."

"Great," Brianna said, rolling her eyes. "Can we play now?"

"If they're going to do that, why don't they find an abandoned classroom or something?" Victoire demanded. "Why do the rest of us have to sit around and watch them?"

"If you would stop staring at them, you wouldn't have to watch them," Brianna said.

"Come on Victoire, this is getting ridiculous. Would you rather go play upstairs?" Kara offered.

"What?" Victoire asked, snapping out of whatever trance she'd been in. "No, I'm fine. I don't care. They can do whatever they want. It's a free country."

"So can we play then?" Brianna requested.

"Of course," Victoire said, turning her back on Teddy and Beverly.

Kara dealt the cards and they began a new round – Victoire had stopped paying attention halfway through the last round, so it hadn't really counted when the cards had exploded.

"So we're going to be brewing our first overnight potion tomorrow," Kara commented as they played. "That should be interesting."

"Honestly, I'm a little nervous," Victoire admitted. "What if something goes wrong overnight and it's completely ruined?"

"Victoire, you have nothing to worry about, you're great at potions," Kara assured her. "Meanwhile I just know I'm going to botch it."

"Hey girls," a voice that could only belong to Teddy said.

Victoire spun around to find that it was indeed Teddy, plopping himself down in their little circle.

"What are you doing?" Victoire demanded.

Teddy frowned. "I just thought I'd come say hello…" he said, now a little unsure.

"What about Beverly?" Victoire wondered. "Won't she be lonely?"

"Oh well she has rounds tonight and I don't so she had to head out," Teddy shrugged.

"Oh, that must be just awful for the two of you," Victoire said sarcastically. "Having to be apart for so long."

"I don't – "

"Well we were actually about to turn in ourselves," Victoire interrupted. "Right girls?" She raised her eyebrows at her friends, indicating that they had better agree with her.

"Oh, yeah," Kara confirmed, faking a yawn. "We're exhausted."

"Early morning tomorrow," Brianna agreed.

"Oh," Teddy said, looking a little disappointed. "Well that's too bad. I was hoping we could hang out a bit."

"So basically you just wanted to use us until your girlfriend got back?" Victoire demanded.

"It's not – "

"Goodnight Teddy," Victoire interrupted again, standing up and leading her friends up the stairs to the dormitory.

When they arrived in their dorm, Victoire huffed and flopped onto her bed in frustration.

"Victoire, are you – "

"I'm fine," Victoire said, not letting Kara complete her question. "I'm just tired. Besides, we have to start brewing the girding potion tomorrow, so I need to be well rested."

"It's only nine o'clock," Brianna pointed out. "You're really going to bed now?"

"Whatever Brianna," Victoire said, a little meanly as she pulled the curtains of her four-poster bed shut.

She hadn't meant to be rude. Victoire was just so confused these days. It had all started back in January when she'd caught Teddy and Beverly kissing in the hallway. At first she'd thought her reaction was just the shock of seeing something so unexpected, but when she continued to catch them kissing around the school and she continued to feel the same jolt in her gut, she started to wonder if there was something more going on.

She couldn't understand why she cared so much. Teddy was her friend and she was glad he was happy – even if it was with someone as irritating as Beverly Longman. Of course, Victoire couldn't understand why he even liked her, because she wasn't really all that pretty when you really looked at her, but that should matter. Why should she care who Teddy liked? It didn't make a difference to her.

And yet, despite it all, deep down, Victoire knew she did care. She just didn't know why. Maybe she was upset that Teddy was spending less time with her now that he had a girlfriend. Ever since she'd started at Hogwarts, Teddy had always been around, as both a mentor and a friend. Anytime she'd needed anything, he'd been available. Now Victoire had to share him with someone else. She was jealous, Victoire realized. She was jealous that Teddy now had someone else in his life and couldn't be around for her as much.

With this newfound realization, Victoire found that she wasn't any happier now than she had been before. After all, there was nothing she could do. Teddy was going to date and have girlfriends and make out in the common room. It was just a fact of life. One day she too would have a boyfriend and maybe then things wouldn't be so hard, but until then she would just have to live with the fact that she wasn't Teddy's number one priority anymore.

VvVvVvVvVvV

The following morning, as the third years filed into the potions classroom, Victoire was both eager and nervous to attempt to brew the girding potion.

"Alright students, settle down," Professor Abbott-Longbottom called out. "I know you're all very excited to get started, and the sooner you all take your seats the sooner we can begin."

"So does that mean if we don't take our seats, we don't have to do the assignment at all?" Brianna joked under her breath.

"Alright, so today as you are all aware, we will be brewing the first half of the girding potion," their Professor announced. "The after-hours potions lab has been reserved for you to store your potions overnight and check on them throughout the day if you so wish. Also, remember that the second round of doxy eggs must be added between the fifth and fifteenth hour of simmering, so be sure to visit the lab sometime later today or tonight and be sure to complete that step."

"Couldn't we just add it before we leave?" Brianna muttered.

"No!" Victoire hissed. "Then your potion won't increase endurance like it's supposed to. In fact, it might actually decrease it."

"Finally," their Professor continued. "I've decided that I will be pairing you all off."

This announcement was met with a round of groans. Whenever their Professors tried to pair them or put them in groups, they always ended up with terrible partners.

"I have placed the names of all the boys in the class in this hat," Professor Abbott-Longbottom announced, holding up an upside down wizard's hat. "All the girls in the class will draw a name and whoever you draw will be your partner."

Victoire sighed. "And as usual, there's no chance any of us get to be paired together," she grumbled.

"Of course not," Kara shook her head. "Because that would just be too convenient."

Professor Abbott-Longbottom began circulating the room, allowing each girl in the class to pull a ripped piece of parchment from the hat and read out the name of their partner.

"Stanley Towler," Sara Pucey called out.

"Jonathon Cadwallader," Ellie Sawbridge declared.

"Eli Bowman," Naomi Pullman announced.

Since Victoire and her friends were sitting near the back, they would be the last to pull names.

"We're going to get stuck with the awful ones," Brianna muttered unhappily.

"Not necessarily," Victoire disagreed. "The draw is totally random. Someone good could still be left by the end."

"Fat chance," Brianna rolled her eyes.

When Caitlin pulled Adrian's name and announced it with a huge smile, Victoire and her friends rolled their eyes. How was it fair that they had gotten paired together? They were already practically inseparable.

Finally, Professor Abbott-Longbottom arrived at the back. Kara pulled first, drawing Joe Sanders from Hufflepuff.

"Not awful," Brianna whispered so that their Professor wouldn't hear.

"Your turn Brianna," their Professor prompted, shaking the hat under her nose.

Brianna reached in and pulled out her parchment scrap. "Arnold Rosen." She announced with a grimace. "Great, I get the guy that still picks his nose," she muttered.

Victoire glanced around the room, and with a sinking feeling, reached into the hat. She was the last person to draw a name, and in looking around the room, she knew who's name she was going to get. She felt around and grabbed the last scrap of parchment, pulling it out slowly and closing her eyes as she turned it over, almost willing it to have any other name printed on it. Unfortunately, nothing she could do would save her from her fate.

"Nathaniel Peterson," she announced, staring straight down at the parchment, unwilling to even make eye contact with her new potions partner.

"Bad luck there," Kara muttered apologetically as everyone started moving around the room to sit by their partners. Victoire refused to get up, and instead allowed Nathaniel to come to the back where she was sitting.

"Hey," Nathaniel greeted her as he sat down next to her.

Summoning all her courage, Victoire raised her head and turned to face him. "Hey," she said.

"So I guess we're going to be working together for a bit," Nathaniel said, nodding his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, looks like it," Victoire shrugged.

Nathaniel sighed. "Can this not be awkward?" he asked. "I don't want this to be weird."

Victoire breathed in relief. "I would like that," she agreed. "Let's just be classmates and potions partners and nothing else."

"Perfect," Nathaniel smiled. "I'll go get the ingredients if you want to start boiling the water."

"Great!" Victoire agreed, much more at ease now that they had agreed not to let their past interfere with their project.

While Nathaniel was gone, Victoire set up her cauldron and poured in the required eight cups of water. Then she started a fire underneath and adjusted the intensity until she was satisfied.

"Here we go," Nathaniel announced, returning with an armload of stuff. "We've got fairy wings, doxy eggs, dragonfly thoraxes, fluxweed, dried nettles, and one large green caterpillar."

"Please do me a favor and keep that caterpillar away from me," Victoire pleaded.

Nathaniel laughed and carefully placed the caterpillar in his mortar.

"Do you want to start by grinding the fairy wings or toasting the dragonfly thoraxes?" Nathaniel asked, offering Victoire the choice.

"I think I'll take the fairy wings," Victoire volunteered. "You can knock yourself out with those dragonfly thoraxes. Besides, your mortar's a little busy at the moment."

Carefully, Victoire measured out one pair of fairy wings and dropped them into her mortar. Then she grabbed her pestle and carefully started working them into a powder. Meanwhile, Nathaniel skewered one of the dragonfly thoraxes and held it up to the flame as if he were roasting a marshmallow.

"Okay, the fairy wings are ready," Victoire announced. "I'm going to add them."

"Make sure to stir them in before you turn up the heat," Nathaniel reminded her.

"Right," Victoire nodded, grabbing her glass stirring rod and inserting it into the potion. She stirred counterclockwise until the powder had all dissolved and then grabbed her wand and raised the heat of the fire.

"Alright, now as soon as it turns turquoise, be sure to add the doxy eggs," Nathaniel added, pulling his skewer back and switching to a second dragonfly thorax now that the first was sufficiently toasted.

"It's turning lime green," Victoire noted.

"Good, it's almost there," Nathaniel grinned. "Get ready now."

Victoire grabbed the doxy eggs and held them over the cauldron, waiting intently for the color to turn turquoise. As soon as it did, she dropped them in and immediately reduced the heat to let it simmer for a few minutes.

"Perfect," Nathaniel smiled, taking a peek. He switched to a third dragonfly thorax while they waited for the potion to turn pink. "You're a natural at this," he said.

"You're doing pretty well yourself," Victoire returned.

"All I'm doing is toasting a few dragonfly thoraxes," Nathaniel pointed out. "Even a troll could manage this."

"No, I think a troll would probably burn them," Victoire laughed.

"Well my point is, this isn't the most difficult job," Nathaniel clarified.

"Oh just you wait until we get to that caterpillar," Victoire warned. "That's all on you."

"You know, if you never handle the caterpillar, how do you expect to do well on your final exam? What if you have to brew a girding potion?" Nathaniel asked.

"I won't," Victoire shrugged. "It takes two days to brew. In the exam, they'll choose potions we can brew in one sitting."

"Good point," Nathaniel allowed. "Oh look, it's turning pink!"

Nathaniel grabbed his three dragonfly thoraxes and tossed them in, taking Victoire's stirring rod and giving the potion a few clockwise stirs.

"Alright, what's next?" he asked, turning to Victoire.

"Now we add the dried nettles," Victoire read from the instructions. "And we'll need to grind up the fluxweed because we're adding that next."

"Wait, when are we adding the caterpillar?" Nathaniel asked with a frown.

"Oh right!" Victoire cried. "We add the caterpillar before the fluxweed. Do you want to start grinding that up? I'll throw in the nettles and grind up the fluxweed."

The two worked well together, and by the time they added their second set of fairy wings, the potion was settling at a lovely red color.

"Looks good," Nathaniel observed.

"Very nice indeed," Professor Abbott-Longbottom commented, walking past. "You look like you're ready to transfer to the after-hours lab for simmering. Now be careful while you move your potion, because you need to keep the heat on it at all times."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Nathaniel wondered.

"One of you will have to levitate the cauldron down the hall while the other continually casts incendio on it until you have it at a station where you can start a permanent fire," Professor Abbott-Longbottom informed them.

"Wouldn't it have made more sense to just brew the potions in the after-hours lab from the beginning?" Victoire wondered.

"Sometime you may need to move a potion and I want you all to be prepared for such a day," Professor Abbott-Longbottom said. "This is good practice."

"You want to levitate or cast incendio?" Nathaniel wondered.

Victoire hesitated. "I'm not really the best at Charms," she admitted.

"Alright, how about I levitate then?" Nathaniel suggested. "Mine requires more precision. All you have to do is keep it warm."

"Okay," Victoire agreed.

Thankfully, they were near the back of the classroom, so they were able to get out the door without too much of a problem. They were also one of the first groups to finish, so the corridor was clear of students, giving them a clear path to the after-hours lab. They arrived without incident and set their potion up in the back corner right by the door, starting a fire underneath it and adjusting it to a light simmer.

"What do you say we stop by after dinner to add those doxy eggs?" Nathaniel suggested before they left for their next class.

"Sure," Victoire agreed. "Sounds good."

VvVvVvVvVvV

"Was it horrible?" Brianna asked later as they walked to their second class of the day.

"No, it was actually alright," Victoire said, surprising even herself. "We got along great and neither of us brought up anything from first term."

"I couldn't have done it," Kara declared. "I'd have been a complete mess if I were you."

Victoire shrugged. "He's actually a really nice guy," she said. "It's too bad we had nothing in common…"

VvVvVvVvVvV

After dinner, Victoire met up with Nathaniel in the Entrance Hall so that they could head down to the dungeons to check on their potion.

"Do you have the doxy eggs?" Victoire asked. Nathaniel had been in charge of making sure to procure some before Professor Abbott-Longbottom locked the classroom. Though the after-hours potions lab had many things, it didn't have unlimited potions ingredients – something about not wanting students to have access to things they could use to make anything disastrous.

"Got them right here," Nathaniel confirmed, gesturing to his bag.

They arrived in the potions lab and there was only one other pair there; Caitlin and Adrian.

"Hey guys," Nathaniel greeted them.

"Oh hey," Adrian nodded. "We were just finishing up here. We're thinking of getting in some practice before curfew. Got to train hard if we're going to make the team next year."

"Well good luck guys," Nathaniel said as they packed up their stuff and headed out.

"Our potion's looking pretty good," Victoire noted, peering into her cauldron. "It's still that nice deep red color from before, so we know it's doing what it's supposed to."

"Let's just hope this does what it's supposed to do," Nathaniel said, producing the doxy eggs and dropping them in.

When the potion didn't immediately turn blue, Victoire was worried, but Nathaniel assured her that it would take a few minutes for the doxy eggs to take effect.

"So what do we do now?" Victoire wondered.

"You could stir it you want," Nathaniel offered. "The recipe says that stirring helps."

"Which direction?" Victoire asked.

"Counter-clockwise," Nathaniel clarified.

Victoire reached in for her stirring rod – which they'd left inside the cauldron, knowing they'd need to stir more tomorrow anyway – and began to stir slowly.

"Listen Victoire, I just wanted to say…" Nathaniel began hesitantly.

Victoire glanced up and swallowed, nervous about what Nathaniel was about to say.

"Well I just wanted to say that I'm glad for the time we had together," he said. "Even though it didn't work out, we had some good times and I wouldn't change that for the world."

Victoire smiled. "Thanks," she said. "We did have fun together. And for a first boyfriend, you were a pretty good one."

"Thanks," Nathaniel smiled back. "Oh hey look, the potion's turning blue! It worked!"

"Yay!" Victoire exclaimed. "So I guess that's it?"

"That's it," Nathaniel agreed. "Until tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Victoire nodded, grabbing her stuff and disappearing.

VvVvVvVvVvV

The following day, they finished the potion, adding a few more dragon thoraxes, some more dried nettles, and three flying seahorses. Nathaniel finished it off with a confundus charm and Professor Abbott-Longbottom awarded them at Outstanding.

"I heard you brewed the girding potion," Teddy said, inserting himself at the Gryffindor Table across from Victoire later that evening at dinner.

"Who told you that?" Victoire asked.

"I had to clear my stuff out of the after-hours potion lab overnight to make room for the third years," Teddy explained.

"You regularly have stuff in the after-hours lab?" Brianna frowned.

"I am in my O.W.L. year," Teddy reminded her. "And I haven't brewed a shrinking solution since third year. I haven't brewed a forgetfulness potion since first year!"

"Forgetfulness potion is so easy," Brianna scoffed.

"Easy to forget," Teddy added. "Especially once you start getting bombarded with information from every teacher. O.W.L. year is tough."

"Well sorry you had to take a night off in your studying," Victoire said stiffly. "The project is done now, so you can have your after-hours lab back now."

"That's not what I – "

"I'm not hungry," Victoire muttered, pushing her plate away. "I'm going for a walk."

"Do you want some company?" Teddy offered.

"No," Victoire said, not even looking at Teddy. "I'd rather be alone."

Victoire left then and began wandering around the castle. She was still so confused. She'd thought she'd had an epiphany that night when she'd realized why she was so upset that Teddy was dating Beverly. So why was she so mad at Teddy? She should be taking advantage of the time he wanted to spend with her, but instead, every time she saw him all she could feel was anger and hurt. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she just be happy for her friend?