Chapter II: Potions After Dark

Vaughn had been right. It was easy enough to sneak away during Care of Magical Creatures. Professor Hagrid had them raising Flobberworms, a dull and uninteresting task for even the Muggle-born who had no experience with any magical creature. Their pale, sinewy appearance was just offsetting to look at. The only useful thing they could be used for was thicken potions.

Regardless, Vaughn and Giuliana had dutifully fed their Flobberworms and then snuck away as Professor Hagrid attended to some Gryffindor girls who were disgusted by the worms. Both of them had giggled the whole time they ran away, feeling quite brave and adventurous as they left Hagrid's Hut and made their way to the shoreline of the Great Lake where two of their key ingredients lay.

Now, well into the evening, Giuliana waited outside of the Library for Vaughn to join her. It was quiet that October night, a cool breeze blew through the hallway where she waited. A few older students passed by, leaving or exiting the library, and a pair of ghosts hung out in the corner. Beyond that, no one was in sight. Underneath the bench she sat on and disguised by her robes was her own cauldron and her share of the acquired ingredients. Sure, the room her and Vaughn had worked in had its own cauldrons, but Giuliana preferred to brew with her own items.

Though why she was even brewing with Vaughn was a question she didn't have an answer for. She wasn't passionate about potions. Sure, she enjoyed it as much as any Slytherin would, but Potions Master wasn't a title she saw for herself after graduating Hogwarts. And while she didn't believe what she was doing was "wrong," there was no doubt the two of them would get in trouble for doing this.

No, Giuliana was good at potions, but it certainly was not her passion. She'd never tell Vaughn – she was too afraid of his judgment – but Giuliana was passionate about Divination. She would have been passionate about Arithmancy if she was any good at math, but any subject that brushed against or dealt with the Divine was of interest to her.

It was a girlhood fantasy that the soon to be fourteen-year-old thought she was mature enough to outgrow. But over the years, her passion had waxed instead of waned. Her family, the Cumano's, was an ancient magical one, claiming descent from powerful witches and wizards from the days of the Roman Republic. The most prominent of those members were said to be Augurs, working with the Pontifex Maximus of Rome, the Vestal Virgins, and even a few Emperors to predict the future.

'Our ancestors would decide the fate of nations, of empires, of millions!' her great-aunt, her favorite of her bizarre and large family tree, would crone to her. Even at a young age, Giuliana knew her great-aunt was the odd ball of the family, odder then her great-uncle who dressed in shades of pink and orange, claiming to have befriended and tamed a herd of Graphorns while in the Alps. 'We would look to the skies, study the flights of birds and see the future, mi Tesoro. Caesars would grow silent, and would not act until we had spoken."

That era was considered one of the heights of the Cumano family. But following Rome's downfall, the Cumano family had retreated. Some went east to the Byzantine Empire, but in the days of Christianity, there was little need for soothsayers when they could believe in an almighty God. Those that stayed in Italy either latched onto some Muggles eager for power or retreated to their enchanted villas, hidden from the world and prying Muggle eyes.

The stories had stuck with her. Perhaps one day, Giuliana hoped, she too could see the future, to restore the Cumano name as soothsayers. Maybe she'd even get a prophecy orb or two stored in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries.

But there was no way she'd achieve that at this rate. She wasn't willing to admit it out loud yet, but Professor Trelawny was without a doubt a fraud. Giuliana wasn't a hard believer in strict discipline but people at least needed some discipline. Trelawny had none. Just an old witch in her tower, living off of whatever Dumbledore paid. The only two that Trelawney seemed to like were Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, Gryffindors. A shocker. It felt like the whole faculty bowed to the "lions."

An echo of shoes against the hall floors distracted Giuliana and finally, finally, Vaughn appeared, lugging with him his cauldron, notes, and his half of the ingredients. Under the bright torchlit halls, Giuliana could see that his face was red with excitement, a small on his face. "Are you ready?" he asked, adjusting the strap of the ingredient bag on his shoulder. Vaughn was a scrawny boy, still at the beginning stages of puberty at barely a meter and a half. The cauldron seemed to be almost as big as him as Vaughn insisted on using the larger size cauldron instead of the easily portable one. Vaughn wanted to make as much of the potion as possible.

"What took you so long?" Giuliana hissed, standing up and attempting to hide her own cauldron in her robes.

"What? I'm on time!" Vaughn protested, the smile still on his face. His usually well gelled and combed blonde hair had just a few strands out of place, no doubt from running.

"No, you're not. I've been waiting out here for ages and anybody could have caught me!" Giuliana complained, giving up trying to hide the cauldron. It was no use. If someone asked, she'd just have to say she was studying potions late. Or, something else more plausible.

"No one would have seen you." Vaughn replied, rolling his eyes before looking around the deserted hallway.

"Yes, they would have!"

"Would not."

"Would so!"

"Well, I'm here now then. Let's go!" Vaughn whispered back already on the move. "We have to finish these before curfew."

Giuliana's anger dissipated as she followed behind him, her giddy excitement returning. She was still nervous that the door wouldn't be there as it had been the previous time she checked for it, but perhaps Vaughn had been right. Maybe she had gone down a wrong hallway?

As they moved though, Giuliana realized they were going the same path she had gone. Past a courtyard, up four flights of moving staircases – where one student barely managed to keep his balance when the staircase moved on him – and down two more hallways on the 7th floor and they were there.

"Told you!" Giuliana said, triumph etched into her face. "It's not here!"

"No, no, no, we went the exact way we took before. This door was here before!" Vaughn protested. "It's here! I remember that troll ballet tapestry being right in front of it!"

He ran up the hallway, looking desperately for the door while Giuliana watched. She felt a bit smug considering Vaughn had insulted her memory. But only a bit. Vaughn whooshed past her again, running down the opposite direction of the hallway still looking for the door. Giuliana wished he found it. She had been quite excited to brew that evening.

Vaughn returned now, walking slowly with his head down. He was panting softly, still clutching his cauldron, holding it tightly against his chest. He was defeated and Giuliana, feeling saddened by her reaction earlier, attempted to comfort. "Vaughn, it's ok. The room is still out there, we just have to keep searching. Maybe it's in the next hallway over?"

Vaughn passed her by, walking in front of the wall where the door was supposed to be for a third time. "It was supposed to be here! We wanted that lab!" Vaughn exclaimed, attempting to keep his voice under control. An unnecessary precaution. It was a Wednesday night and they were on the 7th floor. Not even the ghosts would be up here. "We were so close."

Giuliana stepped closer, placing a hand on Vaughn's shoulder. They were best friends, though not the kind who hugged or were overly personal. The touch on the shoulder meant a lot and Vaughn returned the gesture my placing his hand on Giuliana's.

"Let's keep searching." Giuliana said, "We'll find it."

Vaughn gave a slight nod. Releasing his grip slightly on his cauldron. Both turned, only to be stunned by a door.

Not just any door. The door. The door that had the laboratory. It was the door without a doubt. The same exact one, ornately covered in bars and metal leaves, with runes carved lightly into them. The door wasn't particularly large, if Giuliana was on Vaughn's shoulders they could easily surpass the top of it, but the design made it imposing.

"W-what…" Giuliana could only mutter.

"It's there! Bloody hell… it's the door!" Vaughn laughed, the excitement rushing into his face again. "I knew it! I knew it!"

"But how?!" Giuliana said. She was overjoyed, but there was something else nagging her. Magical doors always existed in stories, but she had never seen or heard of any in real life. Even her family's stories were devoid of these doors, and some of those stories Giuliana knew were exaggerations.

"I don't know. But maybe it's like a code!" Vaughn said, the gears turning quickly behind his eyes. "Perhaps something we said, or did! Did you do anything?"

"No? I mean, I got excited that I was right, even though I'm clearly not, and then I watched you walk around, and then I put my hand on your shoulder."

"Yes, but what did we say? It has to be some sort of password!"

Both of them stood there, running through their dialogue as best as they could remember. Nothing in particular seemed to stand out. That left only actions.

"You walked in front of the door. Three times!" Giuliana deduced, thinking carefully. "That must have triggered it! Remember the first time we were just walking around, trying to find a quiet place or closet or something to brew the potion!"

"You're right! Bloody hell, you're right!" Vaughn laughed, smiling from ear to ear. "We walked past this tapestry at least three times, if not more! That has to be it!"

Their celebration was short lived as panic consumed them, worried the door might disappear again. They quickly entered the room, marveling to find the room in the exact condition they first found it: spacious and a marble fan vaulted ceiling high above them with marble columns descended downward missing their bottom halves, which dangled a meter or so above the ground. The room seemed endless, though perhaps that was a trick caused by the mirrors around them. Everything was well lit by chandeliers, each one looking to be from a different era and carefully maintained.

In the center of the room was their potion set. Three tables with pristine cauldrons, glass and crystal phials, and an assortment of other materials that neither Slytherin had touched before. In the center of these tables were several burners, lit by magic. Behind the tables were shelves of materials that both students recognized from Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary in Diagon Alley.

"It's fantastic." Vaughn muttered, like a child on Boxing Day. Giuliana had to agree. Both of them put down their cauldrons and ingredients and began organizing everything out how they liked, feeling like true professionals.

"Let's get started." Vaughn said, already prepping his materials. Giuliana nodded, starting preparations with her own materials.

The potion required four ingredients: two Leaping Toadstools, two frog brains, powdered dragon claw, and a fourth ingredient. The leaping toadstools had to be cut so that only the red and white spotted cap remained. The task at first seemed difficult as the Toadstools stem had two feet attached to it and would attempt to jump around. It had also made gathering them along the edge of the Forbidden Forest difficult, until both of them realized a simple stun charm was enough to catch them. It worked equally as well now.

The next ingredient was easier to manage, albeit grosser. Acquiring the frogs was challenging and neither were thrilled at the idea of killing the creatures. Luckily, there were quite a few dead frogs along the shoreline of the Great Lake they could "scavenge" from and place in jars. For the potion, the frog brains had to be squeeze into the cauldron and then brought to a simmer. Once that was reached, the remaining brain was diced and combined with the toadstool caps into cauldron. A pungent odor had to whiff up from the cauldron before the next step could be reached.

Despite what its name implied, Powdered Dragon Claw wasn't exactly rare. It couldn't be found on the grounds around Hogwarts, but instead could be ordered rather easily from Diagon Alley. With their powders in hand, Vaughn and Giuliana splashed it into the cauldron, a puff of red smoke erupting as the powder hit the toadstool caps and frog brain juice and bits. The powder was disintegrating the clumps of brain and toadstool caps, turning it into a heavy sludge. Quick wand work was needed to stabilize the creation, along with an adjustment of the burner temperature. It was work, but both were prepared for it. Within a few minutes, the mixture was stable and pleasant smelling, a light reddish color that bubbled softly.

The final ingredient was a risk that paid off. The logical conclusion that Vaughn and Giuliana had come to was that Runespoor Eggs would increase mental acuity. However, Runespoor and their eggs were not common and would without a doubt set off bells for people. So, after much debate, the two had come to a consensus. They would use the ground down center of a purple flower found around the school, proven to increase the power of the mind. With a mortar and pestle, the two ground down the stem and root of the flower, allowing it to come to a boil in a separate pot while stirring clockwise in the main cauldron. When the ingredients have been refined down, the remnants of the flowers were poured into the main cauldron and stirred.

The whole process took about forty minutes and the finished result produced a turquoise colored simmering liquid that sloshed easily against the sides of the cauldron when stirred. Unlike last time, Vaughn and Giuliana had picked more than enough ingredients and were able to collect eight phials. The remaining ingredients they agreed to store in jars on the empty shelves behind the tables. Just to see if the ingredients remained.

"Do you want to try it?" Vaughn asked, excitement in his voice.

"When we're back in the Slytherin dorms, don't you think?" Giuliana responded. "That way we actually have our homework with us. Also, it's getting rather late. People may come looking for us."

Neither of them actually thought that, but who knows. The House prefects or Professor Snape might be doing the rounds for some reason that night. Quickly, both students tucked the phials into their robes, cleaned their cauldrons as best as they could, and gathered their supplies for the trek back to the dungeons.

The walk back was easy and they had no issues. No one out at that hour recognized or would have any reason to talk to the two Third Year Slytherin students. Some of the haughtier portraits cooed at them, asking where on the seventh floor the two of them were coming from. One of them even asked if either of them had any respect for themselves for being out at that late hour. Giuliana felt herself blush at the implication.

By the time they reached the Slytherin Common Room, both were exhausted but still buzzing with excitement. Both knew they smelled of potion brewing, but hoped no one would comment on it. Without another word, both returned to their dorm rooms to try out their potions. Hopefully, they would both be as productive as they had been the first time they used the potion.

Like the other three Houses, Slytherin's dorms were divided by gender and by year. Giuliana wasn't friends with any of the other girls in her years – not for a lack of trying on her part – but she had never had any issues with them in terms of sleeping arrangements. Each of them had a neatly designed canopy bed, with semi-transparent green curtains draped around it. The posts and frame of the beds were silver, with the two silver snakes hugging the front posts of each. The bed itself was soft, enchantingly so, and the curtains could grow darker with a flick of a wrist for extra privacy. Additionally, the canopy top of a bed could be enchanted to show whatever scene the sleeper wanted. For Giuliana, that meant creating a starry night scene, with constellations and shooting stars hanging over head as she slept.

Grabbing her books, parchment, an hourglass set for three hours, and quill and ink, Giuliana hopped onto her bed and closed the canopy curtains around her. As she placed her ink bottle and hourglass on the bedframe, she flicked her wrist and the curtains darkened. Giuliana followed up with a Lumos charm to provide additional light.

Now, it was time.

Pulling out one phial of the potion from the robes, Giuliana eyed it curiously. It looked the same as the last batch her and Vaughn had made. It smelled the same too. And while she had complete confidence in her work, it was still a bit nerve wrecking to try a potion she had made without any supervision.

The mixture looked enchanting though as it swirled slowly in the phial. 'Oh, just do it, Giuliana.' She told herself. With a quick motion, to prevent any more second guessing, Giuliana unscrewed the top of the phial and downed its contents. She then adjusted her glasses and flipped the hourglass to begin her timing.

The work started slowly but then began to speed by. It was amazing how easy it was to read through her books, even her History of Magic book. She felt as if she was even writing faster then she normally did. An excitement brewed inside of her, she was doing it!

"GIULIANA!"

Her heart rate spiked and her focus left her. As she looked up, she saw that the hourglass top was nearly empty. How had time moved so fast? Someone was pulling on her curtain, unwilling to violate the rule the girls had established about opening another girl's canopy curtains without their permission. Giuliana's head was spinning though, and the light from the Lumos charm seemed like it was from a Lumos Maxima charm instead. The girl calling her name on the other side of the curtain didn't help either. Slowly, to keep her headache under control, Giuliana split her curtains apart to see the angry faces of Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson on the other side.

"There you are! We've been calling your name for at least five minutes!" Millicent shouted.

Giuliana cringed at her loud tone, her words reverberating inside her skull. She doubted it had been five minutes. Millicent was prone to dramatics. "Sorry, I was really focused on my work." She replied, cancelling out her Lumos charm.

"Well are you done? That light was bothering all of us. It's after midnight!" Pansy asked, looking quite cross.

"Y-yes. Yes I'm done." Giuliana responded, not realizing it was that late. The hourglass hadn't lied, she had been working for three hours. She looked around her bed to find tons of inked parchment around her. She expected the notes to be a flurry of confusing thoughts, like her mind at that moment, but all of her writing looked neat and legible. A miracle.

"Why are you working so late?" Millicent asked, probably more so to bug her rather than out of genuine curiosity. Millicent was like that.

"Just wanted to get some work done early." Giuliana said, realizing that some of her parchment notes from her readings were for classes that would take place this week, the next, and some for the week after that. 'I did more than I thought I would!' Giuliana thought, feeling a lot of pride in herself.

"Oh yeah? Big plans coming up?" Millicent teased, a toothy smile on her bullish face. Behind her, Pansy giggled.

"Something like that." Giuliana lied, refusing to be intimidated. "Do you need anything else?"

Millicent grunted and left to head back to her bed, too tired to mess further with her. Pansy followed, as she was prone to do. Giuliana got out of bed and organized her materials in her bag and cupboard before changing out of her rooms and into a night gown for bed. The process took longer than it should have due to the headache, and Giuliana now remembered this side effect. It should dissipate in half an hour.

As she lay in bed under the covers, the headache began to decrease and her memory began to return. She could remember all the information she had just studied. It was more material then she could have gone through in three hours, but it was all there now, coming back at a drip pace at first and then a steady stream.

The history and proper technique of the Cheering Charm.

The complete history of the Flobberworm.

The correct phases of the moons of Jupiter.

The formulas for potions class, including the Shrinking Solution.

Even the history of the Witch hunts suddenly seemed so clear!

Finally, the headache had vanished and the knowledge had settled in her brain. Giuliana relaxed in her bed, wrapping herself up in a cocoon of Slytherin green sheets. She could focus entirely on studying for her exams now, unburdened by the busy work Professors always seemed to assign.

And even better, she still had three more phials.

The potion and its ingredients are semi-canon. When I started this story I did not realize that there actually was a Mental Acuity Potion, though it's called something else on the Harry Potter wiki. It exists in the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite mobile game, which I have not played (more of a Pokemon Go kind of guy), and a form of it is mentioned very briefly in the books.

Besides the Leaping Toadstool and Frog Brain, the recipe calls for Runespoor Eggs and Powdered Dragon Claw. Runespoor eggs are just too rare to imagine Third Year students having access to them, thus the change in the recipe that gives the potion its blue color. I'm assuming that Powdered Dragon Claw is common since it is included in Tolipan Blemish Blitzer... an acne prevention cream...

Next chapter: a new friend is introduced