That's no mind blower
At breakfast Harry and Lil were markedly quiet, unlike Ene. She was very chirpy because today she was going to have her first lesson with Professor Snape – and all she had heard about it wasn't comforting. She bid the others good-bye as if she had to mount the scaffold but it was only a staircase downstairs, always following the professor's greasy hair.
In the cellar where he was teaching potions, it was cold and somehow musty – matching Snape's mood. He was impossible to please not only for his students but also for Ene.
"Ms Walim, poke the fire stronger... no, much stronger... that was too much, a little less... well, not THAT less, don't behave stupidly!"
Ene went bottled up.
She had to bone grasshoppers. ("Not so finicking, Ms Walim, the animals are already dead.")
She had to bottle onion extract. (Oh, Ms Walim, tears? What a pity for your eye make-up!")
She had to sniff at the brewing attempts of the students. ("Now look here everybody, Ms Walim's face turned all green, so you were using too many Saurach leaves.")
It didn't work out well; and Ene was out of tune so much under the scale even whales wouldn't have heard her.
The second class this morning was the graduating class and Malfoy seemed to enjoy creating a clog-dance on Ene's nerves. He let his chopper "unintentionally" drop on Ene's shoe. Then he stumbled so ill-fated he could at least stop himself from falling, his handful of fly legs landed – sorry, sorry, so sorry – in Ene's hair.
Unnerved, Ene was now helping, ordered by Snape, Neville working his way through the difficult recipe of this lesson, hopefully without forgetting a single ingredient. In the thick of it, Snape ordered her to come to Malfoy's kettle because Malfoy thought, his potion turned out so well the trainee should under all circumstances taste it.
Ene stared at the deep-green gyle, turned up her nose, and asked: "What will this junk do?"
"That's a surprise!" Malfoy beamed cunningly, "Professor Snape will be enthusiastic."
"Aha," Ene said coolly, "then he should try it. I won't touch this stuff."
Snapes look grew dark. "Ms Walim, you will taste this potion immediately!"
Ene went as straight as a ramrod and looked Snape in the eyes. "I'm here for learning, not for tasting other peoples food. Just tuck in, I won't drink up something that is intended for you."
The whole class stopped breathing. Reluctance against Snape?
Seamus whispered: "Ohhh, I'm afraid, this is the end of the world as we know it!"
Snapes eyes took the shape of two hyphens. He hissed: "Didn't I make myself clear? Take the spoon and try it! This is part of the subject matter I'm going to teach you." He stood perfectly still.
Ene looked at him in absolute innocence. "I'm sorry, but I already have a task that isn't finished yet: I shall help Neville with his potion." And with this she turned around and went straight over to Neville who felt rather uneasy.
Snape went after her with great paces. "This is insubordination! I'll take care your credentials will be accordingly. You didn't follow a teacher's order..."
"Now, keep the ball low!" Ene interrupted, "one thing after the other. First, you told me to help Neville, and before the task is done you ordered another one. It does not work this way. It doesn't support the learning process. And your arguments are not..."
The students stared spellbound at this scene; Ene and Snape became ever louder. Nobody cared for Neville's kettle in which, now that the gyle wasn't stirred anymore, it started to boil and to frizzle until with a bang a geysir of a tar-like mass poured over Snape, Ene, and Neville.
"Eeeeeh" and "Oooooh" escaped the students' throats.
Snape was completely quiet again. "Very well, Mr Longbottom. Good, your potion had already been so much overcooked that the liquid didn't have any magical power. Five points deduction for Gryffindor. Go changing your clothes. The lesson is over. Ms Walim, wash yourself conscientiously, you're odd war paint is inappropriate here."
In a malicious voice Ene said: "That's just what the man with the most oily hair in this school has to talk about. If Ms Norris hopped on your head she'd slip down." Even while Snape was trying to bring his plate-big eyes down to normal size, Ene was out of the door and slammed it shut. Wham!
In a towering rage she trudged through the hallways to her room. For it was near lunch-time, some student's already filled the hallways, and Lil coming right out of the herb garden, saw Ene vanishing into her room, and so she went straight after her.
Lil knocked and the answer was a loud: "What's up?"
Cautiously Lil opened the door. "Hoohoo, Ene, just me, don't panic. May I enter?"
"Yes!" Ene snapped and peeled her dripping and stenching clothes off.
"Oha!" Lil said. "Ene, did you fall into Getafix's kettle with magic potion? Should I get you a menhir?"
"Don't joke, Lil! I'm not in the mood! Today every fly bothering me is in for it, even if I had to aim at it with a mortar! I must take a shower."
"Ok, I'll get us some food from the hall so we can eat here in peace while your hair is drying."
Lil went off to the hall and hurriedly filled up two plates and went back to Ene with these. Ene had slightly calmed down and told during the meal what had happened.
"My revenge will be awful! Compared to me, Godzilla is a plushy teddy. I'm gonna roast Snape over a low flame and then crush him cause I weigh four centners in my rage – at least."
Lil grimaced. "Ene, Sweetheart, calm down, you don't seriously wanna get into a fight with Snape? You remember he is a fully grown wizard, yes?"
Ene laughed disdainfully: "Peh, he is a man, I'm gonna cut him down to size!"
With this she let drop her fork down to the plate and opened the cupboard. While examining a few clothes, she murmured: "He doesn't like my war paint? Just wait, chap, you'll never again see lips so red. Ah, that's good!"
She pulled out a black, but translucent ankle-length skirt of fine fabric, and a likewise black corsage of leather.
Lil started to cough. "You wanna wear this during classes? Does your revenge go by the name of: ‚How I made his pants burst'?"
Ene smiled diabolically. "Nice title, isn't it?" She disappeared into the bathroom and came back just in time before the end of the lunch-break. She was only missing a whip for the perfect domina-look. Her make-up was extreme, but this time her lipstick was not black.
"Huuuaaah, what's the color of your lipstick? Bordello red?"
"Close," Ene said, "And now the curtain rises for the second act."
Shaking her head, Lil went back in the direction of the herb garden for the next lesson with Professor Sprout. She could see a picture of Ene so clearly before her eyes that she hardly saw the way and ran promptly into some blonde.
"Whoops! I'm sorry, I didn't meant to!"
The blonde girl was Anna who had dark circles under her eyes and looked quite puzzled.
"No problem, nothing happened," she said very quietly.
"Are you sure? You look really bushed. Don't wanna let Madam Pomfrey have a look? You've been to the hospital wing a few times before."
Anna shook her head vigorously. "No, everything is... fine, everything is... ohohoooooo..."
She started to sob without restraint. Lil softly took her into her arms.
"Oh, my, not that fine, I believe. Tell me what's bringing you down, I can keep my mouth shut."
She led Anna to a quiet corner and tried to worm the problem out of her. It took a few minutes but then Lil realised that Anna feared to be pregnant.
"You're not sure about it, Anna?" she asked
Anna shook her head. "How can you ascertain? I don't want anybody to know!"
Lil put her hand on Anna's shoulder. "Madam Pomfrey told me of the Apiarist fruit one might eat when expecting to be expectant. If the tongue turns yellow as honey after a few hours, you're pregnant. Does the tongue stay red as always, you're not. I have already seen the Apiarist tree in the herb garden and I can get you a fruit. Then at least you know it."
"Thanks," Anna sighed.
"Anna, don't be afraid, no matter what the test brings. Many children are surprises to their parents and make them happy nonetheless. And you definitely won't be alone, not even here in school. Madam Pomfrey should be enthusiastic because she never had to attend to a pregnancy, here. And Professor Dumbledore surely wouldn't have any objections to magic offsprings, after all this school should last for a long time. And outside school, well, how's about the might-to-be-father?"
Anna let her glance drop. "When I told it might have happened, he said I shouldn't try that on him. I should wait and then he'll find a solution without endangering his reputation. I won't get any real help from him."
Anna swallowed dryly and Lil sighed. "Guys! Haven't you noticed earlier that he's a skank? Why did you get mixed up with him?"
Anna smiled slightly. "Hmmm, he looks good, comes of a respectable family, he is intelligent, and he has such a... way to talk you in. It just happened, during summer holidays. There had been a social event at the estate of his parents, an association for the upkeeping of the pure blood was going to be established, and my parents took me along. It was great, music and dance – he danced with me and paid me so many compliments. Then we went for a stroll and... well."
Lil squinted her eyes. "After what you just told me, may I try a random shot? That guy, is it Malfoy?"
Anna seemed to be frightened to death. "Oh, my gosh, don't tell anyone. It'll only bring trouble! Please!"
Lil stroked Anna's hair. "Don't be afraid, I won't blab it out. I'll give you the Apiarist fruit before dinner. And when you know what's up tomorrow, you're gonna tell me right me away, ok? Then we shall see." Anna nodded silently, and then they parted.