This chapter was written rather fast so I hope everyone enjoys! Please review because I would love to hear everyones thoughts and criticism of the story.

Chapter X: A Calming Draught for All Your Calming Needs

January weather at Hogwarts was a dreary affair. The initial excitement of winter snow had long since passed, and now the students, stuck inside the castle walls, dreamed of the coming spring or, at the very least, a cloudless, sunny day.

The only buzz arounds school was the Slytherin and Ravenclaw Quidditch match, which ended in a victory for the Slytherins. The match was set to be a Ravenclaw victory until the Slytherin beaters, Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole, got creative with the Bludger and helped clear the way for the Chasers to rack up some points. When Slytherin had closed enough of the gap, Draco Malfoy had zoomed by on his Nimbus 2001 and caught the Snitch, propelling the team to a narrow win. The victory set the team up for the Championship if they could defeat Hufflepuff by a sizable margin. Celebrations in the Slytherin Common Room lasted until midnight and there were still sore feelings amongst the Ravenclaws, who felt Slytherin's Beaters had played loose with the rules.

"They criticize no matter what!" Marcus had proselytized in the Common Room the night of their victory, his audience eager for a sermon about Slytherin pride. "It's a Slytherin's lot in life to deal with criticism, only cause we have what they don't and never will have!"

Slytherin's victory and the ensuing jubilation was nothing compared to the happiness Vaughn and Giuliana had felt after the match. It was a happiness that few would know about, all thanks to their crowning accomplishment to date.

They had succeeded in creating the Calming Draught.

It had been a nerve wracking affair, but thanks to the new instructions Giuliana had found, the process was rather simple. They had managed to distill enough to fit into eleven raindrop shaped phials. The potion itself was a bright yellow color and warm to the touch, heating through the phial it was stored it. It did not burn or feel uncomfortable to the touch, and Vaughn thought it was like using a warming charm on a cold day.

It was with that exciting news of their success that they were able to brighten Teddy's mood, who like many, was a bit miffed with Slytherin's attitude towards their victory and the overall muggy weather.

"I knew you both could do it!" Teddy said, pulling both of them into a hug, which they gingerly returned. "So, when do we give it a go?"

"How about this Friday?" Vaughn proposed. "We go during Dinner. People will be distracted on Fridays anyways and won't give us a second look. And we've talked about it, and we want to try it in our potion's lab. It's where we first tried the concentration potion, so why break tradition?"

"So I'll get to see it?" Teddy asked excited.

"You won't get to see all the secrets," Giuliana cautioned, "but you can at least see where the brewing happens."

"Brilliant! I'll let Megan know too. I'll swear her to secrecy if that makes you both feel better, not that she'd have to be."

Vaughn had been expecting this and had spent time already preparing Giuliana for it. She had been upset about it, but Giuliana was willing to put her trust in Vaughn who trusted Teddy, and who in turn trusted Megan. The fact that Megan was also going to pay for the potion helped as well.

"Mind if we use the Unbreakable Vow for her?" Giuliana said, attempting humor but sounding semi-serious. Teddy, cool as ever, laughed and played into it.

Friday came before long and the group met down on the First Floor of the castle. The two Hufflepuffs followed the Slytherin's eagerly up to the Seventh Floor, while Giuliana eyed them wearily. "It'll be fine." Vaughn whispered to her.

"I'm sure it will. But this is a big step, and a lot of trust we're giving them." Giuliana whispered back. Megan and Teddy were whispering excitedly between themselves, staying close to the Slytherins as they passed by nosey portraits asking where they were going. When they arrived at the Seventh Floor, Giuliana stopped them at the corridor leading into it.

"You two need to wait here while we get things set up." Giuliana commanded. Both Hufflepuffs looked confused.

"What could you possibly need to set up?" Teddy asked.

"Just wait here with me while Vaughn goes and does it." Giuliana replied, nodding for Vaughn to head in. Shrugging, Vaughn complied and ran down the hallway, stopping when he came to the hallway that contained the ballet dancing trolls tapestry and an empty wall. Performing the now familiar routine, Vaughn ran back and forth in front of the empty wall three times, willing the room into existence. After the third pass by, the doors began to materialize.

With the door fully formed, Vaughn returned to the staircase and beckoned for everyone to follow down the hallway. The Hufflepuffs, still confused and looking a bit uneasy, followed him and Giuliana through the ornate door.

That uneasiness disappeared when they entered, jaws dropping in shock at the set up. The room was much the same as it was when Giuliana and Vaughn found it: mirrored walled, clean, and supported by half columns. The potions setup had expanded by a fair deal as the Slytherin's began to leave more and more supplies behind, making the room look more like a proper potions lab. A bunch of pots with planets stood off to the side, labelled with different ingredients they were growing. There were also glass containers filled with different ingredients. Next to the large table of ingredients was a box that Vaughn had deemed the storage location of their profits. At the moment it was filled more with cobwebs than Galleons, though the Slytherins were hopefully they could turn it around that term.

"This is incredible!" Teddy breathed.

"Much better place to brew than the dingy dungeons Professor Snape teaches us in." Megan commented. "Is all this potions equipment your stuff?"

"No, it was all here, waiting for us." Vaughn replied.

Megan huffed and seemed to contemplate that. "Must be a storage place for school stuff." She said.

"Seems too well hidden to be that. But who knows. This is Hogwarts after all."

As the Hufflepuffs looked around the area, Vaughn and Giuliana pulled out the container of Calming Draught phials. Vaughn pulled out four bottles and brought it over to the Hufflepuffs, who looked at the potion curiously. "So… what is in this?" Megan asked.

"Quite a few ingredients." Vaughn explained, handing a phial to each person. "Peppermint, Lavender, Moonstone, and ginger root are the bases. The more exotic ones are bits of crocodile heart and three drops of belladonna."

"Isn't belladonna dangerous?" Megan asked.

"If you use too much or too little. Don't worry, measurements are our specialty."

"Well… with all those ingredients, you two must have plenty of allowance." Teddy joked.

"It really isn't as much as you think. We haven't even bought in bulk yet. By the way, do you two have your share?"

Both Hufflepuffs handed over the money and Vaughn was happily able to drop their money into the burgeoning money box. Vaughn returned and raised his phial up, the others following suit.

"Well, cheers." Vaughn said, and they clinked their phials together before downing them together. The draught went down in one gulp, but tasted far too strongly of peppermint.

"Oh, we're going to have to fix the amount of peppermint." Giuliana grimaced along with the others. Vaughn went off to fetch them some glasses of water from the sink in an attempt to drown out the peppermint taste.

"How long until it starts to work?" Megan asked.

"Don't know. Most of the guides weren't very conclusive about it." Giuliana explained. "But I know it's supposed to sneak up on us if we did it right. We shouldn't even notice until it's happened."

That left the four Third Year students awkwardly standing in a circle with the taste of peppermint still in their mouths. Teddy was there to save the day though and at least start a conversation. "How was everyone's Holiday?" he asked.

Vaughn shrugged. "Fine. We stayed home and had a few family members fly in. Happy to be back at school though."

"Same for me." Giuliana said. "My family can be a lot. My bloody old great-grandfather loved to yell at me in the library when I was looking for this potion."

"Italy in the winter must be pretty though." Teddy offered.

"Oh very. My family no, but Italy and the Villa, yes."

Some supportive laughs followed the joke. "How about you Megan?" Vaughn asked, wanting to be politer to Teddy's friend. He offered her a smile too, which she gladly returned.

"Oh, fine as well. Mum had some time off from work so we went out to the country. Dad made some great food." Megan replied. "And then we visited family in Wales for New Years."

"Megan's cousin is Gwenog!" Teddy blurted out.

"Teddy!" Megan looked rather embarrassed by that statement. She hit him playfully, causing him and her to fall into a giggling fit. Giuliana copied them, surprising herself and everyone there as the giggles turned into full out laughter.

"Do you guys mind if I sit down?" Vaughn asked, feeling very relaxed. As he lowered himself down, it felt as though his body was lighter than it was. The ground beneath him felt like a pillow, cushioning his body as he sat down, a sharp contrast to the ordinarily metallic and cold feeling floors. No one had a problem with sitting and soon joined him in another fit of giggles, laughing at nothing in particular.

"I feel really, really, really good." Megan laughed, laying on her back and looking up at the ceiling. "I think it's working."

"It's definitely working." Teddy replied, moving his limbs as if he was making a snow angel. "I don't know about 'sneaking up' on me, but it certainly feels nice."

"I'm just glad it didn't kill us." Megan said, holding up a hand to the ceiling. She waved it through the air, outlining something that no one else could spot. A comfortable silence fell over them as they became distracted by the euphoria spreading through their bodies. Limbs went lighter, their vision cleared, and all their troubles seemed so far away. It didn't even feel like they were at Hogwarts, but instead in some glass castle from the fairytales, the four of them the only inhabitants of it.

"OK!." Teddy finally shouted, clapping his hands together and raising his body up off the ground. His movements were loose and relaxed, a smile never leaving his face. "If we're going to continue our friendship, I need to ask something, only because I haven't asked before."

"Ominous." Giuliana giggled. She was messing with her glasses, cleaning them slowly against her robes.

"No, no, no nothing nasty! But, Vaughn and Giuliana…" Teddy continued, clapping his hands together again and pointing them towards the two Slytherins. "What do you both think of Harry Potter and his friends?"

Both Slytherins burst out in hysterics, their laugher reverberating around the room. "Because we're Slytherins were' supposed to hate him, huh?" Giuliana asked.

"Do you not?"

Giuliana blinked at the statement, before laughing again. "Ok, fine, I don't like him!"

"Why?"

"I don't know. Harry just… he's not bad but he seems so full of it!" Giuliana said. "He just seems to be so modest that it doesn't' seem real, you know? He's so desperate to appear normal and non-descript that it just goes beyond belief!"

"He's modest and from what I've seen he's perfectly nice." Teddy insisted. "Not very social though. He likes to hang out with Gryffindor crowd and no one else, but he's not like some of the Gryffindors. He's quite nice."

"Exactly! He's not social, at all! Don't you think that it's odd? Doesn't he seem just so… I don't know… simple trying to act like he isn't special?"

"Not at all! I find it rather humble of him. Humility is a good trait. To be quite honest, I don't find it much among the Slytherin."

Neither Slytherin was that offend by the comment, instead, they both laughed and thought about it calmly. "Humility isn't really what you find in our House." Vaughn laughed, before changing his tone to match that of the Sorting Hat. "Or perhaps in Slytherin, you'll make real friends, those cunning folk use any means, to achieve their ends!"

"Bah!" Megan and Teddy shouted in unison, laughing together before Megan continued, "Ok you have a point. But for Slytherin it's different! I find Harry to be alright. And for Hermione Granger, sure she can be a lot. Spouting off answers left and right. But she cares about her education and as someone who is a Half-Blood Witch, I find that admirable. Some bit of me always feels a need to overcompensate, ya know? I think that Hermione will turn out to be one of the greatest witches of our age. And Harry too! If you don't like him, I think it's just jealously, especially on the part of the Slytherin's in our year and below. Truly, they have some rotten folk in your house, no offense to you two. You both seem perfectly lovely,"

"Wow, I disagree with everything you've said… but I feel absolutely fine about it." Giuliana said before giggling. "This stuff really works!" Before long, everyone else was giggling as well.

"Who is the last one in their group? Ron Weasley! He's alright." Vaughn said. "I was partnered with him once in Herbology and we did alright together. He obviously did not like the Slytherin colors on my robes though."

"He's one of the worse ones." Giuliana said. "Really hates Slytherins."

"He's not terrible!" Teddy insisted. "Bit of a jokester. His family is apparently quite accomplished, but that's a Pure-Blood family for you I guess."

Vaughn thought he sensed a joking tone in Teddy's voice. Megan even laughed at the comment and Teddy gave her a knowing smile. He really was quite offended at anything remotely related to Pure-Bloods, Vaughn thought, as he remembered the way he seemed to poke fun at the term. How odd.

"Well my parents say his two older brothers are really accomplished. Bill is off doing something important for the Ministry and Charlie works with dragons. He was supposed to be a big deal too when at Hogwarts as the Gryffindor Seeker."

"Oh, how dashing!" Teddy commented.

"Gwenog said he never dated any girls while he was here. Never heard about a crush either." Megan said voice trailing off, a silent implication in the air.

"He loves his Dragons then." Teddy replied, making both Hufflepuff's giggle. Vaughn began to laugh as well, suddenly feeling a connection to the Dragon Tamer Weasley as Teddy continued. "The rest of the family seems like a good sort, even the twins who always stir up trouble."

"Too bad about Ginny getting abducted by a Basilisk and all that." Giuliana commented.

"Could you imagine getting carried away by a Basilisk?" Vaughn breathed.

"H-how would it even do that?!" Giuliana asked, face scrunched in confusion. "I mean, it's a snake! It doesn't have arms. Wouldn't she have to ride it?"

"What?!" Teddy shouted, laughing already.

"She would!" Megan said, eyes going wide as she pointed at Giuliana in agreement. "Bloody hell, it's that or she'd have to be carried in its jaw!"

"Yee-haw, Snakey!" Teddy shouted, jumping up and moving his body like he was riding a bull like an American Cowboy. Everyone, even the sheltered Vaughn and Giuliana, got the reference and all burst out laughing.

"Hey, everyone. I want to say something." Giuliana said. "I'm so sorry for coming off like a real priss to you two."

"What! No, you can't worry about that!" Teddy assured her.

"No, no. I have been! It's just… it's just that it's been Vaughn and I for so long and we had our thing going and then we added you Teddy, and now you, Megan that… Megan! Oh, Megan you're lovely!"

"Aww, Giuliana" Megan said, crawling across the floor to her and taking her hand. "I don't even know you but I'm glad we're becoming friends."

"Really?"

Megan nodded her head and then looked to Vaughn. "And you too, Vaughn. I get it though, Giuliana. I was actually feeling jealous about you two getting close with Teddy. But now, now I can tell what great friends you all are!"

"And we want you to be our friend too!" Giuliana insisted and the two girls hugged.

"Guys…" Vaughn said slowly. "This feels really, really, really nice."

Everyone practically shouted their agreement. The conversation continued on, their topics of conversation random and not always linked. Eventually, the effects of the Calming Draught began to wear off. It happened slowly though, like a slow descent on a broomstick back to earth. Vaughn's limbs started to feel heavier again, his overconfidence began to fade, and the ground beneath him began to feel hard again.

The hangover was not as strong as it was for the concentration potion. There was a slight pain in the front of Vaughn's forehead but nothing that a cool rag wouldn't fix. He looked around at the others and noticed that everyone else seemed to be coming out of it as well. Getting up off the ground, Vaughn walked over to the hourglass placed on the counter, taking note of the time that had lapsed.

"It lasted for an hour and a quarter." He commented. "Not a bad time frame."

"That was probably one of the most pleasant hours I've spent doing something." Giuliana said, rubbing her temples. Everyone seemed to agree. Vaughn personally felt a strong desire to try another phial of it, just to keep the experience going. Only the promise of money and customers stopped him from wasting the supply.

"Well it's definitely worth the price and I can fully endorse it." Teddy smiled.

"We are going to make so much money off of this." Vaughn said, to the agreement of everyone. As they packed up their things and left, still talking about the wondrous sensations they had just felt, no one noticed Vaughn slipping a phial of the Calming Draught into his robes.

We have a new potion!

Next chapter will be a time jump to Easter at Hogwarts. Anyone remember what's happening around that time?