Alchemy
"Miss Avery, a word." Said Professor Slughorn at the end of their first potions lesson.
"Congratulations on your exams." He smiled at Claudia, as she walked up to his desk at the front of the classroom. She had no idea what he could possibly want from her and it was bothering her. She just about managed to give him a brief smile back.
"And I saw you signed up for alchemy. We should have enough of you to be going ahead this year…" Slughorn added. Claudia was pleased. It was not often that enough students signed up for that class and almost always, it got cancelled as a result.
"Please, sit. Sit down." Slughorn mumbled and pointed to an empty chair. Claudia did she was told, becoming increasingly curious and uneasy as to what was going on.
"I got a letter from Parkinson here." Slughorn began and took out a piece of parchment from a drawer in his desk. "He says that Mr Black and Mr Cameron do not get on. And if one of them was to be captain of the Quidditch team, it would not be good for morale." Slughorn added.
"That's an understatement, Sir." Claudia chuckled. Anthony and Regulus had been at each other's throat since the latter joined the Quidditch team. "They hate each other. All hell would break loose." She added.
"It is all very difficult, very difficult indeed." Slughorn muttered and continued to stare at Parkinson's letter.
"Are you asking me which of them would make a better captain?" Claudia asked. Slughorn did not look at her but shook his head resolutely.
"I suppose, I am asking you…" Slughorn paused, clearly looking for the right words. "Parkinson says I should consider making you the captain."
"But?" Claudia asked, sensing just how uncomfortable Slughorn seemed about the suggestion.
"But… Are you sure you are up for it?" Slughorn asked, looking rather crimson.
"I think so." Claudia said. It would have been amazing. Literally, a dream come true.
"Could you cope with the pressure? The personalities? The emotions?" Slughorn kept going. "I mean, we never had this before… Do you think the boys would respect you?" He asked, finally. Suddenly, it was clear to Claudia. She had to bite her lip to stop herself yelling at Slughorn.
"Is this because I'm a girl?" Claudia asked, in the politest tone she could muster. An outburst was not likely to help her case. Slughorn looked bit embarrassed and nodded.
"Look, Sir. Would you hesitate to give me the captaincy if I was a guy?" She asked pointedly.
Slughorn looked uneasy but shook his head.
"Then, give me the captaincy." Claudia said resolutely.
"What about Mr Nott or Mr Rowle? Could one of them do it?" Asked Slughorn in a last-ditch attempt to avoid the inevitable.
"Frankly, Sir, Mr Rowle is a hot-headed idiot and Mr Nott…" Claudia hesitated. "Mr Nott is far too nice to do a good job of it." Slughorn was staring at her. There was a long pause. Very long pause. Claudia could hear the clock on Slughorn's wall tick as loudly as if they were church bells.
"Oh, go on then." He said, finally. Claudia exhaled and muttered a thank you. "You should start by organising the try-outs." Slughorn added, as Claudia stood up to leave.
"Would have never occurred to me…" She whispered under her breath and disappeared from the potions classroom before Slughorn changed his mind.
Claudia practically skipped back to the common room. She dreamed about this for years, but never did she think it would actually happen. Not only was she on the Slytherin team. They made her captain!
When Claudia made it back to the common room, she crashed into the sofa next to Julius, flung her arms around him and gave him a kiss. It was one of the real ones again.
"What did Slughorn say to make you this happy?" He chuckled.
"He put me in charge of the Quidditch team." Claudia beamed. Julius' eyes widened.
"I really thought it would be Anthony or Regulus." Julius muttered, still in disbelief.
"I suspect that was Slughorn's original plan. But it sounds like Parkinson told him that if either of those two got it, the team would fall apart." Claudia quipped.
"Parkinson recommended you?" Julius asked, there was just the tiniest hint of jealousy in his tone. Claudia could not care less at this point. She deserved it more than him.
"Yeah. It definitely wasn't Slughorn's idea. He didn't want me on the account that I have the wrong bits… Anatomically." Claudia smirked. Julius chuckled and hugged her again. He was getting over the initial shock and it looked like he might even be able to be proud of her.
"I don't think they are wrong." He whispered in her ear. It took Claudia by surprise. Julius was rarely funny, and she liked it when he was. She cuddled up to him and kissed him again.
"Regulus will have a breakdown." Julius added after a minute or two.
"I know. But I don't think we'll be able to find a better seeker…" Claudia sighed. "It's going to be a nightmare." She whispered and closed her eyes. Julius squeezed her tight.
"I'll help you manage it… Well, if you have me on the team." He said, suddenly sounding bit nervous.
"Well, that depends on how well you fly in the try-outs." Claudia chuckled. Julius clearly did not think that it was too funny. Claudia did not care too much, she knew it was hilarious. She freed herself from his embrace, took out a piece of parchment from her bag and wrote a notice about the Quidditch try-outs. She pinned it on the notice board.
Anthony came to congratulate her not five minutes later. He was all smiles, as per usual.
"I thought you'd have reservations. Given your views on the Hollyhead Harpies." Claudia laughed. Anthony went bright red.
"You'll never let me forget it, will you?" He asked. Claudia smirked and shook her head. "If it's any consolation, I grew out of that." Antony added.
"You're just saying it, so that I let you on the team, aren't you?" Claudia chuckled. That made Anthony laugh.
"There is no fooling you, is there? Exactly what we need from a captain..." He said and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I'll see you at the try-outs, boss." He added. So far, so good… Claudia thought to herself.
She sat down on the sofa opposite the notice board and took out a book. She wanted to wait for Regulus to come back to the common room. She needed to see his reaction to understand just how badly he was going to take this. Half an hour later, she had her answer. Regulus saw the notice, cursed under his breath, and disappeared into the boy's dormitory without as much as a glance in her direction. She was not sure what bothered him more. The fact he was not the one who made captain, or the fact that Slughorn picked her.
"Should I go and talk to him?" Asked Julius.
"Give him a day or two. He'll come around." Claudia shook her head and said.
"He was bound to take it worse than Anthony…" Replied Julius. "Who, by the way, seems to have a soft spot for you." He added, sounding ever so slightly resentful again. Claudia rolled her eyes.
"Anthony has a soft spot for everyone." There really was no need to be jealous. Her crush on Anthony felt like a lifetime ago.
There was no point even attempting to fall asleep that evening. Claudia knew she would not be able to do so. So, she took out a fresh notebook and wrote 'Slytherin Quidditch Team – 1976/77' on the cover. She turned over the page. It was time to start planning for the try-outs.
Even if she kept Regulus, Anthony, Julius and Rowle from last year, she would need to find at least one chaser and one beater to replace Parkinson and Burke. That in itself was no mean feat…
Moreover, she was never too keen on Rowle…
And who knew whether Regulus would be able to overcome his damaged ego and even go for it…
And she really needed Julius to perform in the try-outs. He was a good keeper but was occasionally prone to stupid mistakes. There was no way their relationship would survive if she did not pick him.
Claudia's mind kept buzzing about Quidditch all night. She needed something to distract her from it, and fast. Otherwise, there was real danger she would spontaneously combust.
Claudia was, therefore, very much looking forward to her first alchemy class. Finally, something exciting to help her forget Quidditch. She was on the way there when Julius caught up with her.
"Where are you off to?" She asked.
"Alchemy…" He replied, somewhat tentatively.
"Why do you want to take it? You hate potions." Claudia frowned.
"I don't hate potions. And alchemy could be interesting." Julius shrugged. "Besides, the Headmaster is going to teach half of it." He added.
They entered the small classroom. Just a handful of desks and only four other students were there. Claudia sat down next to Julius at one of the middle desks and looked around. Severus was sitting by himself at the back of the class, his nose already buried in the textbook. Lily, the annoying Gryffindor prefect, was sitting in the front making sure her quills were lined up perfectly. There were also couple of Ravenclaws that Claudia did not really know. She barely that Slughorn had emerged.
"Good to see you, Miss Evans." Slughorn smiled at Lily. He looked at a piece of parchment. "There should be eight of you. Let's give it another minute." He muttered. Before too long, the door to the classroom flung open and James and Sirius walked in.
Pretty much everyone present growled. Claudia was pretty sure she knew why Julius and Severus were upset by the sudden appearance of the two troublemakers, but she was not quite sure what caused the same reaction in the others.
Slughorn seemed completely oblivious to all the teenage drama happening under his nose and began running through the alchemy curriculum.
"There are four common aims of alchemy: transmutation of base metals into noble ones, the creation of an elixir of immortality, the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease, and the development of a universal solvent. In these lessons, we will attempt to…" Suddenly, Slughorn stopped and his eyes had lit up.
"This is perfect. There are four projects and eight of you. We can make it into a fun competition!" He exclaimed.
"Almost everyone is already in pairs… Miss Evans and Mr Snape. Would you mind pairing up together? This is perfect. Just perfect." Slughorn kept muttering.
Damned, Claudia thought. Severus and Lily were going to be strong. Based on their potions results, she could probably take them on individually, but both of them together… Her and Julius did not stand a chance. He only passed his potions OWL because Slughorn took pity on him.
As Claudia contemplated her inevitable loss, she caught James' expression in the corner of her eyes. He looked disgusted and was whispering something to Sirius. It looked like he was imploring, even begging, him to do something. Claudia had no clue what this was about. It looked like Sirius finally relented, and lazily raised his hand.
"Professor Slughorn, Sir." He said in his most charming voice. He was up to something. It was not normal for him to be this pleasant to any authority figure.
"We all love the idea of a competition, but we all know who is going to win if Evans and Snape are working together. Sort of defeats the point." Sirius said.
"You may have a point Mr Black, they are both outstanding. Some of the best I've ever seen." Slughorn said and smiled at Lily again. "What do you suggest?" He added.
"I think we should draw lots. We each put our name in a cauldron and take it from there." Sirius replied, grinning. Slughorn clapped with excitement.
Julius grumbled something incomprehensible, but like everybody else, he too took out a quill and wrote his name down on a spare bit of parchment. Slughorn waved his wand, and all their names flew into his cauldron at the front.
"Let's see. The pair that will be working on the metal transmutation." Slughorn said and sunk his hand into the cauldron to draw the first pair. "Mr Nott and Mr Green."
Julius sighed. Claudia had the distinct feeling that he only took this class to spend time with her. And spending hours with Green on metal transmutation was not what he thought he signed up to.
Snape was paired up with the other Ravenclaw to work on the elixir of immortality.
"Now. The panacea." Said Slughorn and sunk his hand into the cauldron. "Miss Evans and…" Claudia bit her lip. Not her, just not her. "Mr Potter." Slughorn added. Lily's mouth had narrowed to the point it nearly disappeared. She was clearly not happy about this.
This left the universal solvent to Claudia and Sirius… She looked at him. He was little too obviously avoiding her eye and looked rather smug and pleased with himself. Claudia did not even dare to look at Julius. She knew full well how he was going to feel about this.
Some people got up and began to move around, both Claudia and Julius stayed in their chairs. Sirius approached their desk and gestured at Julius to get out of his seat.
"I'm not moving." Julius hissed at him.
"Fuck off, Nott. Rules are rules." Replied Sirius and folded his arms across his chest. Julius still did not move. Claudia was sure that if it was not for Slughorn, they would have a fight there and then.
"I'm sure if I ask Slughorn, he'd let us work together." Julius said hopefully in Claudia's direction.
"Come on class, let's start." Slughorn said impatiently.
"Can you just stop embarrassing me and move?" Claudia whispered impatiently towards Julius… She was sure that this drama was not going to improve her already fragile standing with her Head of House.
"I don't want you to work with him." Julius whispered back.
"It's just a project." Claudia began to explain but stopped herself. She should not have to explain or apologise. This was not her doing. "And besides, you don't own me." She added, icily. Julius still hesitated.
"Just move, please." Claudia said again. Julius stood up and moved away to sit with his new partner. He was clearly livid.
"This was your doing, wasn't it?" Claudia whispered towards Sirius as he sat down next to her.
"Prove it." He whispered back. Claudia was not going to relent quite so easily.
"But why? For a joke? Are you trying to make Julius's head explode?" She was muttering at Sirius at such speed, which did not really give him much opportunity to respond.
"You were going to lose with him against Snivellus and Evans." Sirius smirked. "Now, you got a chance." He added. Claudia growled. It was annoying how well he knew her.
"With you? Like you are going to do any work..." She replied, irritated.
"I'll have you know that I can be quite brilliant." Sirius said, cheekily.
"You better be. I'll murder you if you mess this up for me." She hissed back at him. But the corner of her mouth was twitching. There was no way she could pretend to be mad at him for much longer.
"Yes ma'am…" Sirius said.
Claudia burst out laughing. She just could not help it anymore. This was just like the old days. She glanced at Julius. If looks could kill, Sirius would drop dead right there.
The class was over and Claudia and Sirius were both packing away their things, while Julius was waiting impatiently at their desk.
"Should we start on the essay tonight?" Sirius asked.
"Maybe. I'll let you know." Claudia replied and made a gesture to imitate writing. She was glad she took the two-way notebook with her. It was going to come in handy. Julius reached out for Claudia's hand and they walked out the classroom together. He barely said a word on the way back to the common room. Or the rest of the day for that matter.
As the evening approached, Claudia was sitting on the sofa, watching Julius at the other end of it. He was still frowning. She took out the notebook and scribbled.
"Can't do tonight. Sorry. Tomorrow during the free period?"
She closed the notebook and sighed. It was hard enough thinking about Sirius as just a friend. She did not need all this drama on top of that.
Mercifully, the Quidditch try-outs had finally arrived. Claudia was desperate for them to break the awkwardness between her and Julius. So, she decided to do the keepers try-out first. Luckily for her, Julius flew cut above the rest and she could pick him instantly to help her with the rest of the day. Next up, seekers.
"Want to go on a date, Avery? Seems to guarantee a place on the team these days…" Regulus quipped as he walked up to her.
"Shut up and fly." Claudia replied without looking away from the piece of parchment that had all the names of the aspiring seekers. As expected, none of them were anywhere near Regulus' quality. She had no choice but to keep him on the team.
With the seeker sorted, Claudia and Julius were standing on the edge of the stadium, watching the chasers fly.
"Rowle isn't that great, is he?" She leaned over to Julius and whispered.
"He is not…" Julius muttered in response.
"And I think Emmanuel and that Greeggrass girl are flying better than him." Claudia said.
"Manny, absolutely. Creusa, not so sure. Plus, we cannot have two new chasers. It would be chaos." Julius replied. Claudia hated that he was right.
"Fine. Emmanuel and Rowle it is… But one misstep by either of them and Creusa is in." Claudia growled.
"Hey! Avery! Who are these amateurs? When are the real players getting here?" Claudia turned around and saw James Potter, sitting in the stands watching them. She rolled her eyes and turned back.
"What's he doing here?" She asked, more to complain than anything else.
"They made him Gryffindor captain. He's going to be even more insufferable than usual." Julius replied.
"What? You've got to be kidding me…" Claudia rolled her eyes, remembering all to well that after the last game her and James played against each other, she ended up in the hospital wing.
"Beaters, line up!" She yelled at the rest of the players. Maybe one of them will miss the target and hit Potter straight between the eyes. Merlin knows, he deserved it.
The choice of beaters was very straightforward. Anthony was his usual brilliant self and so was his younger brother Chris. Claudia was glad, with Rowle, Regulus and Emmanuel on the team already, she had plenty of difficult characters to deal with. Anthony and Chris would be a good antidote.
"Right… Nott. Black. Rowle. Callahan. Cameron. And Cameron…" She shouted across the pitch. "Practice. Tomorrow at six." It felt good to be in charge. Claudia could not wait to put them through their paces.
Few days after the Quidditch try-outs, Claudia was walking to the Great Hall from her Charms lesson, when she found herself face to face with Alice. They have not spoken all summer.
"Hello." Alice said, awkwardly.
"Hi." Claudia responded, looking at her feet.
"Claudia. This is getting silly." Alice whispered as Claudia took a step away from here.
"I know." She replied.
"I'm just worried about you." Alice added.
"I know…" Claudia did not know what else to say. "Lunch in the courtyard?" She added in the hope that would make all of this less weird. Alice nodded and they set off. Together again.
"I saw you and Sirius in the library the other day." There was distinct disapproval in Alice's voice.
"We were just doing an essay together. I got saddled with him in Alchemy." Claudia replied.
"You seemed to be having a lot of fun…" Alice said.
"It's just homework." Claudia insisted. She did, however, avoided Alice's eye as she said that.
"Be careful." Alice was not letting this go.
"Just homework, Alice. I promise…" Claudia reiterated.
"Right…" Alice did not look convinced in the slightest.
But they did not get into the Great Hall or the courtyard. Not even halfway there, they bumped into Sirius. He was holding up a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand and looked absolutely beside himself.
"What is this?" He asked Claudia, holding up the front page. 'No new evidence in the Hogsmeade Murder.' Read the headline. Claudia sighed. So, he did figure it out. She was only surprised that it took him this long.
"Not here." Claudia whispered and dived for the nearest door. Thankfully, it was just some old storage cupboard and it was empty… Both Alice and Sirius followed her in.
"Pale corpse? Seen wondering around? You knew all along that it was him, didn't you? And you still went back there!" Sirius roared at Claudia. "And you let her?" He added, turning to Alice.
Claudia squinted. This was going to be very bad indeed.
"She didn't know." Claudia whispered, wishing that the ground would just swallow her, and she did not have to deal with the inevitable.
"You didn't tell her about the crup?!" Sirius barked. He looked furious. "And your stupid boyfriend? Did you tell him?" He added.
"That's none of your business!" Claudia hit back. It did not help. Sirius knew full well what the answer was.
"I cannot believe you! You promised me that you'd be careful!" He yelled.
"I don't know why you suddenly care." Claudia smirked. Sirius growled.
"I almost forgot how impossibly stubborn you are!" He scoffed.
"I am stubborn? What about you…?" Claudia shouted back at him.
"Shut up. Both of you!" Alice screamed.
It made Claudia jump. Alice never yelled at her before. It clearly had the same effect on Sirius. They both stared at her in complete silence. You could hear the pin drop.
"Will one of you tell me what's going on?" Alice asked, impatiently. Claudia looked to the floor. She could not.
"This murder in Hogsmeade." Sirius said pointing at the papers. "It was her wretched brother…" Claudia did not dare look at Alice. Sirius continued. "And she knew all along. And still went home, without telling anyone."
Claudia finally summoned enough courage to look at Alice, who too looked absolutely furious. Claudia wanted to say she had to. That she had no choice. But she did not get there.
"I can't do this. It's like this every single time. I can't be your friend if you keep lying to me." Alice said.
"Alice, I can explain…" Claudia muttered. But Alice interrupted her.
"And that's the problem. You can always explain. But you can never regret it or just bloody apologise. I'm done…" Alice said, turned on her heel and stormed out of the.
"I just wanted to protect you." Claudia said meekly towards the closed door. She kept staring at it, expecting Alice to come back. To say that she did not mean it. But the door stayed shut. Slowly, Claudia could feel she was welling up.
"Why are you still here? Haven't you done enough damage already?" She lashed out at Sirius, in the hope that it might stop the tears. She really did not want to cry about this. Not in front of him anyway. But Sirius did not move an inch.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He was not yelling anymore. He looked hurt.
That broke Claudia's resolve completely and she began to sob.
"I wanted to… But you were gone." She whispered.
Sirius slowly raised his arms and put his hands on Claudia's shoulders.
"I'm sorry. I'm here now." He whispered back.
Claudia did not even think what she was doing. She took a step or two towards Sirius and buried her face in his chest. He closed his arms around her. All her anxiety was gone in an instant. For that one brief moment, all was good with the world.
"We'll get him, I promise you." Sirius whispered in her ear and squeezed her even tighter.
"Is this going to happen every time we come back to school?" Claudia quipped, trying to dry her eyes.
"What is going to happen?" Sirius asked.
"Me, sobbing on your shoulder in some dumb cupboard." Claudia replied. Sirius chuckled.
"Now, tell me what you dug out." He said, as he let her go and sat down on the floor.
"What do you mean?" She asked and sat down next to him.
"I presume, you spied on them when you were back?" Sirius smirked. Claudia smiled at him. How much did she miss this… She told him everything. About her visit to the Daily Prophet offices. About what she saw in the Auror's Office.
"Did he have the look of someone who spends most of the day drinking?" Sirius piped up, when she mentioned the picture of the man she saw on the board. Claudia nodded.
"Someone who you know would be able to sell you all sorts of dodgy merchandise?" Claudia nodded again. How did he know?
"I know who he is." Sirius smiled.
"What?" Claudia sat up straight. All her woes pretty much forgotten.
"Remember when I got those highly valuable potions ingredients back in our fourth year? And I said I knew a guy?" Sirius asked. Claudia remembered all too well.
"That was him?" She asked. "I have to talk to him… Do you know how to contact him?" She added before Sirius had a chance to respond. He nodded. Claudia smiled at him. She forgot how useful he could be. If he was half this useful in Alchemy, no one else stood a chance.
They sat in silence for a while.
"Where were you anyway? At the end of last year?" Claudia asked, finally. Sirius' demeanour had changed instantly and a very large shadow crossed his face.
"I did something very very stupid… Got sent home. Now, I got detention till Christmas." He whispered. The haunted look he had when she saw him in the summer was back.
She was right not to listen to the wild rumours. It was just detention! Claudia thought to herself.
"Even more stupid than usual?" She followed up.
"So much more stupid than usual…" Sirius sighed.
But before either of them could say any more, the school bell rang.
"We should go." Said Claudia and jumped up. Sirius chuckled.
"What?!" Claudia asked defensively.
"You're more scared of the school bell than you're of a couple of Death Eaters. You're so weird. I missed that." Sirius said, shaking his head. Claudia chuckled.
"Friends again?" She asked, hopefully.
"Friends again..." Sirius replied and squeezed her shoulder.
Oh boy, Claudia thought as that touch sent shivers down her spine. Any physical contact with him still made her tremble. This was going to be hugely uncomfortable. But it was a price she was willing to pay to count him as her friend again.