Chapter 7: The Potions Master

Mandy woke up May early in the morning to get ready. May wasn't sure if she liked the idea of starting school the day after getting off a long train ride, but she got up, apparently disgruntling Pepperjack along the way, and started getting ready.

Someone had left blue-and-bronze striped ties on her trunk and they also added the eagle emblem on her robes as well. She wasn't sure who came in and went through her clothes just to add a patch on her robes and give her ties, but it made her feel a little uneasy knowing that someone went through her things. She made sure she had all her books and extra quills and ink, before heading down to the common room.

There was a group of first-years around the entrance door.

"What's going on?" asked Morag as they went to the group.

"Yeah," said May. "What are you all looking at?"

"The map of Hogwarts," said Terry.

They went to the front of the group and looked at the map on the bulletin board. After a while of standing there, memorizing it, they set out to the Great Hall.

"I can't wait to learn," Morag gushed sounding excited. "I'm not sure what my favourite subject is. So far, I think it might be Defense Against the Dark Arts. Or maybe it might be History of Magic. It's hard to pick one."

"Morag," said May calmly.

"What?" asked the red-haired girl.

"We haven't had class yet," said May.

"Oh, right," said Morag sounding sad.

Mandy, Morag, and May went down to the Great Hall, or at least that's what May thought. Morag headed for a different staircase, making May and Mandy follow. They stood outside a door that May was sure led to a corridor.

Morag pressed her ear against the door.

"What are you doing?" asked May.

Morag shushed her.

Mandy grabbed May's arm and the black-haired girl looked at the blonde confused.

"What?" asked May.

"This is the third-floor corridor," Mandy whispered, paling very quickly.

"Oh," said May, realising it now.

"Cover for me, you two," Morag urged.

"Sure," said Mandy.

May nodded, "Got you covered."

Mandy and May stepped closer to each other, to block Morag back and obviously curly red hair. It must've looked strange to see two girls standing close together and staring at the entrance of the third-floor corridor for no reason.

"Alohomora," whispered Morag.

May jolted when she realised that it was the Unlocking Charm. Morag was trying to break into the third-floor corridor!

There was a meow and the three girls turned around to see a scrawny, dust coloured, bug-eyed cat, sitting there watching them. It stood up and walked away.

"That was weird," whispered May to Mandy who nodded. "Who does that cat belong to?"

Mandy shrugged, "I don't know."

"What do you three think you're doing?" snarled a voice.

May and Mandy whipped around to see a man, who she figured was Mr Filch, the caretaker.

"We got lost?" said Morag, but it sounded more like a question.

"No!" accused Mr Filch. May and Mandy backed up. "I know that you three are just trying to get in the forbidden corridor because it's forbidden!"

"Um…no?" replied Mandy sounding a bit fearful.

"Do I look stupid to you three?" demanded Mr Filch. It looked like one of his eyes was twitching.

"Please don't ask such obvious questions," May said without thinking. Her eyes widened.

Mr Filch's eyes seemed to bulge out at that.

Elspeth was walking by and she noticed them. "Oh, there you are, Morag. I told you to wait for me in the common room. Professor Flitwick will get worried if you're not in the Great Hall to get your timetable." She walked over to the first-years. "I know this is a big place, but you will soon figure out the layout of it." She gently pushed Morag away from the door and headed out of the corridor. She looked over her shoulder at the other two, "Are you two coming?"

May and Mandy followed after Morag. May was in disbelief over her luck. She wasn't expecting Elspeth to come to their rescue. She looked at Mandy, who looked shocked.

"You're setting a bad example for Isabel," admonished Elspeth. "You know that Isabel looks up to you. What would it say for you if you get detention on the first day of school? Isabel would decide to outdo you and get in trouble at the Welcoming Feast or even on the Hogwarts Express. And Dumbledore said that you would die if you go in that corridor, so promise me that you won't go in that corridor."

"I promise," said Morag.

They walked down to the Great Hall and May noticed the suits of armour. She frowned at them, "Do those suits of armour do anything?"

"No," said Elspeth. "They do move, though…"

May nodded and she looked at the suit of armour. She frowned, wondering what it would be like if she used a spell to make the armour do a dance routine…

She grinned at the idea.

The lessons were great. After Professor Flitwick had passed May, Mandy, and Morag their timetables, the three ate as quickly as possible before heading off for their first lesson.

Getting to class seemed dangerous, since the staircases moved and May was sure that she got knocked into by Pansy Parkinson as they went to their first lesson, which was Charms.

May also walked into a step of the staircase which vanished and her friends had to pull her out.

Their first lesson was Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall took the class register.

"Mayflower Potter," called Professor McGonagall.

"Present, and please call me May," said May.

Professor McGonagall wrote on the register and called for the rest of the names. After taking the roster, she said, "Transfiguration is some of that most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

After the warning, she changed her desk into a pig and back again. May couldn't wait to get started, but McGonagall had said that it will be years before they changed the furniture into animals.

After a lot of note taking, they were handed a match and told to turn it into a needle.

At the end of the class, Hermione was the only one who managed to make her needle sharp and pointy. Professor McGonagall had given Hermione a small smile.

May had managed to make the eye of the needle on the match, but she didn't get a smile. Morag and Mandy managed to turn portions of their match silver, but they didn't get a smile either. Mandy looked dejected at that and seemed upset, so May decided that she'll find a way to cheer up her blonde friend.

May couldn't help but feel that Transfiguration was a little underwhelming.

The next lesson was Charms. May noticed that the desks were in tiers, probably so the professor can seem them. She noticed that the other houses were already there, especially Hermione.

Professor Flitwick had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of the first lesson, Professor Flitwick had taken the register and when he called out, "Harry Potter," he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight. He got back on the books, and he called out, "Mayflower Potter," he didn't fall off his stack of books, but sounded a little proud when he read her name.

"Present," said May. "Please call me May."

"Will do, May," said Professor Flitwick and May gave a smile at that.

After taking the register, Professor Flitwick got them started on note taking.

The third class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and May realised that she had been sitting to next to Mandy for the first two classes and Morag looked a little sad over it, decided that for the next two classes, she'll sit next to Morag.

Morag seemed happy with that.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a class that May was looking forward too, but it turned out to be a big joke since Professor Quirrell stuttered his way through it, even stuttering through the class register and May had to tell Professor Quirrell to call her May.

She also wasn't sure if he was scared of the amount of kids in the class or he was terrified of his own subject. Besides that, the classroom smelt very strongly of garlic. Professor Quirrell wore a large purple turban that was distracting May a little.

After that was History of Magic, which turned out to be really boring since Professor Binns droned on. He did take the class register, but he didn't seem to listen when May asked to be called May instead of Mayflower. They had taken notes down about dates and names. May took notes because she was sure that if she didn't have something to do, she would fall asleep. She was glad that she didn't get Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up, since she knew that Uric was a Ravenclaw.

Herbology took place in one of the greenhouses behind the castle. Professor Sprout was a Hufflepuff and she taught them how to take care of the strange plants and fungi and even told them what they were useful for. Professor Sprout agreed to call her May when May told her preferred nickname.

Astronomy was interesting. They had to go to the tallest tower at midnight to study the night sky and planets. May wasn't sure how astronomy was part of magic, but she didn't dare ask Professor Sinistra. She also agreed to call May by her preferred nickname too.

May figured that she was having a good week and she had found the classes interesting, despite the fact that she was bored in Defense and History of Magic.

However, she also didn't like how the other students had stopped in their tracks to point at her and whisper about her when she walked down the hallway. However, she noticed how they seemed to look at Mandy but overlooked Morag, who seemed to not care or something.

"I feel like making those suits of armour do something," said May as they sat at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast. She turned around to look for Harry at the Gryffindor table, to see that he and Ron were already there. It was a surprise since she hadn't seen them at the Gryffindor table in a week.

"Like what?" asked Mandy. "What do you want to do to them?"

"I don't know yet," said May. "I just feel like they have to do something instead of walking around being useless decoration."

Mandy opened her Potions textbook and looked at it. "There has to be some kind of potion in here to make them move, perhaps."

Morag was looking through her spell book, "It has to be a simple animation spell."

"I'll look in Transfiguration," said May. "It won't hurt to look, even though we're not advanced yet."

That was when the owl post arrived. When it first had happened, May was stunned at the sight of hundreds of owls flying in, but she had gotten used to it at the end of the week.

She wasn't surprised that Mandy had gotten sweets as congratulations for making it into Ravenclaw. Morag did seem upset when she didn't receive anything either, but was surprised when, this time, she got a letter from her parents.

May wasn't really expecting anything from the Dursleys, since they had left them behind at a train station, probably expecting them to get kicked out for loitering or something.

She wasn't surprised that Pansy had noticed May's lack of letters and gloatingly opened her presents, which May refused to even look at. She refused to give Pansy the satisfaction of getting under her skin. She knew that was what Pansy wanted.

May was surprised when Hedwig dropped a letter down in front of her. She opened it, finding that it was from Hagrid. In very untidy handwriting, she read:

Dear May,

I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tear with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.

Hagrid

May hurried wrote: Yes, please, thank you and sent it off with Hedwig who flew to the Gryffindor table.

They had Potions first thing in the morning, so they ate quickly and hurried to get to Potions which were in the dungeons.

The air was cooler in the dungeons than the rest of the castle. There were pickled animals floating in jars all around the walls. It was a little creepy.

Ron sat down next to Harry, so May, Morag, and Mandy ended up sitting in the front of the class. May turned around to speak to Harry, but there was a cauldron in front of her. She stood in front of Harry's table and cauldron.

"How's your house treating you?" asked Harry, obviously trying to make conversation since they haven't talked in a week.

"They're fine," said May. "I like the common room. It's very cozy."

"Why were you trying to break in the third-floor corridor with your friend, Mandy, I think that was her name?" asked Harry.

"We weren't trying to break in," lied May. "We got turned around and Mr Filch decided that we were trying to break in when we really weren't." She didn't want Harry to go into big-brother mode and worry about the fact that she was trying to break in a corridor that promised death. She frowned. "How do you know about that?"

"Same thing happened with me and Ron," said Harry. "He said something about 'breaking in like your blasted sister and her friend.' Professor Quirrell helped us out on that."

"That's nice of him. Elspeth helped us," said May.

"Elspeth?" asked Ron.

"Morag's older sister," said May.

"Oh," said Harry. "Who's Morag?"

"The red-head that's been hanging around with us for a week," May said, frowning. "You haven't noticed her?"

"No," said Ron. "She must blend it easily with that crowd, then."

Professor Snape walked in, instantly making everyone go quiet. May went to sit down between Mandy and Morag, as Snape went to the podium and took the class register.

He seemed to pause at Harry's name, "Ah, yes, Harry Potter." He seemed to sneer Harry's name and in distaste he said, "Our new – celebrity."

That made Malfoy and his goons snigger.

"Mayflower Potter, our other celebrity," sneered Snape.

"Present," replied May. She had the funny feeling that Snape wouldn't even bother calling her by her preferred nickname, so she didn't bother asking him to call her May.

Snape looked at her and seemed to take in her appearance. She had wavy black hair that seemed to frame her face, her face almost looked like her mother's, except the only difference was that May's eyes were hazel, like her father's and not green like her mother's.

She had the eyes of the very person that had tormented Snape through most of his school years. He tore his gaze away from J – Mayflower and continued taking the register, trying to avoid looking at those eyes.

After taking the register he started speaking, "There will be little foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to enjoy the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few…who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death." He paused, "If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

May didn't appreciate being called a dunderhead. She sat up a little straighter, ready to prove herself.

"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Snape suddenly shouted.

Harry and May both leaned back to look at each other. He seemed to be asking which Potter he was talking too.

"A sleeping potion that's called the Draught of Living Death," May replied, looking at Snape.

"Why is it called the Draught of Living Death?" asked Snape, glaring at May.

"It puts you in a sleep that's so deep you're essentially dead," said May.

"Where would you look if I told you to get me a bezoar?" asked Snape, "And what is the use for a bezoar?"

"You can get a bezoar from the stomach of a goat and it'll save you from most poisons," May answered.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" asked Snape.

"They're the same plant but they also go by the name of aconite," said May. "And I think it'll do you some good if you actually call out either Miss or Mr Potter when you're directing questions at 'Potter'." Mandy kicked her in the ankle and gave her a warning look.

Snape tore his gaze from May and looked at the class, "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

May went to get her quill and parchment.

"Three points from Ravenclaw, and a detention, Miss Potter, for your backtalk," said Snape, "I'll send you a notice once I think of a suitable punishment."

May felt near tears at that, since she never had gotten a detention before, but she nodded anyway.

After that, Snape had them pair up.

Morag and May ended up paired together, while Harry and Mandy ended up paired, while Ron and Seamus paired up. Snape had them make a simple potion to cure boils.

May pulled her back as she looked at the recipe in the book; she noticed that Snape was not exaggerating when he said 'simple.'

"Elspeth said that Snape always starts off simple to ease us into potion-making," said Morag as she pulled her hair back.

May nodded, "All right." They got out the ingredients and May carefully read the instructions, since she didn't want to add another detention on top of the one she already had.

Morag looked at the recipe, "I think if we add ginger, it should counteract the slight nausea that you get."

"Maybe if you add an extra horned slug, it should still work," May said. "Wait, there should be no 'maybes' there should be 'definitely'." She looked at the recipe, "I think – no…" She reread it, "When you add an extra porcupine quill that will help siphon the ginger's properties." She wasn't sure where this knowledge was coming from, but it was welcome.

"I was thinking that the milk would help mix it together, but apparently I was wrong," Morag said, shuddering at the thought of being wrong.

"Think of it as a 'teachable moment'," said May. The two giggled and got to work on the potion.

"It has to turn teal when done," said Morag.

"Don't forget to add the fangs," said May. She was looking at the recipe again. "Hey, we can add aloe vera, which should help soothe the skin from where the boil or boils were."

"I like, no, I love your thinking," said Morag.

"Thank you," said May slightly flattered. She noticed Snape had been lurking behind Morag. "Is there a problem, sir?"

Snape seemed to sneer at May, "I hope your additions to your potion works, or you'll be buying yourself another detention."

"I hope I will get a good discount on it," May said, wincing when she realised she was speaking without thinking again.

Snape seemed ready to respond, probably to remove another point or add another detention, when clouds of acid green smoke started filling the dungeon. Neville somehow managed to turn Dean Thomas's cauldron into twisted blob.

Mandy shrieked as she pulled her felt onto her stool and May saw the potion sweeping along the floor. She pulled her foot up on her stool and looked at Neville who was moaning in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started popping up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Dean. Snape rounded on Harry and Mandy, who had been working nearby. "You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's a point that you've lost for Gryffindor"

May opened her mouth to say something, but Mandy kicked her again.

"Don't say anything," hissed Mandy as she continued stirring her potion.

May didn't say anything and looked down. She was already in Snape's bad book, she had gotten detention and she lost some points already. And she may have already screwed up big time, by her off-book potion making.

What was she doing by not following instructions?

An hour later, they bottled up their potions and passed them in. Snape seemed more interested in May and Morag's potion, eyeing it closely, since it was a turquoise color instead. He looked at Hermione's potion, which was a teal colour.

"Miss Potter and Miss MacDougal, I would like to speak to you two after class," said Snape.

It sounded like a few Slytherins snickered, probably interested in how they were going to be punished or get yelled at.

"Yes sir," replied May, feeling her face warm up in embarrassment.

"Yes sir," replied Morag

Morag took May's hand and gave it a squeeze. They were in it together. May was grateful for Morag being there.

They waited for the class to file out. They waited while Snape scrutinized the two first-years.

"Do tell why you both decided to ignore the instructions?" asked Snape.

May and Morag looked at each other, before looking at the professor.

"We thought we can improve the potion," explained Morag.

"And do tell what you thought you would do if you got it wrong?" asked Snape.

May wished she thought of that when she was doing the potion.

"I've altered the potion many times before and it worked," said Morag. May wasn't sure if her friend was lying or not.

Snape looked at them as if he was trying to read their minds, which was very uncomfortable for May.

"Five points to Ravenclaw for improving the potion," said Snape. "And you better get out of here before I change my mind and give you a detention and give another one to Potter."

Morag and May quickly left the classroom, meeting up with Mandy who was waiting for them. They ran out of the dungeon. When they stopped, May leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Merlin, that was horrible," said May.

"Do you want to know the truth?" asked Morag.

"What?" asked May.

"I never made it before," said Morag.

"We shouldn't alter potions again," said May.

"Nonsense," said Morag, "He actually seemed to appreciate our alterations. We'll get more points that way."

May nodded, "But we should practise it to make sure it actually work."

At ten to three, May, Mandy, and Morag left the castle and went across the grounds, to the edge of the forest, heading to the hut that Hagrid lived in.

"I never had detention before," said May. "I don't want to know what Snape has in mind for me."

"If he has you in the classroom, you can sneak into the stores and take some ingredients for our potion," said Mandy.

"What potion?" asked May.

"I found a potion to make the suits of armour move and speak," said Mandy. "It'll take a month to brew."

"Give me a list and I can see what I can do," said May.

They made it to the hut and May stared at a crossbow and a pair of galoshes that was outside the front door.

Mandy knocked on the door and jumped back when there was a scrabbling coming from inside the hut. May jumped back when she heard booming barks.

"Get back, Fang – get back," ordered a gruff voice.

The door opened a crack and Hagrid's face appeared.

"Hang on a second," said Hagri. "Get back, Fang."

He let the girls in, struggling to hold on to Fang's collar, which was an enormous black boarhound.

May looked around. There was only one room inside and there were hams and pheasants dangling from the ceiling. May spotted a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yerselves comfortable," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang. Fang bounded over and sniffed Morag. Hagrid turned on a sink faucet and put a kettle under the spray. He hooked the kettle on a hook in the fireplace to boil.

"She's Morag and she's Mandy," said May pointing at each girl.

"How was yer lessons?" asked Hagrid.

"They're good," said Mandy.

May nodded.

"Except May got detention," said Morag.

May elbowed Morag in the ribs for that.

"Yeh did?" asked Hagrid shocked.

"It was from Snape. I backtalked him because I told him to actually say Mr or Miss Potter when he's addressing 'Potter'," explained May.

Hagrid looked sympathetic and picked up a plate of rock cakes and offered it to May.

She grabbed and tried to bite into it, wincing at the pain she felt from trying to bite into it. She smiled at Hagrid. "Delicious." She couldn't find it in herself to hurt Hagrid's feelings.

"Snape is kind of crabby," said Morag. "He blamed Harry for Neville's failed potion for some reason. It was a jerk move."

Morag nodded and crossed her arms, "It was. I'm going to tell Dumbledore about it." Fang rested his head of Morag's knee and Morag scratched him behind his ears.

"Professor Flitwick is cool," said Mandy. "He's head of our house. He's a master duelist."

"He is," said Morag. "Elspeth told me."

There was a knock on the door, causing Fang to bark and scrabble for the door. Hagrid grabbed a hold of Fang's collar and pulled him back.

"Back, Fang, back," ordered Hagrid. He opened the door a crack. "Hang on. Back, Fang."

Mandy got up from the chair and grabbed Fang's collar. She managed to pull Fang back with a bit of difficulty. Hagrid let Harry and Ron inside. May noticed how they looked around before sitting down on the couch, making Morag move over to the bed to sit.

"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid. He let go of Fang's collar and Fang bounded over to Ron and licked his ears.

"This is Ron," said Harry. Hagrid was now pouring water from the teapot and putting more rock cakes on the plate.

"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, looking at Ron.

"I wouldn't eat those rock cakes, if I were you two," whispered May to the two boys.

"—life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the Forest," finished Hagrid. He passed the plate to the boys, who tried taking a bite out of them, and acted like they enjoyed them.

Fang rested his head on Harry's knee.

"Traitor," Morag hissed at Fang.

"How were yer classes?" asked Hagrid.

Harry and Ron told Hagrid about them, and about Filch.

Hagrid called Filch an 'old git', which delighted Harry and Ron. Apparently the two boys weren't fans of Filch.

"An' as fer that cat, Mrs Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang some time," said Hagrid.

Mandy and Morag gasped at that.

"D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her – Filch puts her up to it," explained Hagrid.

"He just wants people to follow the rules," responded Morag, conveniently ignoring the fact that she and her friends had tried to break in the third-floor corridor in the morning.

Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson.

"Don't worry about it, Snape hardly likes any of his students," said Hagrid to Harry.

"But he seemed to really hate May and me," said Harry.

"Rubbish! Why should he?" said Hagrid.

May wondered why Hagrid didn't look Harry in the eye at that.

"How's yer brother Charlie?" asked Hagrid to Ron. "I liked him a lot – great with animals."

Ron started talking to Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons. May noticed that Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying under the tea cosy. He read it and passed it to May who took it.

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST

Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to the work of dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep yours noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.

May was sure that Ron had mentioned something about Gringotts on the train. She read it again. "Hey! We were at Diagon Alley that day!"

"It happened on our birthday," said Harry. "It might've been happening while we were there!"

Hagrid didn't look at the twins at that.

"What do you know about it?" asked Mandy, playing with her blonde hair.

Hagrid grunted and offered them a rock cake.

Later, they walked back to the castle, carrying rock cakes in their pockets.

"Hagrid had emptied out that vault when we there," said Harry. "Maybe that's what the thieves were looking for."

"Harry…there's a lot of vaults in Gringotts," said Morag. "That's quite a leap of logic to assume that a thief would be after the thing that Hagrid took out. You most likely weren't the only people that were in Gringotts that day, since many people go there all the time. There probably were people before you that took things out of their vaults. There were probably many people that happened to be in the vault at the same time as you. You just didn't come across them."

"There are also people that probably went in there after you that could've emptied out the vault that a thief could've looked for," said Mandy.

"It was a high-security vault," said Harry. "The vault that May, Hagrid, and I went in sucked people in and won't let them out when someone besides a Gringotts goblin stroked the door. That's high-security."

May nodded, "Yeah."

"Except for my family's vault, we have poisonous gas that would leak in if someone besides a Gringotts goblin or a member of my family touched the door to break in it," said Morag.

"What on earth do you have in there that requires that type of security?" asked Mandy shocked.

Morag smiled mischievously, "Many dangerous things." With that, she walked on up the staircase to the oak doors.