The Malfoy Inheritance
Chapter 7: One Secret of Many
Draco awakened sometime later, his headache gone.
His eyes opened and took in his surroundings…Shyte! He was actually in the infirmary? Did someone break his arm or something?
"You're awake? Well here, they're just some potions for any future headaches you'll have," Madame Pomphrey's voice spoke from his left, "I can't guarantee they'll work, but there is always a chance they might."
She then placed a small box full of at least a dozen vials on the table beside him then walked back into her office.
"If you are feeling well, then you should head to your next class now, it will be starting in a few moments." Came Lucivar's unmistakable voice off to his right.
"Which one is it?" Draco asked, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, realizing he wasn't wearing his shoes.
"Double Potions with the Gryffindor class." Lucivar answered, clasping Draco's left foot with one hand and his left shoe with the other; he then slid Draco's foot into the shoe and began tying the laces.
Draco was silent and unmoving as Lucivar started to tie the laces up on his right shoe, quite surprised at his 'slave's actions truthfully, but then again, he wondered what other little 'surprises' he'd find after a few days time.
After placing his master's shoe-clad feet on the ground he made his way around the bed, scooping up the small box and placing it in a side pocket on Master Dragon's bag.
He then plucked Master Dragon's cloak off the spare chair and held it out for his master to slip on.
"…Thank you, … Lucivar." Draco murmured after he smoothed out a few wrinkles in his cloak, still in a slight shock as he exited the infirmary.
"You're welcome Master Dragon."
His eyebrows shot up, now he hadn't imagined it! Lucivar was calling him 'Master Dragon', but that wasn't his name…
"Lucivar, why do you call me 'Master Dragon'?"
Red eyes studied him in a slightly curious expression, "Is that not your name Master? Or would you prefer to be called something else?"
"Well- er- no I don't-" did he sound flustered? No! A Malfoy is never flustered!
"What I meant was no that's not my name, it's Draco."
"But they mean the same thing, Master; would you prefer it if I called you 'Dragon' in another tongue?"
In another tongue? Oh, right, in another language…Draco thought, Lucivar was right though, Draco meant Dragon, just in another language…
"No, that's fine." Draco assured, walking into the potions room, taking his usual seat in the middle next to Corwin and Pansy; he was given a little surprise to find an extra chair at the table, which had become slightly longer to occupy a fourth occupant…obviously meant for Lucivar.
He sat in the extra seat that was next to Corwin.
Had Professor Snape, his godfather done this little courtesy to Lucivar? Draco found it hard to believe yet even harder to disbelieve since Snape seemed non-plussed by the longer desk and extra chair, since he'd been sitting at his desk in front of the classroom nearly the entire time.
The bell rang just as the last student took his seat.
"I don't believe I need to be introduced, and you already know the rules of the classroom," the potions professor snapped, "And if you forget, I will have no problems reminding you with the deduction of points and detentions."
With a glare at the Gryffindors he then took attendance and then moved on with whatever class plan he had.
"Today," Snape began in his usual intimidating voice, "We will be making the 'Animagus Temporia Potion', and does anyone know what this potion does once ingested?"
Granger's hand shot up like a rocket, doing its little dance in the air, dying to be picked. Surprisingly the Weasel's hand shot up as well; hunh, so the redhead actually had a brain after all.
None of the Slytherins raised their hands, some knew, some didn't; but the ones that did know, well they feigned ignorance. And for good reason, especially in front of these Gryffindors; they had to feign stupidity in some things, like sometime in third year in the DADA class when each student was placed under the Imperius Curse.
"I think I feel feint that Mr. Weasley may actually know the answer…" Snape commented offhandedly, signaling for Ron to speak.
Draco cursed mentally in disgust, it was pathetic really, the Imperius Curse, all of Slytherin house could easily deflect it, except for the first years, but the second years were performing nightly tests until they became immune to it; after that mastery, they had to build up their endurance for in third year, the fourth years would cast the Cruciatus curse at first once a month, then once a week, and eventually every night until they'd built up a sufficient tolerance for the spell.
"U-um…" Ron stuttered, slightly afraid, "T-The potion would transform you into an animal of your choosing, but it doesn't last long after a few minutes or an hour you change back."
Since no one could actually deflect or become totally immune to the Cruciatus Curse, they had to build up their tolerance for pain, the first goal was to be able to stand without moving until the curse faded away, then the second was to be able to move free of jerky movements, the last was to be able to sufficiently fire off a deadly curse with which to either stall the caster or stun him enough to apparate to safety…
Oh damn, went off on a tangent again, he had a bad habit of doing that.
"A sufficient answer Weasley, no matter how horrible it was" Snape breathed, not pleased that he couldn't take house points.
"Back to the potion, the ingredients you will need and how much specifically are written on the board; get out your text books and open them to page 63 where you will then find the directions for making the potion. I would advise the lot of you bumbling fools that have the tendency to just 'toss' certain ingredients into the cauldron, to do specifically as the book instructs you too otherwise the potion will most likely not work or turn into something else." Snape warned with a pointed glare at a few Gryffindors, namely Harry, Ron, and Neville.
"As I'm sure a few of you may know," the barest side glance at Corwin and Zambini, "This potion will not be done in time for you to test it,"
He looked thoughtful on whether or not to tell them before or after they started making the potion.
"Get to work!"
After it would be…
Professor Snape strode down the aisle and drew up short of Draco's table, "Mr. Draco Malfoy, would it be alright if I were to 'borrow' Lucivar for the duration of class since you will not likely need his help in making this particular potion?"
So stunned at what Professor Snape was asking of him he could only nod dumbly, once again thrown into shock, as he looked at Lucivar in a new light.
Lucivar could make potions too? Er- something like that?
He shook his head and rubbed his eyes as Lucivar stood and made his way towards Snape's desk where Professor Snape now stood and began speaking to him quickly.
He watched as Lucivar nodded in understanding as Snape then spoke, "Longbottom, you will work under Mr. Lucivar's instruction as I do not particularly want to have another cauldron blow up in my classroom on the very first day of classes."
With that said, Lucivar made his way over to the rather pale Neville and began speaking to him in a hushed tone.
The color soon returned to Neville Longbottom's face as he nodded a few times then got up and began gathering the ingredients.
The classroom didn't have time to murmur in full-fledged whispers as they instead took a few glances when they could as they focused on making the Animagus Temporia Potion.
Harry paused in his work; he still had a few minutes to let the bubbling-green potion sit as he watched Lucivar speak to Neville. The whole thing was quite surprise really as he was rather shocked to find Neville actually speak back, possibly in question or affirmation as Lucivar responded in turn.
In a few moments, the entire class fell into a bit of a lull, as the potion needed to sit for nearly half an hour, already having readied the remaining pieces of ingredients and so on, watching in a somewhat dazed awe as Neville, shy, bumbling, clumsy, idiot Longbottom continue to speak with Lucivar, asking him questions really as Lucivar answered.
With the stark silence in the room, the other students soon heard what was being said,
"But I don't understand why the 'Arrowth Bane' needs to be diced then added two at a time- why can't you just toss them all in?" came Neville's surprisingly intelligent question, some of the students had been quite curious as well.
"If you were to 'toss them all in' as you say, then the magical qualities of the still brewing potion would be sucked from it by the Arrowth Bane." Lucivar answered softly, and at Neville's confused look he, "Here, do you know what happens to water if you place large amounts of salt rock into it?"
"Yeah, it starts to dry up because the salt dries it up."
"Now think of Arrowth Bane as the salt rocks and the potion as water, the same effect, but when you place two in at a time, the Arrowth Bane dries up the excess magic that is not needed in the potion while releasing it's own magical properties as it dissolves into the potion." Lucivar spoke in patient tones of liquid velvet, unknowingly having every student's attention.
"When you continue to add two in until you run out, the process continues on, drying up the excess magic until you add in the next ingredient,"
"But what if you don't dry it all up? Or what if it already dried up?"
"You can never completely get rid of the excess magic in any potion, you can only lower the amount that it in it."
Neville looked put-out yet indignant at the same time, "Then what's the point of even putting in Arrowth Bane in the first place if there's still going to be excess magic left over?"
Lucivar gave Neville a patient smile before explaining once again, "Because if you did not do something to lower the excess magic in this particular potion, it would continue to grow as it collects more of the unused magic with each new ingredient added; which, after brewed, would prove fatal if ingested because the heat of the burner steadily raises the temperature of the liquid, forcing the excess magic to adapt, changing into the form of a type of lethal poison."
The Gryffindor's eyes widened, "Then what about the excess magic still in it?!" He squeaked.
He smiled and shook his head slightly, "Did you read the rest of the bottling instructions in your textbook Mr. Longbottom?"
Neville flushed and shook his head no.
Draco couldn't take his eyes off of Lucivar's smiling face and patient eyes, he'd never seen them like that before; he'd never seen Lucivar's eyes so unguarded. After a moment he turned his gaze over to Snape, to find said Potions Professor sitting on the edge of his desk, watching Lucivar begin explaining to Neville again.
"I believe the book would instruct you to bottle the potion by scooping the top half into a vial or container with which to hold the potion;" Lucivar answered his own question, "for, once you let the potion cool for the appointed time, the excess magic settles at the very bottom of the cauldron."
"Oh, wow…well, thanks Mr. Lucivar." Neville said with a slight bob of his head, "I didn't understand some of those things before I'd asked you, and I've never known some of the things too, so thanks."
"You haven't?" Lucivar made the statement a question that was aimed at Snape as he turned to give the potions master a questioning look.
Severus Snape blushed in embarrassment for the first time in years; he turned from Lucivar's pointed look as he bent his head over his desk, suddenly immersed in the papers before him.
"You're welcome, but now I believe it is time for you to add in the next ingredient." Lucivar murmured softly, motioning to the skinned 'Whineart' on the table.
The classroom blinked out of its stupor as they too picked up their 'Whineart' and placed it into their cauldrons.
Surprisingly everyone had completed the potion, without any mess-ups.
Near the end of the class time, with cauldrons and other things put away, each student sat at their tables with a single vial in their hands, a few moments ago they'd been instructed to write their name upon the top of the cork; they had and now awaited further instructions as it was nearing the time when the bell would ring.
"Now," Snape began, "As you've obviously figured it out by now, you will not be testing the potion today. Which is why you will be writing a twenty inch essay on which animal you want to become when you take the potion and why; it is due Monday."
There was a collective groan from the Gryffindors; ten points had been taken.
"On Monday, I expect the lot of you to have selected your animal, know what it looks like for you will need to be able to draw up the image in your mind; in detail." The professor added, emphasizing detail as he gave a pointed stare at Weasley.
"Then we will meet on the Quiditch pitch where you will then test your potions." Snape paused for a moment, seeing a few gazes actually seeming quite 'happy' at this fact, "The only reason any of you will be at the pitch during my class time is in case any of you morons decide to choose an animal larger than this dungeon's room and because the headmaster forbade the use of the Arachnids territory in the Dark Forrest; which would have worked just fine," Snape drawled in true Malfoy fashion yet still maintaining his hateful Snape glare, "I wouldn't have minded the loss of a few students either, it would certainly stop the spiders from snapping at my heals when I collect boomslang skin too…" he muttered under his breath as an afterthought.
The bell rang, "Now go poison someone else's air before I assign detentions; and place your potions on the rack!" Snape barked, pointing a hand to the vial rack on the wall.
Just as the last Gryffindors and most of the Slytherins exited the classroom, Snape turned to Lucivar, a vague smile curling his lips, "Thank you for helping Longbottom, Lucivar, it was a pleasant reprieve from having the idiot Gryffindor's cauldron explode again, he had actually been the one to have made the best batch of 'Animagus Temporia'." He said, a smirk on his lips.
Lucivar nodded his head, "Would you expect anything less from Mr. Neville under my instructions?" he murmured civilly, his words as near to self-boast as Lucivar had ever been to Snape's memory.
"No I would not." Snape agreed.
"How do you two know each other, Godfather?" Draco asked as soon as the last group of Slytherins left the room.
"From school, when your father and I were still on good terms, Draco." Snape answered, turning to face his godson, "And it would prove true that Lucius had indeed made sure Lucivar wore that garment every Friday…I guess I owe him twenty galleons then…" He murmured more to himself than anyone.
"You had better get to class before you're late Draco." Snape said, changing the subject.
"I suppose you're right, see you Monday Professor Snape." Draco agreed, turning around and walking out the room.
"Severus." Lucivar nodded in parting as he followed his young master out the door.
Severus couldn't stop the half-smile from creeping onto his face, which promptly turned into a sneering glare as the first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws began trickling into the room.
-Read and Review please- need all possible input imaginable… -.-; -
I currently have to reset my computer, so I had had intentions of responding to most likely all of the people that reviewed, I just can't remember what you wrote and all that- don't get offended or anything, my memory is just bloody horrible- honestly and truly it flippin' is… =.=;
