Chapter six

A curious Potions´ lesson

/

Early in the next morning, as he leant out of the open boys´ bedroom window, Harry figured they were in for a stifling day. The weather at the very beginning of September had so far appeared to be a bit silly.

He yawned widely and turned. His classmates, including Ron, were still sleeping like babies, and Harry envied them their peaceful rest. He was just woken up by another nightmare…

Frowning, he ran a hand over his forehead. His scar was slightly itchy, but that was its usual state recently. He put on some clothes, glancing at his timetable as he did so. The first two-hour Potions lesson was in front of him.

Well, today will be a great day, he thought cynically.

For that moment, however, he only took things for his Defence class, including a dried up essay. He placed the four parchments describing all three Unforgivable Curses inside the textbook and headed down the stairs. He himself was surprised that he had written so much yesterday without giving it much thought. He did not know which one to choose, so he included all three of them. That was certainly a better option than writing nothing at all.

/

He was one of the first to arrive at breakfast. So far, there were only a few hard-working freshmen in the Great Hall, the prefects of individual Houses, and he unexpectedly met Angela's eyes at the Slytherin table. She looked tired, but when she saw Harry, a soft smile brightened up her face, which he gladly returned.

He sat down at the table and put a large portion of toasts and sausages on his plate. By the corner of his eye, he spotted a single figure sitting at the professors´ desk and peered inconspicuously in its direction.

It was Margaret Shiernov. She was sipping her coffee, while looking in front of her, as if she was somewhere completely else.

Before long, the Hall began to swarm with black robes as usual. Ron arrived at the same time as Hermione. Harry looked up at them and immediately knew something was up.

Hermione was a bit pale and her lips were tightly pressed together, while Ron was all red and constantly darting his eyes everywhere but at their friend.

Harry looked them both over carefully before putting down his glass and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Did you guys fight again?" he asked bluntly.

Hermione winced and Ron blushed even more.

"No, why," Hermione shook her head and turned to her breakfast.

"Not at all, what are you thinking," Ron supported her, reaching for teakettle.

Harry noticed his hand was shaking, but said nothing more.

/

Twenty minutes later, he sat in the classroom with other students waiting for Shiernov. Angela in front of him was making a long braid from her hair, Malfoy was staring into space with his feet on the desk and Harry was resting, leaning his chin on the elbows tiredly.

Ten minutes have passed since the class was supposed to start and the professor was nowhere to be found. The students began to argue among themselves if something had happened, but a moment later Shiernov was already walking briskly to the front of the room. The class fell silent.

She was smiling, but Harry noticed a strange shine in her eyes.

"Good morning," Shiernov addressed them. "I apologize for delay, but I had to take care of something… So, do you have your essays for me?"

The class held up their parchments.

"Excellent," Shiernov pulled a wand from her pocket and collected them all into her arms.

She flattened the pile and put it in a folder.

"I'll take a look and give them back to you either tomorrow or next week."

She then pulled out a stack of other parchments and distributed them with a sharp flick. Three sheets landed in front of each student.

"Since we reviewed everything yesterday, I prepared a little test for you..."

The class roared with astonishment and protests.

"It's a way too easy for you," Shiernov raised her voice, frowning slightly. "And since you've chosen hard specializations, unannounced tests won't be anything unusual in this class."

Some students tried to argue again, but the professor stopped them firmly.

"You've got twenty minutes, so you'd better get started."

The class finally fell silent and everyone obediently focused on their papers.

/

After a demanding lesson of Defence, something much worse awaited Harry than an unexpected test. He had to force himself to follow Hermione and make his way into Snape's underground classroom. The only thing that gave him some comfort was that they were with Slytherin again, hence also with Angela.

Disgusted, he took a seat at the very back of the room next to Hermione and tried to calm down and prepare himself against a possible - or rather almost certain - bullying. He didn't even notice that Angela also headed to the back seats.

He only registered her, when there was a loud bang and a bottle of ink rolled over to his feet. He had no idea how it happened, but Angela looked back at Pansy Parkinson, before bending over to her scattered things on the ground.

Harry did not hesitate, got up from his chair and crouched next to her. Angela raised her head in surprise. He could not help but smile at her, as he handed her the Potions textbook. His hands were trembling a little.

A strange expression crossed Angela's face, before she reached for the book. They looked into each other's eyes and their fingers briefly touched. Angela quickly flinched and looked away.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"You're welcome," he replied.

Then they both stood up at once and took their seats.

Only now, they noticed that almost everyone in the class was staring at them. Harry blushed slightly, but Angela did not give in so easily. "What is it?" she barked grumpily. "Bored of your own lives?"

The group of girls around Pansy Parkinson turned away from them and started muttering to each other. Hermione was looking at them a little surprised and Malfoy was watching Harry intently. He only turned away when Snape entered the classroom with an even darker expression than was typical for him.

There was a grave silence in the room immediately.

"You have entered the sixth year of your studies and your knowledge should be matched with it," Snape began in a dangerous tone. "Despite my assumptions that the OWL´s exams would greatly purify this class, unfortunately, after the Headmaster´s intervention, even students with lower than an Outstanding score got here... Nevertheless, I didn't even expect anything else."

The Slytherins, except for Malfoy and Angela, significantly turned to Harry for a moment with smirks on their lips.

Harry clenched his hands into fists and watched Snape warily.

"But that doesn't mean I won't make the same demands on all of you," the Hogwarts´ bat continued to hiss. "Today's two-hour class is for you to make an Invisibility Potion, which is a simple repetition for you. You know where the ingredients are, and I suppose you don't need any instructions."

Slytherin began to fidget and Gryffindor let out a chorus of groans.

"At the end of class you will hand in the results of your work and I will grade them as strictly as if they were exams," snapped Snape coldly.

/

Harry was about halfway through preparing the potion that was bubbling in the form of purple mass in front of him. However, he paid more attention to Angela's back and hair than the steaming mixture. He was about to mindlessly pour the sagebrush decoction inside, when Hermione whispered from his right.

"You're missing a nettle, Harry."

He stopped at the last moment and realized that she was right. He put down the broth and tossed the crushed nettle into the cauldron, but chose not to even look at Hermione.

"Potter! Move your cauldron two benches forward to Finnigan's place!" came Snape's commanding voice.

"But why, sir…" Harry tried to retort.

But Snape cut him off: "I told you to take another seat," he snapped icily.

Gritting his teeth, Harry gathered his things, lifted the cauldron with a spell, and quietly settled in his new place. Now, he had Malfoy directly in front of him and Angela behind him. Slytherin prince scoffed at him for a moment, but then turned forward without a word.

"We'll see how you will make it without eager help of our greatest nerd," Snape finally stated the reason for his transfer.

The Slytherins giggled. Harry remained silent and tried to concentrate on his potion as much as possible. As the end of class slowly approached, Snape glided around the classroom, snidely commenting on their poor creations. Harry was almost sure he had given everything to the content of his cauldron, but something kept making him nervous and pulling him out from his concentration.

He was mostly aware of how Snape was constantly watching him closely, as if checking him out. But he also felt a strange tingling in the back of his neck.

Snape approached his desk and tilted his hooked nose over the cauldron. Harry tried to breathe calmly and glared at Snape. The professor narrowed his eyes at the cauldron for a moment, as if speechless, but then, to Harry's dismay, grinned in satisfaction.

"Well, well, Potter. I assumed that since you had miraculously passed the OWL´s with EE, you must have learned something," he drawled mockingly.

Chuckling, the Slytherins turned around, so they would not miss anything.

"Could it be patronage after all?" Snape continued sarcastically.

Harry remained silent, waiting for what else would come out of the professor´s mouth.

"So, look at your potion again and tell me what's wrong with it," Snape folded his hands behind his back and waited, just like the rest of the class.

Harry stared unblinkingly into his cockroach eyes, trying hard to remember what he had forgotten. The tingling in the back of his neck intensified.

Snape's eyes narrowed into the stinging slits and he was probably already mentally counting how many points Gryffindor´s House was going to lose, when Harry heard Angela's voice inside his head.

You don't have a rosehip flower in there.

Harry froze in surprise, but controlled himself enough not to look back. He decided to risk it.

"I´ve already remembered, sir," he announced loudly.

"Really?" Snape drawled. "I´m surprised you ever think."

Slytherin burst out laughing but Harry did not respond as he continued, "I didn't have time to add the rosehip flower. I was just about to when you came," he explained, trying to stop himself from smiling.

Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise, not knowing what to say for a moment. He scanned Harry's surroundings, but found no one he could accuse of hinting him.

Then he controlled himself and curled his lip in displeasure. "Great, Potter. You've finally given us proof that you sometimes use what you carry in that cocky head of yours. Remember earlier next time."

He turned sharply and, with his robes fluttering, sailed off to his desk.

As long as Snape's back was to him, Harry quickly turned around. His gaze met Angela's. She smiled at him and then quickly bent down to her work again. Harry stared at her for a moment longer before turning away.

The girl´s behaviour was seriously starting to bother him. And how did she manage to speak to him only in thoughts?