Chapter 14 ~ Potions and Predictions

"Wonderful! You're all here!"

Anistasia sat at the Quidditch table and pulled a warm bagel onto her plate.

"Good morning," Stryker greeted her, "Of course we are. None of us wanted to miss our first lesson with a former Death Eater."

Ani, for the first time ever, glowered at him; a couple of the Slytherins rose from their seats in anger, "Watch what you say around here, boyo. You will be cursed for saying fuck like that. Professor Snape is a respected teacher – not very well-liked by the Gryffindors, but we respect him."

"I am sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect by it."

Anistasia motioned for the Slytherins to sit and spread cream cheese on her bagel and let it go. Harry walked up a moment later and kissed her on the cheek.

"Morning, Love," he said, sitting down beside her, "Are you ready for the big game this afternoon?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, Love," Ani replied with a cream cheese smile on her face.

"Hey, Harry," Draco said, leaning towards him, "who is that with Dumbledore?"

Harry looked up at the Head Table and noticed, for the first time, that there was a new person sitting beside Headmaster Dumbledore. Harry looked at Stryker.

"Is that guy beside Dumbledore from your school?"

Stryker looked and shook his head; "I have never seen him in my life."

Seeing the curious looks on all of the students' faces, Albus stood and called for everyone's attention.

"I would like to introduce to you all, a good friend of mine, Christian Whitford. He is my guest and should be treated as though he were me. Of course, there is no need for me to be telling you all this, as you are all respectful young witches and wizards. Please, make him feel welcome and help him if he asks you. Have a nice day." 

Those were his last words before the bell rang for the first class. Gryffindor, Slytherin and Beauxbaton walked together into the dungeons to attend Potions. Once they had all been seated and settled, Professors Snape and Wall swept into the room.

"I see that we have a few guests," Snape hissed, seeing the scarlet robes of Beauxbaton spread throughout the room, "For those of you who don't know me, I am Severus Snape and this is my assistant, Lauren Wall. We are the Potions Masters at this school. For the past week, these students have worked on making Polyjuice Potion, a type of transforming potion that allows the drinker to assume the identity of another person as long as he/she is provided with a hair or nail. I will ask now that one person from each group go check on your cauldrons and add the necessary ingredients. The rest of you will begin another type of transforming potion. It has to be done exactly right, or consequences will follow. I am going to drink it at the end of class. If the potion was brewed correctly, it should turn me into a rock. If I do not turn into a rock, I will give you and your partner detention and take points away from your house. Beauxbaton students, join a pair of Hogwarts students."

Harry, Anistasia and Stryker were together. Harry went to check on the Polyjuice Potion while Ani and Stryker began the potion.

"Wow, Professor Snape seems to be a bit tough," Stryker said as he began the fire, "He would make me nervous."

Anistasia shrugged as she ground the unicorn horn, "He might be tough, but I can tell that, on the inside, he's a little teddy bear."

"Teddy bear, eh," Harry asked, "You're nuts, Ani, pure nuts. Oh, and the Polyjuice Potion is turning out wonderfully. Between you and me," Harry whispered so only his partners could hear, "Hermione found a way to extend the time that we stay each other by an hour and a half."

"Wicked," Ani exclaimed, "Snape's going to have a fit when we don't turn back into ourselves by the end of the period! How do we do it?"

Harry nodded towards the unicorn horn she was grinding, "Add a pinch of that to the potion."

"Who all is doing it?"

"Everybody."

Ani giggled a little and put some of the powdered horn in Harry's hand. Stryker shook his head as Hermione passed.

"You are genius, Hermione," Ani hissed, "I want to know how you found this out!"

"I'll tell you later tonight in the Common Room," she hissed back, grinning.

"Are all Hogwarts students this mischievous," Stryker asked.

Anistasia laughed, "You think that this is mischievous? Hermione is the angel of this year. You haven't seen anything until you see Harry and Draco pull something. Then you will see mischievous."

Harry came back, smiling from ear to ear, and helped get the ingredients ready for the potion. The three of them talked as they loaded the ingredients into the cauldron.

"I hope you all are done," Snape announced, forty five minutes later, "It seems as though Potter and Willow are considering how much they are talking."

Harry and Anistasia looked at each other wide eyed. Harry stood frozen as Ani, reading the directions quickly, randomly shoved handfuls of this and pinches of that into a pot. Snape came over and pushed her aside.

"There is no saving your failure now, Ms. Willow," he growled as he took a goblet full of the potion and took a sip.

As expected, he didn't turn into a rock, though, what did happen was excitingly better. A moment after Snape had drunken the potion and was about to give Ani and Harry detentions, he froze up and got a soft, yet scary smile on his face.

"Her eyes are a majestic green,

"When she walks into the room, she lights up the scene,

"I love her so much, I wish she were mine,

"I can never help but notice that she is utterly divine,

"The owl, the Potions Master, the apple of my eye,

"Lauren Wall, I love you, and that is no lie."

The entire class burst into uncontrollable laughter. Professor Wall turned scarlet and vanished from the room as Ani, Harry, Stryker, Hermione and Ron all looked at each other.

"Ani," Stryker whispered, "You made a love/truth potion!"

Anistasia stopped laughing and looked at Snape as he was gaining consciousness. He saw the class had burst into laughter, Professor Wall had disappeared and Ani had turned very white.

"What is so funny," Snape demanded loudly.

The class went silent, except for one mumbling voice.

"…The owl, the Potions Master, the apple of my eye, Lauren Wall, I love you, and that is no lie."

Snape's face went from pale white to bright red, "What was that Weasley?"

Ron looked up, "Its what you said, sir. That is what we were laughing at."

Snape's face turned even redder as he pulled his robes around him. He didn't say a word…couldn't it looked like. Although, once he got his voice back…

"That will be fifty points from Gryffindor and detentions to you, Willow, Potter and Weasley," he said quietly and left their table.

Anistasia sighed, glad that the punishment wasn't anything worse and leaned against Harry. He seemed relived as well and shot a grin in Stryker's direction. The bell rang and they were off to Divination.

The trio entered the room and was immediately greeted by fumes from the many candles lit around the room. Stryker entered the room first, stumbling and coughing a bit.

"I predicted that I would have some guests today."

The three of them turned towards the voice. Professor Trelawney was hovering at the head of the classroom as though she had been meditating.

"Take your seats. Class is about to start."

Stryker, Ani and Harry joined Ron and Hermione at one of the tables in the back of the room. The rest of the class piled in and the Professor began class.

"We are going to continue trying to foresee the future with crystal balls," Professor Trelawney announced, "Now, if you will, one person from your table retrieve a ball from the back shelf and we will get started."

Anistasia reached into her bag and pulled out a large box, "No need to get one, Ron. I am going to play with mine."

"Since when do you have a crystal ball," Harry asked.

"Last time we went to Hogsmade."

"But why," Hermione asked.

Divination wasn't Hermione's favorite subject and she let everyone know it. Ani ignored Hermione's question. She knew why she got the crystal ball and that's all that mattered. Ever since Ani saw that thing in Harry's eyes, she wanted to know what it was. So, her next trip to Hogsmade was spent looking for tarot cards, crystal balls and anything else she could find that might help her find an answer to the question in Harry's eyes.

"I see that Ms. Willow has bought herself a crystal ball," Professor Trelawney exclaimed, floating over, "Its nice to see a student take this class seriously. Tell me, my dear, what do you see?"

Anistasia stuttered a little as she placed her hands over the ball. Closing her eyes, she whispered the incantation, "Crystal ball, knowing all, show me what I want to see. Tell me now what I please, to these locked doors I need the keys."

Anistasia concentrated as hard as she could as the class paid attention. She felt the ball's energy run through her fingers. Images began to enter her mind. Dark, disturbing images of Harry and her…there were people around them, running and screaming. Green light was flashing all around. Anistasia looked above her as the Dark Mark showed clearly in the night sky. More screaming…more chaos. Ani began to sob and fell against Harry who was paralyzed. It was evident that he saw something walking towards them ---

"Anistasia! Anistasia, can you hear me? Please wake up!"

Anistasia blinked. She was on the ground in the Divination classroom. Harry was on one side of her, Stryker on the other. Professor Trelawney had backed away; she was in her own world…

"He will be back," she was mumbling, "He will be back and he will take three of our own with him to his side…another will be killed by him mercy, yet another at the mercy of a friend..."

Stryker, who was holding Ani's hand, began to tremble, "Come on. You have had enough of this for one day. Harry, if you would, gather her stuff, please. We are out of here."

Stryker pulled Ani to her feet and supported her weight as Harry gathered her stuff. They made their way back to the Gryffindor Common room and sat on the couch.

"Anistasia," Harry whispered, holding her hand, "What happened in there? What did you see?"

She shook her head. The energy was drained from her. She couldn't begin to comprehend what she had seen in her mind. Anistasia fell into Harry's arms and cried. He stroked her hair and told her not to worry about it.

"Nothing is going to happen to us. I promise."

A man, sitting in a chair by the fire, was reading Hogwarts, A History and humming a soft, sad tune. Ani's sobs interrupted his reading and he looked up to see the three students on the couch. He walked over to them and kneeled beside Anistasia. He placed his hand atop of her's. Ani looked down at him.

"Mister Whitford," Anistasia said as she addressed Gryffindor as his alias and dried her eyes, "How are you?"

"I am troubled, to say the least," he replied in a soft voice, "Why are you crying?"

Gryffindor's gray eyes pierced into Ani's. He looked as though he wondered why anyone would look as distraught as Anistasia did. She shook her head.

"I am sorry, but I cannot say."

He nodded and ran his hand down her cheek, whipping away her tears. She closed her eyes and a vision came to her. It was of him, standing in the midst of chaos on a dark field. There was a light surrounding him – it was as if it was coming from him. Huge wings of light were protruding from his back and shoulders. There was a power that could be seen – it was unearthly. The song of the phoenix was present, loud and clear. A blinding light enveloped the vision and Anistasia opened her eyes. Harry was stoking her head, which was in his lap, and almost yelling at her to wake up. Stryker was keeling beside Gryffindor; both of them were silent.

"I," she said quietly, "I am very tired and…I would like to go to bed."

With that, she got up and left for her dormitory. Harry stood, getting ready to go after her, but Stryker stopped him. Harry reluctantly sat back down on the couch.