Chapter 7

Potions and Prejudice

The man who emerged from the dungeon had a long hooked nose, greasy shoulder-length hair, and an expression of mild disgust on his pale face, as though he smelled something foul in the air. He exuded an intensity that quieted the chamber full of students.

Looming over the crowd, he spoke in a cold, quiet voice, and said, "I am Professor Snape. Four to a table, and no talking. Get your ingredients out and your cauldrons heated. Anyone who is not ready to proceed in five minutes will lose their house five points."

With that, he turned, sweeping back into the dungeon, robes flaring with his movement. A girl with pigtails, sitting on her cauldron at the front of the line, jumped to her feet with a squeak, grabbed her things, and scampered through the door. The rest of the students hurried to do the same. Hermione kept close behind Justin as they entered a room with dozens of small, square columns.

Bits of rusted iron still protruded from each of the columns, and in lines across the ceiling. Hermione could easily imagine the metal bars that once stretched between columns and from ceiling to floor, creating small cages. Where each dungeon cell had been, there were now rough wooden tables with benches on two sides.

Shelves lined one of the dungeon's walls, covered in jars with various plants, organs, insects, and other unpleasant things. Another wall had five large, stone basins built into it, water running freely from a spout and down a drain. Snape sat at a desk in front of the shelves. The surface of the desk held a cauldron in one corner and a stack of books in another, but a mirror covered most of the available space.

Not letting herself be distracted by the unsettling dungeon, Hermione followed Justin and sat down at the table nearest to the one he and his friends chose. Soon Li and Neville joined her, setting their cauldrons down on the table. As they each pulled out their brass scales, mortar and pestle, and jars of ingredients, Padma Patil sat down beside Neville without saying a word and began to pull out her supplies as well.

Hermione pulled out one of the thick, red "Dragon Candles' she had purchased in Diagon Alley from the same shop that also sold wormwood, dried beetles, newt hearts, foxglove, and other ingredients for making potions. According to the store owner, they were made from refined dragon's fat, and they produced more heat than a medium-sized fire. She set it under her cauldron which stood a few inches above the table on its four pewter feet. The table had four ceramic candle holders mounted to the surface over which each student had placed their cauldron.

With her candle in place, Hermione pressed her wand tip against the candle's wick. With a small effort, she created red sparks that set it aflame. The fire burned yellow at first, but as a pool of wax formed around the wick, the flame became a deep crimson, and Hermione could feel the warmth of it, more powerful than seemed possible for such a diminutive flame. Her theory book had mentioned that creating sparks tended to be possible, even for untrained wizards and witches, so long as they had a wand, but still, Hermione felt pleased to have managed it on the first try.

At the dungeon's twenty-five other tables, most students lit their candles with matches, but a few used their wands. She noticed Justin Finch-Fletchley used a match, and his eyes widened when the flame turned red.

"Before we begin," said Professor Snape's voice, seeming to come from everywhere at once, "I would like to briefly discuss the subject of potions, this year's curriculum, and our rather particular classroom."

Hermione leaned over to look past a column at Snape's desk. He leaned over the mirror, speaking into it, long greasy hair hanging over his face.

In her head, Hermione speculated, "I'm guessing the mirror works like a magical microphone. I wonder if it allows him to see different parts of the room as well…"

Snape went into a rehearsed-sounding speech about simmering vapors, brewing glory, and other rhetorical-sounding statements. Hermione wondered if they would soon get to the actual potion making portion of the class.

"Some of the more observant among you might have noticed this room used to be a dungeon. During the first era of goblin rebellions, this castle was used to imprison prominent goblin leaders after their capture. The jailers devised enchantments to observe their prisoners without entering the dungeon. This was done to avoid being attacked by the goblins who can perform magic without a wand. Using those same enchantments, I can project my voice throughout the room and observe any part of this dungeon that I so choose."

The comment about goblins caught Hermione's attention, she thought "Witches and wizards can perform magic without a wand too, I've done it."

Snape continued, "Today I will be assessing your potential by having you brew a beginner level potion that cures boils if made properly. It is so simple, even a muggle could do it, though no doubt some of you will still manage to get it wrong. Wash your hands, turn to page thirty-three in your books, measure out your ingredients, and get started."

They hastened to follow Snape's instructions, taking turns at the sinks to scrub their hands with rough soap and rinse them in the frigid water pouring from the tap. Then they found the instructions on page thirty-three. Hermione tried to ignore Snape's snide comment of "even a muggle could do it", but it left her grinding her teeth in frustration. Before, statements she heard, or read, concerning prejudice against muggles had left her feeling sad, or scared. This time, burning anger, hot as her dragon candle, began to flare up in Hermione's chest.

Knowing that arguing with a professor could lead to trouble, Hermione bit her tongue, focused on the ingredient list, and began crushing snake fangs into a fine powder with her mortar and pestle. Next, she used her silver knife to slice a Pungeos onion into thin slices.

Before adding horned slugs to the mix, Hermione blew out her dragon candle. As she dropped them into her cauldron, Snape swept past, moving towards the nearby table of Hufflepuffs.

"Idiot boy," he said, coming to a halt and looking down his long nose at Justin, "Can't you read? It says four horned slugs, you added four flobberworms. This potion would likely cause a patient's boils to double in size if used. Five points from Hufflepuff, what's your name?"

"Finch-Fletchley, sir," he said, looking ashamed at his blunder.

"Interesting," Snape said, lips parting in a broad smile that did not reach his cold eyes, "Tell me, why do you have two surnames?"

Justin turned his eyes up at Snape, looking perplexed before he said, "My mother wanted to keep her maiden name."

"How odd," Snape said, smile growing wider, "I thought witches almost always took their husband's name when marrying, in fact, I believe it is the law in most wizarding societies."

As Hermione began considering the antiquated and sexist nature of this law, Justin replied, "It's not uncommon for muggles, sir,"

He said it casually, with no embarrassment or trepidation about outing himself to the whole class as a muggle-born. Hermione couldn't decide if he was being brave or foolish.

Snape nodded, an exaggerated look of realization on his face, then he spoke in a consoling tone, saying, "Oh, I see. Well I guess I can't fault you for your mistake, Hufflepuff can keep those five points. After all, what more could I expect from someone raised in your... circumstances," he hissed the final word, making it sound like something dirty.

A few students chuckled, and Snape rounded on one of them, snapping "Why are you laughing, Weasley? Rather than a Pungeos onion, you have chopped up a Bloodroot, your potion is now a poison. Then again, your family is so fascinated by muggles, I shouldn't be surprised you're as useless as the muggle-born."

Ron examined the labels on the containers before him, looking dismayed and embarrassed. Snape passed another table, where Terry Boot, Parvati Patil, a pretty Slytherin girl whose name Hermione didn't know, and the pale blonde boy, Draco sat. It seemed Draco was finding more success at brewing potions than he had with the levitation charm.

Snape nodded at their progress and said, "Much better. Malfoy, your potion is almost the ideal shade of pink, you'll make your father proud with work like this."

Beside her, Li whispered, "Snape is head of Slytherin house. I heard from a third-year that he favors the Slytherins, looks like she was right."

"Thank you, sir," Draco Malfoy said with a grin, "Both my parents mentioned you're one of the best teachers at this school."

Snape patted him on the shoulder and began walking back to his desk. As he passed Hermione's table, he glanced down at their potions and paused.

"Impressive," he said, making eye contact with Hermione, "possibly the best result I've seen from a first-year in years, what is your surname, girl?"

"Granger, sir," Hermione answered, trying to keep the hot anger she felt from showing in her eyes.

"Hm, you must be related to the great Hector D. Granger, a celebrated Potioneer. An old and respected wizarding family indeed," Snape said, turning his eyes back on Justin for a moment, before striding towards his desk.

"Actually, sir, "Hermione said in a crisp voice that caused Snape to pause, "I'm not sure I have any relation to this Hector Granger. The…circumstances," she emphasized the word in imitation of how Snape had said it," of my upbringing didn't provide me with much information about famous Potioneers. I have read about Salazar Slytherin though, and from what I know of his views, it seems natural that someone like you became head of his house."

Hermione kept her gaze on Snape's back, but she could sense the other students nearby shifting in their seats to stare at her. Snape slowly turned around a genuine look of realization on his face now. Over the space of a few seconds, his expression shifted from comprehension to annoyance, and then pure loathing. Hermione shrunk back, her own anger melting away, replaced by cold fear. No one, not the bullies from primary school, not Chelsea, or even Patricia Boot had looked at her with such animosity, such raw hatred.

Hermione looked down, breaking eye contact, and thought, "Why did I provoke him, now everyone knows, what was I thinking?"

Hermione took a quick look at Justin, who stared at her amazed, and maybe a little concerned, then she turned her eyes back to the stone floor between her and Snape.

After what felt like an eternity, Snape spoke in a harsh whisper, "Twenty points from Ravenclaw, Miss Granger. You will watch your tone when speaking to me, or I will not hesitate to put you in detention."

The class stayed almost entirely silent for the rest of the period. No one wanted to risk drawing Professor Snape's attention. Hermione silently helped Neville to quickly remake his potion because, like Justin, Neville had added flobber worms instead of horned slugs. The worst potion was certainly Gregory Goyle's, which had congealed into a black clump and had started emitting clouds of putrid green smoke.

Snape dismissed them through the mirror, his icy voice echoing through the room, "You are to leave your cauldrons here, they will be cleaned and left in a storage room until your next lesson. Your homework is to read chapters one, two, and three of your Potions book, then summarize them in no less than five hundred words. Your summaries will be due on Wednesday, at the start of class."

Hermione rushed out of the dungeon as soon as she'd packed her things. Li shouted for her to wait, but she couldn't stay in there any longer. She raced up the stairs to the entrance hall, then headed down a corridor that took her to a door leading outside.

So far, each of her classes had been worse than the one preceding it. Hermione hoped that her fourth-period class, 'Study Hall', didn't follow the same pattern. She arrived at the library building and took a few steadying breaths before heading inside. Hermione had arrived early, and she decided to explore a few shelves before study hall began.

The smell was the first thing Hermione noticed. Dust, ink, parchment, and leather all blended to create a scent unlike any other. It smelled like centuries of knowledge and it intoxicated Hermione. She wandered down a row of shelves at random. Reverently running a finger along the spines of hundreds of books. The shelves towered over her, feeling more protective to Hermione than the enormous defensive walls that surrounded the school. Circular pillars dotted the room, holding the weight of the floors above. Curved bookshelves had been built around the pillars to maximize usable space for more volumes. The sheer number of books rattled Hermione's mind. She made some quick estimations and concluded this one floor held upwards of fifty-thousand different titles.

She pulled a random book off a shelf and examined its spine. The title read, 'The influence of early Portuguese exploration on the standardization of incantations in the Wizarding World'. Unable to focus, Hermione put the volume back and continued to move amongst the books, feeling light, as if she could float to the top of the shelves to examine their titles.

As she walked in a circle around one of the pillars, grinning like a fool, an elderly woman in purple robes shuffled up to her and asked, "Looking for something in particular?"

Her voice was a squeaky whisper, and her hair was so white it was practically transparent, letting Hermione see the liver spots on her scalp. Her robes had the Hogwarts coat of arms on them and Hermione guessed she must be a librarian.

Hermione answered immediately without hesitation, some part of her mind having prepared for this opportunity, "I'm looking for information on the Hogwarts founders, specifically Godric Gryffindor. Something like an in-depth biography or a family history would be perfect."

"Hm, I can point you in the right direction for biographies of famous witches and wizards, but I'd highly recommend learning more about your own house's founder too," the librarian nodded down at the Ravenclaw patch on Hermione's uniform, "There's a particularly good book on Rowena that I read back when I was a student here. Most of the library staff were Ravenclaws."

She gave Hermione a wink and told her she could find the bibliographies on the third floor. Then, to Hermione's great surprise, she pulled out her wand and conjured a desk, quill, and piece of parchment so she could lean over and write down the name of the book on Rowena Ravenclaw she suggested Hermione read. After handing Hermione the parchment she waved her wand again, and the desk and quill puffed away, appearing as if they had turned into black smoke.

Hermione headed up to the third floor, which conveniently was where she needed to go for study hall. As she made her way up the steps, Hermione marveled at the casual use of magic she'd just seen performed.

Her books mentioned the Hogwarts Headmaster, Dumbledore, as the most powerful wizard of the modern age, except for maybe Voldemort. Hermione also knew that she would have teachers who had mastered their subject and could likely do incredible things, but she had not expected a random librarian to cast advanced transfiguration spells in such an offhand manner.

Checking her watch as she reached the third floor, Hermione saw she had three minutes until study hall began. A portion of this floor was occupied by many short tables with chairs around each. Hermione spotted Li at one and waved her over as she hurried towards the north wall. The librarian had told her exactly where to find the book on Ravenclaw, and Hermione wanted to grab it so she wouldn't have to spend the rest of her afternoon memorizing more entries in 'A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi'.

Li saw her and got up, meeting her as she reached the wall and whispering, "Hey, why did you run off?"

"Not now," Hermione whispered back, moving along the wall, paying attention only to the spines on the third row up, "I'm trying to find us a book… Ha!"

Triumphantly, Hermione pulled 'The Lies, Truths, and Secrets of Rowena Ravenclaw, by F.T Davies' from the shelf and held it out for Li to see.

Shrugging, Li said, "Great, now let's get a table before we're late."

A seventh-year Hufflepuff boy with a thin, wispy mustache spoke to the first-years once they'd all arrived and found seats, "Alright, I'm an assistant librarian. Just three easy rules for study hall with me. No loud noises, no sleeping, and no leaving the study area. If you break these rules I can assign you detention. I'd recommend you work on homework, but so long as you don't bother me, I won't bother you."

With that, the seventh-year pulled out a magazine, propped his feet on a table, and proceeded to ignore the first-years.

Whispered conversations began at many of the tables, but Hermione ignored everyone and opened the book. She didn't want to face her classmates after revealing her muggle-born status. Instead, she planned on ignoring everything by diving into a new book, a habit she had formed at a young age. Li tried to talk to her, but Hermione hunched her shoulders and brought her nose closer to the page, ignoring everything but the paragraphs right in front of her.

"Many mysteries surround Rowena. Even the year of her death is a matter of some debate. Generally, it is listed as 1205 A.D, but then records in Egypt show her alive, and well, as late as 1347 A.D."

"After she argued with Helga, for three-quarters of a century, no one but Rowena could enter Ravenclaw tower. It was not until after she left the school in 1191 A.D that it became the common room for her students and even then, there is a room at its peak that has been sealed for more than half a millennium."

"It seems the rumors of her duels were greatly exaggerated. In truth, records show Rowena fought only three duels. In two, she left her opponent trapped rather than killing them, once in ice, once in stone."

By the end of class, Hermione had managed to read a small chunk of the book. It had been engaging, giving her questions and making her want to explore Ravenclaw tower, so she took it to a desk on the first floor where a few librarians sat, all dressed in the same purple robes as the woman she'd met earlier. One checked it out to her, having her sign two papers with her name before telling her it was due back in one week.

She met Li outside, and after agreeing to return to the library after dinner, they set off together in the direction of their common room. As they walked, Hermione noticed Terry Boot standing with a group composed mostly of Slytherins. They all seemed to be looking at Justin Finch-Fletchley, who stood nearby, digging through his bag. Terry said something to the group and they all laughed, one of the girls practically shrieking with mirth.

Hermione couldn't help but assume Justin was being discussed and laughed at due to being a muggle-born. She wondered if Terry would have laughed at her like that, had their group noticed Hermione instead of Justin.

Disappointed, and feeling as though she'd lost a friend after just a day, Hermione turned to look at Li as they headed towards Ravenclaw tower and thought, "Then again, I also gained a friend today, probably two counting Neville."

When they arrived back in the common room, Li walked straight toward the spiral staircases that led to the dormitories, clearly intent on putting her things away. As Hermione followed her, she thought of the book she'd just been reading. The first years had been given the top four rooms of the girls' section, so they had to walk past many doors before they reached their own. Li entered their room, but Hermione kept walking. Always curving slightly to the right, the stairs continued spiraling upward. After a minute or two, Hermione came upon a window, maybe four feet tall, that looked out over the castle, providing a spectacular bird's eye view of the entire campus. She paused for a moment, thinking this would be a wonderful spot to study, then she continued upward, seeking the top of the tower.