Fiona woke up the next morning in her cold dungeon dormitory bed. She had
been surprised the night before when she had walked in to see seven four-
poster beds lined against the walls in the room. They had green drapes that
could be pulled closed for privacy.
Stretching, Fiona crawled out of bed, rubbing sleep tiredly from her eyes.
She pulled on her black robes over her head, putting on her lace up black
boots, and tying her hair up in a messy bun, letting threads of red
streaked hair fall over her face. The red accented her eye color - both of
them. Looking around, she saw that all but two other girls were already up.
Looking in a mirror to check her appearance, she climbed the stairs upwards
to the common room. It was nearly empty, with most of the people having
gone already to breakfast. Sighing, Fiona trudged up the stairs in the
cold, bleak dungeon halls until she came to the turn into the main
hallways. Following the sluggish flow of people, she found her way to the
Great Hall. She waved to Harry as she passed, then took a seat along the
Slytherin table. Grabbing a red apple, she bit into it, looking around as
she ate. The ceiling was a reflection of the outside, light blue with
fluffy white clouds making their way across. Seeing a schedule waiting on
the table for her to see, she studied her classes. First was double
Potions, then Charms, then Arithmancy, and Transfiguration.
Taking a drink of water, Fiona stood and left the Hall, heading back
towards the dungeons, to the place she thought to be the Potions class.
In short order, she was completely lost.
Growling in frustration, she turned and retraced her steps, heading back
towards the main halls. Lucky for her, she bumped into Ron, Harry and
Hermione, who were also on their way down to the Potions room. With them to
guide her, they eventually ended up outside the right room, waiting for
their teacher to come. He showed up quickly, opening the doors and walking
in to take his seat at the desk in the front of the room.
Automatically, Fiona headed toward the back of the room. She sat at a table
in the very back, with her Gryffindor friends at the table across from her.
She frowned a little when Draco Malfoy walked in and sat at her table,
along with the two large boys he had sat with on the train and at
breakfast.
"Hi," Draco said. She swiveled her head to look at him with dull eyes.
"What do you want?" she asked, aggravated.
"I thought we got off to a bad start. And that perhaps we could try it
again."
She studied him for a moment, then smiled sardonically. "I don't believe in
second chances. You screw something up once, why should get the chance to
screw it up again?"
"Because I asked nicely. Besides, don't you think it would help to befriend
somebody of your own House?"
"If everybody else in Slytherin is like you, then I think I'm going to have
to transfer."
"Funny. But don't blame me if everyone hates you."
"And why would anyone hate me?"
"I can start some pretty nasty rumors. You wouldn't want to wake up one
morning and," he leaned closer to whisper in her ear. "Find that nobody
will talk to you because I've spread some nasty gossip about you being, oh,
I don't know, maybe a slut, or some other lovely little thing."
She looked at him and laughed.
"You're a bastard piece of shit, you know that?" She laughed at his angered
expressing. "Why should I care? You tell people I'm a slut; if people
believe you, then I just feel sorry for them. Gullible bastards, aren't
they?" She turned her attention to the teacher as he began the roll call,
leaving Malfoy looking flustered. From the corner of her eye, she could see
Harry smiling at her. Turning slightly, she winked at him.
"Fiona Black." Professor Snape paused at her name, glancing around for
her. She raised her hand slightly, nonchalantly. His eyes locked on her,
and he seemed about to say something, then thought better of it. He
finished the rest of the list quickly, then went on in his cold voice to
say that he hoped none of the fools had lost anymore brain cells over the
summer, because they didn't have them to spare. Fiona would have laughed if
she hadn't noticed that Snape seemed to direct the comment - cruelly - at
the Gryffindors. She frowned a little, seeing this, even as the rest of her
House laughed it up.
"We're starting straight off. No wasting time on things we've done. Today
you learn how to brew a truth potion. The ingredients are written on the
board. You'll find the recipe on page thirty-one in your textbooks. At the
end of class, we will be testing your elixirs."
"Perhaps it would be better if we just purposefully got it wrong," Ron
muttered to Harry.
Fiona pulled her cauldron out, along with her ingredients and textbook.
Turning to the specified page, she started to make the potion, not even
bothering to think of any precautions.
As the end of class neared, Snape started to test the potions.
Each student would have a teaspoon of their potion, and then Snape would
ask them a question. Most were simple, though towards some, mainly
Gryffindors, he would ask ruder, more uncomfortable questions. When he came
to the back of the room, he paused in front of Fiona. His eyes glinted as
the question he had been dieing to ask her came to mind. It came out in a
soft whisper-like voice.
"Tell me, Miss Black, is Sirius Black your father?"
Fiona opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. Her jaw clenched,
and she seemed to be fighting with herself, trying not to reply. A choking
noise came through her throat.
"Tell me!" Snape hissed. Fiona licked her lips, then opened her mouth
again.
"Yes," came the whispered response. The teacher smirked triumphantly. He
lowered his voice, speaking so softly that no one but the back row could
hear him.
"And do you, at this moment, know where he is hide-"
"Leave her alone."
Harry had stood up, his face livid, his eyes holding an emotion close to
fear. Fiona glanced at him, thanks clear in her eyes.
"Sit down, Potter." Snape's voice was dangerous.
"Leave her alone. You have no right to be asking her that."
"Both of you will stay after class." Snape hissed. He walked back to the
front of the room, and assigned homework, leaving half the class wondering
what had gone on in the back row. Fiona and Harry both glared at Snape,
hate vivid in their eyes.
Harry felt a fool. Sirius had warned him against this very thing. He should
have told Fiona to get it wrong. Now she would have to keep her guard up.
Ruefully, Harry remembered a time the previous year, when the Potions
teacher had threatened to let his hand accidentally slip into Harry's
goblet a powerful truth potion, and find out what Harry was hiding. He had
been worried for a while that Snape would do just that; and Potter knew how
much the man hated his godfather. He hated to think what Snape would do in
order to turn him in, despite the fact that they had 'made up' the year
prior.
Class ended, and Harry and Fiona packed up slowly, waiting for those from
both their Houses to leave. Malfoy watched her oddly as he left. Fiona
stood up, shook a red and black piece of hair out of her face, glanced at
Harry, and strode up to the front of the room to see what Snape had to say.
