Not JK. I write this shitty on my own.
Please excuse my awful constant use of passive voice and dialogue tags.
Part Forty-Four: The Last Potions Class
The weeks were winding down to Graduation, the prospect of actually leaving Hogwarts and going out on their own weighing heavily on the shoulders of all seventh year students. At the moment, the most important goal for the students was to pass their N.E.W.T.s with a reasonable score that wouldn't keep them from having job offers after graduation. With only a few weeks left, Ron had gone to get Kali's ring one afternoon in Hogsmeade after finishing a shift at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Sudden reality seemed more surreal than anything else and Ron, Hermione, Harry, Kali, and Draco all felt as if they were going through the motions of life as if they were under water.
The first full realization that the school year was coming so close to an end for Harry was the Quidditch finals in late May. With Crabbe and Goyle, the Slytherin beaters, gone, a pair of sixth years by the names of Sheppard and Chadwick had to take over and Slytherin just barely scraped by Hufflepuff. The next Saturday, Gryffindor played Ravenclaw in what was to be Harry's last match ever at Hogwarts. It had been a hard blow for Harry to take, accepting that his days on the Gryffindor house team were soon to be over and he would be leaving his position as Seeker and Captain for other things. Words could express the profound sadness that course through him the week before the match, and though his friends and teammates tried to cheer him up, their attempts only went in vain. He had been on the team since first year, the youngest House player in a century, and it was coming to an end all too fast.
Harry changed into his scarlet Quidditch robes for the last time on a bright, Saturday morning. Spring was here and drifting into summer. The sun was bright, far too bright to Harry, and the only wind was a light breeze that ruffled his already unruly hair as he grasped his broom and walked to the Quidditch pitch with his teammates by his side. His thoughts were solely centered on the fact he was doing everything for the last time as he kicked off from the ground on Madam Hooch's whistle, determined to win. There was no way the youngest player to be on a House team in a century was going out in his last game by losing.
Gryffindor prevailed over Ravenclaw, and though Draco was a member of the latter house, he cheered on Harry the entire time. Things such as House pride didn't seem more important than people, especially considering the importance of which house he was in would mean little to nothing in a month. In Harry's final year, Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup after one of their best seasons in years, having won all three games by an outstanding number of points each and every time.
"This entire graduating thing is really depressing," said Ron, as they walked out of Defense Against the Dark Arts for lunch. Days had passed since Gryffindor's Quidditch victory and he was in the middle of his last day of classes before taking the N.E.W.T.s next week. Having left Lupin's class for the last time, there was only one class left. Everyone found it suiting that it was Potions.
"I know what you mean," said Harry, sitting down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. "That was the last time we're ever going to have a Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Ever. Not just having Lupin for a teacher or finishing Defense for this year, but we're done with going to that class for good."
"I have to say, though, I'm glad we're done with Trelawney," said Ron, helping himself to a large portion of potatoes. "All we have left is Potions. If this were any other year, I wouldn't be able to wait, but I've had to come to an understanding with Snape this year, thanks to a certain someone."
"Who, me?" said Kali, grinning. "I wish I could be sadder about this but I can't wait to get out of here. I'm sorry I can't sympathize. Then again, I did spend most of my years at Chivington and not here at Hogwarts, so perhaps if I had gone here since first year I would be sadder. However, I am looking very forward to starting my new job when I get out of here."
"You had an offer?" asked Harry.
"Well, more like I stalked my desired place of employment and let then know my merits and why I would be an ideal employee until I convinced them and I was offered a job."
"That I can believe," said Harry as Ron laughed. "Where are going to work?"
"Can't tell yet. You'll find out at the Graduation Ball. That's when we all decided to share what we plan on doing. I don't even know what Ron's doing yet."
"And I don't know what Kali wants to do. That was the deal. How about you, Harry? Still getting Quidditch reserve offers?"
"Yeah," he said, sighing. "I'd love to play Quidditch but it's just not the same as playing here for Hogwarts. I don't know. I got an offer from Puddlemere United, so I could be on the same team as Oliver again, and I have one from the Appleby Arrows. I'm not sure about it, though. I have another offer lines up as an alternative. The thing about Quidditch is that it's so high profile and I already get enough attention from my scar. I'd also have to travel a lot and I don't want to be away from Draco for so long."
"Have you and Draco talked about what you plan on doing after school?" asked Kali.
"We've both been avoiding it. Granted, we don't have the problems we would have been facing before. There's no Voldemort of Death Eaters to be in our way. Still, I don't know where we're going to go from here. I love him. I want to be with him forever. I just don't know if he feels the same."
"You should say something to him," prompted Kali. "I'm sure he'd be willing to talk to you about it."
"What about you two? Have you talked about what you're doing yet?"
"We're doing that at the Graduation Ball, too," said Ron, giving Harry a pointed glare.
"We are?" asked Kali.
"Yes, we are."
"Well, good. I was wondering when we were going to start working out arrangements. So, Harry, where's Draco?"
"I think he had some last minute catch-up with McGonagall before next week. Draco seems to think he's going to fail and be held back a year so that he'd have to do seventh year all over again with Crabbe and Goyle. He's clearly paranoid as we all know he isn't going to fail, especially with the way he's been studying, but you know Draco . . ."
"Yes," said Ron, "I do know Draco. I never thought I'd be able to say that, but I do know Draco. How about that?"
Ron shrugged and they finished their lunch to head to the dungeons for the last time they would have to endure a Potions class. Neville looked like the day couldn't have come fast enough as they walked in and sat down near the front, as Kali liked to occupy those seats these days. Snape wasn't there yet as the seats were filling in and Hermione came in only a few moments before he did, sliding in next to Harry.
"I had to help Servius in the library," she explained. "He has his Arithmancy exam next week and he's still having some trouble."
"Of course you had to help Servius," said Ron. She reached across Harry to smack him as Snape strode to the front.
"It isn't like that, Ron. Yes, he's my boyfriend, but I'm Head Girl and it is my responsibility to help any younger student who requests it. Haven't you been approached this year?"
"A few times, mostly by the same people for the same reasons. My girlfriend keeps getting mad at me. I need help in Transfiguration. Snape told me I was a dunderhead and now I'm scared to go back to Potions. That sort of thing."
"Who told you I called them a dunderhead?" inquired Snape, before starting class.
"I don't remember. A third year, I think."
"Probably Mister Halliwell," he mused. "Hufflepuff?"
"Yeah. Kind of on the short side and has light brown hair. Plump. Cries easy."
Snape nodded. "That would be Mister Halliwell. How I wish he were graduating in a few weeks with Longbottom?"
"This is getting creepy, Ron," said Harry, once Snape had turned to survey the class for attendance. "You and Snape have been acting really weird in class for the past few weeks. Almost like you're friends or something. He never threatens to poison you anymore. It's scaring me. What did you do to him, Kali?"
"I didn't do anything!" she said, throwing up her hands. "You aren't the only one who's inquired about this, Harry. I think it's really weird and it's making me uncomfortable."
"Kali, you should be happy I'm getting along with your father."
"I am happy, Ron, it's just scaring me to insanity. As if I'm not crazy enough already."
"As this is your last Potions class," interrupted Snape, "we will be reviewing what we covered this year. Let's start at the beginning of the year. Mister Longbottom, what does Blessure Fatale do?"
"Heals fatal wounds," Neville squeaked out, looking like he wanted to cower.
"That is correct," continued Snape, unfazed by the correct answer. "Miss Strauser, what color should Blessure Fatale be when it is properly made?"
"Lime green," she answered, sheepishly, causing a few of the students to laugh.
"And Miss Strauser, say you add too much Mandrake root to your potion. What color would it be then?"
"Royal blue."
"Mister Potter, what are the three key ingredients in Blessure Fatale?"
"Mandrake root, unicorn hair, and fluxweed."
Snape nodded. "Very good, Mister Potter. Five points to Gryffindor."
Harry gaped, staring at Snape as if he had grown a second head. So did much of the rest of the class.
"Miss Granger," he continued, without bothering to notice his shocked class, "what is the purpose of the Polyjuice Potion?"
"To take on the appearance of another," said Hermione.
"Mister Finnigan, how long do the effects of Polyjuice Potion last?"
Seamus looked at him as if it were a trick question, then said, "One hour."
"And what are the ingredients for Polyjuice Potion, Mister Weasley?"
Ron paused to think over this. "Fluxweed, leeches, lacewing flies, knotgrass, powdered horn of a bicorn, shredded skin of a boomslang, and a bit of the person you're going to change into."
Kali stared at Ron, wide-eyed, as he rattled off the ingredients. She would have never remembered it but Snape seemed very pleased with the response.
"Thank you, Mister Weasley. Ten points to Gryffindor."
Harry tentatively raised his hand.
"Yes, Mister Potter?"
"Excuse me, sir, but you do realize you just gave Gryffindor fifteen points in the last ten minutes?"
"What's your point, Mister Potter?" he asked, dryly.
"You gave Gryffindor points. Perhaps you meant to say 'from' instead of 'to'. I just thought I'd let you know. You couldn't have possibly been wanting to give Ron and me points."
Covering her mouth, Kali tried to hide her laugh with a cough. In the row behind her, Blaise was doing the same thing and they ended up coughing loudly, taking turns on who got to erupt into a coughing fit next. Snape was still staring at Harry, unmoved.
"Miss Parkinson," he started, trying to get back on the topic.
"You are acting really strange, Daddy," said Kali.
"Miss Strauser, do call me Professor Snape, and the class is trying to review."
"We've been reviewing for weeks, Daddy. Sorry, Professor Snape, and we're all sick of studying. This is our last Potions class. Can't you just give us a break?"
"It is my responsibility to make sure that this class if properly prepared for the Potions portion of the N.E.W.T.s next week."
"You have been properly preparing us. We know what to expect, we've reviewed a thousand times. Can't we just, I don't know, try to figure out where my real Daddy is and who you really are?"
"What do you mean by that, Kailah?"
"My real Daddy would never give Harry and Ron fifteen points in less than ten minutes. It's unnatural."
"I did mean to give Mister Potter and Mister Weasley fifteen points in less than ten minutes. Honestly, I don't see what the fuss is all about."
"You know what the fuss is all about, don't you?" said Kali, turning to Pansy, who was sitting next to her. "I mean, why would he want to give Ron points when he hates him so much? Why were they getting along before class? Why in Merlin's name am I talking to you?" she shrieked. "Oh gods, the world has gone backwards. Harry, help!"
"I'd rescue you but I'm just as scared as you."
"Kailah," said Snape, trying to be patient, "the world has not gone backward, I don't know why you're talking to Miss Parkinson as you despise her so much, and I do not hate Mister Weasley. Now, if we can get back to our review, as I'm sure you and Mister Longbottom are going to need every last bit of help in Potions that you can get."
"Did he just say he didn't hate Ron?" she asked, turning to Pansy again. "Why am I talking to you? Why are you sitting next to me? Don't you have some other place to infest?"
"Tch, I don't know why you're talking to me but I really wish you wouldn't," said Pansy.
"Well, I really wish I wouldn't as well."
Pansy rolled her eyes and said, "Tch, yeah, I'm so sure."
"You think I'd actually want to talk to you? Why am I still talking to you?"
"Perhaps it's because you're talking about me so you can't talk directly to me and so you look to your other side," said Ron. "Coincidentally, Pansy just happens to be sitting there."
"That must be it. I'd never talk to that wench any other way."
"Tch," said Pansy.
"Tch, tch, tch," snapped Harry, impersonating Pansy. "What is that?"
"The mating call of pugs," muttered Blaise. Kali tried to hide her laughs with coughs for the second time during the class.
"It's bloody annoying. Why does she always have to make that sound? If the world really had gone backward, she'd stop making that dreadful sound. Tch, tch, tch."
"Everyone settle down," said Snape in his silkiest voice, louder than they had been accustomed to over the past few weeks. "We are going to be reviewing Potions in this class period, not the inner workings of my feelings toward Mister Weasley, Miss Strauser's issues with Miss Parkinson, or the mating call of pugs," he said, directing this last comment at Blaise, who tried to give him an innocent smile. "Miss Bulstrode, what is the purpose of Neint Felti?"
~*~
By the next Friday, the entire seventh year class had their N.E.W.T.s and were awaiting their scores, which were expected to be presented to them in a week, two days before the Graduation Ball. Graduation itself was a good two weeks away, the ceremony scheduled to take place out on the Quidditch Pitch two days before the awarding of the House Cup. After the ceremony, there was to be a party in the Great Hall for those attending the ceremony to gather that would last most of the day. Draco was looking forward to it as so many people had family scheduled to come. His mother was to be there as was his Great Aunt Circe, Kali's grandmother, and he couldn't wait to introduce Harry to the woman who raised Snape.
Everyone was in preparation, especially the girls who were determined to have the perfect dress robes for the Ball, especially since there would be a photographer taking last minute pictures for the Hogwarts yearbooks that were to be distributed the day before they got on the train. Kali and Hermione took their last Hogsmeade weekend to go together down to the village and get dress robes for the occasion as Kali was dragging Ron along and Hermione was having Servius for her date.
The day of the Graduation Ball came, the N.E.W.T. scores were in, and Hermione had been the top of the year. Draco had come in a close second, with Ron coming in third. Padma had been just behind them with the fourth highest score in the year. Kali and Harry passed, scraping by with enough headroom to not look completely inept. As all Kali had been hoping for was to pass, she couldn't really get upset. Both she and Harry were pleased with their scores and as long as they weren't repeating the year with the company of Crabbe and Goyle to keep them entertained, nothing else mattered.
Dressing in robes of a vivid, blood red, Kali brushed out her curls and let them lay in her shoulders for a change instead of pulling them back into her customary ponytail. Hermione had invited her into the Head Girl room to change as to avoid Lavender and Parvati, who kept insisting she should have worn blue because it was so beautiful on her, and poked her in the eye once with a mascara wand, causing a rather painful experience she wanted to forget. Hermione wore a periwinkle blue and had managed her hair so that it was slick and wavy instead of bushy.
"Can you believe we graduate in a few days?" asked Hermione as she pulled her fingers through her hair one last time.
"No," answered Kali, honestly, as she applied her eye shadow. "I really can't. Tonight is the Graduation Ball already. I feel like I just met you all on the Hogwarts Express yet we're leaving already."
"Where are you meeting Ron?"
"Common room. Where are you meeting Servius?"
"Entrance Hall. I think Draco and Harry already went down."
"Then I suppose we should get going, too."
Kali and Hermione each took one last look in the mirror before leaving to meet up with their dates and heading down to the Great Hall for the Graduation Ball.
Once again, I know Brits don't have Graduation. Also, read fifth book already as I'm sure many of you have. Ignore glaring errors (ie – Sirius). Finished this thing long before OotP was released.
