Chapter Twelve
Poisonous Potion Master
"Lex, it's three cups of powdered mandrake roots, not four," hissed Venefica.
Alexia quickly looked down to see her Deflating Draught, which should have been blue was now bright green. She sighed and looked at the board. Of course Venefica was right, she had a photographic memory.
"And what, Ms. Malfoy, is this?" asked Snape, who had chosen this exact moment to sweep over to her cauldron.
She could hear the Slytherins whispering excitedly behind her. She frowned and looked up at Snape, who was baring down on her like a panther ready to attack.
"It's my Deflating Draught, sir," said Alexia, anger swelling inside of her, "I thought you'd know that considering you're the one who assigned it."
Snape looked shocked and the classroom was suddenly very silent. Alexia wished she could have taken those words back, but it was too late.
"Twenty points from Hufflepuff for your lack of respect, Malfoy!" spat Snape, "And a weeks worth of detention as well."
He swept away and as he did made her potion disappear. She frowned and started to pack away her things.
It had been like this for the past three weeks, and slowly the snow was beginning to melt from the grounds and they could tell spring was coming. Ever since they got back to lessons, Snape had been awful to her. Not to mention Alexia had to with stand a gruling five hours a week earlier with Parvati, who was positively livid with her, and would often laugh when she sprayed cleaner all over her.
She sat there and Venefica looked at her.
"You need to pay better attention to what you're doing," she said as she picked up her bag and the bell sounded.
"Malfoy, we need to arrange your punishment," snapped Snape.
Venefica looked at her.
"I'll catch up," said Alexia, turning around.
She walked over to Snape's desk and he glared at her.
"I would've expected better behavior from you, Malfoy," he said, scrawling down Alexia's name and the date of her detention, "They start tomorrow, in my office, seven sharp."
"Yes sir," said Alexia, taking the slip and turning towards the door.
"And you'll need to do an extra essay about where you went wrong on your Deflating Draught this afternoon," he snapped.
Lex sighed.
"Yes Professor," she said, leaving the room.
She dragged her feet up the stairs and into the Great Hall.
It had been a month since the second term started and she was starting to hate her classes more and more, and when she wasn't spending time trying to finish her mountains of homework, she was usually sitting near the fire, so tired she could barely move. After a very slow Transfigurations class, she stumbled to Charms with Breena at her side.
"Are you sure you're getting enough sleep?" she asked.
Alexia yawned loudly and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah," she said.
Breena looked confused.
"Lex?" she asked.
She looked up and Breena shook her head.
"Maybe you should go to the Hufflepuff common room or something," she muttered, "You look awful."
Alexia yawned and walked up to Professor Flitwick and he took one look at her and excused her from class. She grabbed her things and stumbled up the stairs to the common room but before she could get to the dorm, she fell asleep in one of the armchairs.
She had the oddest dream. She was sitting the middle of the lake on the castle grounds, standing on the water, watching the fish swim below her feet. She saw Breena, Hari, Linnea and Lorelei running around the grassy lawn of Hogwarts, laughing and yelling. She took started to run across the water, and she ran as if on solid ground. But a few feet before shore she took a step and began to fall deep into the water. As she sank, she saw her friends looking down at her.
"Help me!" she yelled.
Linnea reached out but before she knew it, she hit solid ground.
She opened her eyes and saw she was at home, in her Father's study. He was writing quickly on a piece or parchment when Gavin came in.
"Dinner's ready, Dad," he said.
Their Father didn't reply.
"Dad?" asked Gavin.
"I'm much too busy son," said their Father, who hadn't stopped writing, "I have to get this owl out."
"Dad, they'll understand." started Gavin, but their Father cut him off.
"This may just be a misunderstanding, but if I don't clear it up terrible things."
The light faded and Alexia began to fall again.
"Dad!" she yelled, reaching out, but the room faded from view.
She fell on her back this time and opened her eyes. She was in a small plush bedroom, with a small girl sitting on a bed, her red hair hung in front of her face as she sobbed into her hands. She could hear screaming coming from outside the room and the scared little girl pulled a pillow over her head. Alexia knew this girl and as she reached out she began to fall once more.
She was now in a different room, a dark and smelly cell in a prison when her feet hit the ground hard. A tall, thin man with blond hair sat in the corner, mumbling to himself.
"Stupid mudblood, trying to soil my family name," he growled.
She paused. Suddenly this didn't seem so much like a dream. She moved towards him and felt cold rushing through her body. She stopped after a few steps and the man looked up. His gray eyes burned into his.
"MUDBLOOD FILTH!" he yelled.
"Lex!" yelled a voice.
Her eyes flew open and she looked around. She was covered with sweat and a slight hint of sweat was on her back. She was breathing fast and looked around. She could see there was a slight hint of light in the common room.
"I have my detention with Snape tonight," she muttered distractedly as she looked around the room.
She looked up and saw Lorelei looking down at her; she had obviously just woken up.
"You all right?" asked Lorelei.
"What time is it?' asked Alexia.
"Six in the morning," said Lorelei, yawning.
"I have so much work," she grumbled, pulling a book towards her.
Lorelei stopped her.
"Lex, what happened?" she asked.
Alexia looked up at her.
"Nothing happen," she said, tearing the book away and opening it to the correct chapter.
"You were saying something about Mudbloods," Lorelei whispered.
"I.what?" asked Alexia.
"You just yelled something about.Mudblood filth.." said Lorelei, her eyes full of tears.
Alexia froze and the world of the man echoed in her ears. She dropped her book and it hit the floor with a loud thud. She sat there, frozen, full of questions and fear. Lorelei sat down and looked at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Alexia looked blankly at the floor for several minutes. The dream she had had replayed several times in her head. She looked at Lorelei and sighed.
"Nothing, just forget it," she said, "I have potions to finish."
Alexia picked up the book again and began to scrawl down words and looked out of the corner of her eye. Lorelei was still looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
Lorelei shook her head.
"It's just.I thought friends told each other stuff," she muttered.
Alexia rolled her eyes.
"You're being stupid," she said firmly, and continued writing.
Several minutes went by and all the noise that could be heard was the scratching of her quill. Lorelei watched her, and Alexia tried her best to ignore her. Finally Alexia threw down her quill, parchment and book and glared at Lorelei.
"What!" she yelled, "Why are you staring at me?"
Lorelei didn't looked scared, in fact she looked upset.
"Because I want to know what's wrong!" shouted Lorelei back.
Alexia growled with anger. She tried to move past Lorelei, but she pulled out her wand.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Alexia.
"Tell me or I'll hex you," threatened Lorelei, "I swear I'll do it, Lex."
Alexia sighed and sat back down. For a moment Lorelei just started at her and finally Alexia spoke.
She told Lorelei everything, everything she had seen. She had carefully left out the fact that she had in fact seen the young child version of herself crying. When she had finished Lorelei simply stared at her.
"Do you know who the man was?" she asked.
Alexia shrugged.
"He looked a little familiar.but I dunno," she said.
Lorelei moved next to her.
"It was just a dream," she said, trying to sound convincing.
Alexia nodded slowly and picked up her book. The dream raced through her mind again as she tried to finish her work.
That day was a blur. She didn't remember any of her classes but some how found herself at dinner with Venefica sitting next to her reminding she had her detentions with Snape. Alexia dropped her head to the table with a loud thud. Lorelei rolled her eyes across the table and Alexia looked at her.
"Can my life get any worse?" she moaned.
"You have the weekend to look forward to," said Venefica trying to sound happy.
Just then Parvati walked by and glared and Alexia.
"And why is she still mad?" she fumed.
"Said that she saw you and Scott holding hands in the hall the other day," muttered Verity, who was next to Lorelei.
Alexia growled and finished her dinner.
Afterwards she headed up to the common room, threw her bag on the bed and left again. She didn't have time to do anything, she was due at Snape's office in ten minutes. She headed out, waving good-bye to Lorelei and Venefica, who were sitting with Parvati.
She had reached the Entrance Hall and looked around. Only a few minutes left, why had she been so quick to mouth off? She had just started into the dungeons when someone yelled behind her.
"Hey, Lex," the voice said.
She turned around and saw Scott walking towards her.
"Detention?" he asked.
She nodded wearily. She wished he would leave.in all honesty she didn't him around right now. She turned to continue down the hall, but Scott followed right behind her. She reached Snape's door and could hear the clock chiming seven. She grinned shortly at Scott and entered the office. He looked thoroughly disappointed, as though he had expected her to skip her detention to be with him.
Snape sat at the desk in his office, scribbling on a piece of parchment. Alexia walked quietly to his desk and he looked at her.
"On time, good," he said, not smiling, "You will spend this detention pickling slugs."
Alexia looked at the corner, where several jars and a cauldron of liquid were setting. She sighed and began to work.
It was after midnight when Snape finally released her. She smelled like nasty and as she walked up the steps to the Entrance Hall, she looked out the window. It was snowing again and she smiled. She loved snow, but it made her sad to see it. It made her miss home and her brother.
She reached the empty common room and made her way to the dormitory. There she found that no one was asleep, in fact they seemed to be having a heated argument about something. Parvati was sitting on her trunk, glaring angrily at Lorelei and Venefica, while Verity sat on her bed, listening intently.
"You're being stupid, Parvati!" yelled Venefica.
"She knew I liked him!" growled Parvati.
"No she didn't," muttered Verity, looking at Parvati, "You never told her."
"Yes I did!" snapped Parvati.
"Well, I don't remember you tell me," said Alexia, closing the door and looking a little worried.
Parvati looked up at her and froze.
"Erm.oh.well." she stammered.
"Look I'm sorry," said Alexia, "I didn't know, kay?"
Parvati looked at Alexia for a moment. She wasn't sure what was going to happen. Then suddenly Parvati flung her arms around Alexia.
"Oh Lex, I'm so sorry!" cried Parvati.
Alexia looked at Venefica, who rolled her eyes.
The next day Alexia woke up to some poking her in the arm.
"What?" she grumbled.
"Wake up Lex," said Verity.
Alexia lifted her head and looked at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Snape is outside the common room looking for you," said Verity.
It took several seconds before these words sank in.
"Wait.who.what?" asked Alexia.
"Snape is outside waiting for you," said Verity again.
"Why?" she asked.
"Detention." muttered Verity.
"Detention!" exclaimed Alexia, "On a bloody Saturday?"
Verity gave an uneasy smile and Alexia threw off the covers. She dressed quickly and left the common room.
Sure enough there stood Snape, smiling with glee.
"I thought I had made myself perfectly clear," he spat.
"Evidently not," muttered Alexia, tying her shoe.
"You've got a days worth of detention to do," stated Snape, as he led her back to his office.
The day was hell. She spent five hours scrubbing all of the cauldrons and then the rest of it measuring and filling potion ingredient vials. At one point while she was elbow deep in cleaning a cauldron, Fe entered Snape's classroom, and seeing he wasn't there, she proceeded to laugh at Alexia.
"Detention?" she asked, "Nice one Malfoy, you really don't live up to your name."
"Shove off!" hissed Alexia.
Fe turned around and smiled. She pulled her wand out and Alexia busied herself with the cauldron again. She was scrubbing when suddenly.
SPLASH!
Alexia felt a liquid covering her from head to toe and a bucket fall over her head. She lifted it slightly and scowled at Fe, who howled with laughter.
"You look like a wet rat, Malfoy!" she said, leaning on a desk as she laughed.
Alexia removed the bucket from her head and reached for her wand. Just as she pulled it out Snape re-entered the classroom.
"Can I help you, Fe?" he asked.
He looked at Alexia and she noticed a small smile crossing his face.
"Get out, Malfoy," he said, "No detention tomorrow, seven sharp on Monday."
Alexia stormed out of the room, fuming with anger. She could still see Fe's face laughing at her. She wanted revenge, but now would be too obvious.she would have to wait until later.
Poisonous Potion Master
"Lex, it's three cups of powdered mandrake roots, not four," hissed Venefica.
Alexia quickly looked down to see her Deflating Draught, which should have been blue was now bright green. She sighed and looked at the board. Of course Venefica was right, she had a photographic memory.
"And what, Ms. Malfoy, is this?" asked Snape, who had chosen this exact moment to sweep over to her cauldron.
She could hear the Slytherins whispering excitedly behind her. She frowned and looked up at Snape, who was baring down on her like a panther ready to attack.
"It's my Deflating Draught, sir," said Alexia, anger swelling inside of her, "I thought you'd know that considering you're the one who assigned it."
Snape looked shocked and the classroom was suddenly very silent. Alexia wished she could have taken those words back, but it was too late.
"Twenty points from Hufflepuff for your lack of respect, Malfoy!" spat Snape, "And a weeks worth of detention as well."
He swept away and as he did made her potion disappear. She frowned and started to pack away her things.
It had been like this for the past three weeks, and slowly the snow was beginning to melt from the grounds and they could tell spring was coming. Ever since they got back to lessons, Snape had been awful to her. Not to mention Alexia had to with stand a gruling five hours a week earlier with Parvati, who was positively livid with her, and would often laugh when she sprayed cleaner all over her.
She sat there and Venefica looked at her.
"You need to pay better attention to what you're doing," she said as she picked up her bag and the bell sounded.
"Malfoy, we need to arrange your punishment," snapped Snape.
Venefica looked at her.
"I'll catch up," said Alexia, turning around.
She walked over to Snape's desk and he glared at her.
"I would've expected better behavior from you, Malfoy," he said, scrawling down Alexia's name and the date of her detention, "They start tomorrow, in my office, seven sharp."
"Yes sir," said Alexia, taking the slip and turning towards the door.
"And you'll need to do an extra essay about where you went wrong on your Deflating Draught this afternoon," he snapped.
Lex sighed.
"Yes Professor," she said, leaving the room.
She dragged her feet up the stairs and into the Great Hall.
It had been a month since the second term started and she was starting to hate her classes more and more, and when she wasn't spending time trying to finish her mountains of homework, she was usually sitting near the fire, so tired she could barely move. After a very slow Transfigurations class, she stumbled to Charms with Breena at her side.
"Are you sure you're getting enough sleep?" she asked.
Alexia yawned loudly and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah," she said.
Breena looked confused.
"Lex?" she asked.
She looked up and Breena shook her head.
"Maybe you should go to the Hufflepuff common room or something," she muttered, "You look awful."
Alexia yawned and walked up to Professor Flitwick and he took one look at her and excused her from class. She grabbed her things and stumbled up the stairs to the common room but before she could get to the dorm, she fell asleep in one of the armchairs.
She had the oddest dream. She was sitting the middle of the lake on the castle grounds, standing on the water, watching the fish swim below her feet. She saw Breena, Hari, Linnea and Lorelei running around the grassy lawn of Hogwarts, laughing and yelling. She took started to run across the water, and she ran as if on solid ground. But a few feet before shore she took a step and began to fall deep into the water. As she sank, she saw her friends looking down at her.
"Help me!" she yelled.
Linnea reached out but before she knew it, she hit solid ground.
She opened her eyes and saw she was at home, in her Father's study. He was writing quickly on a piece or parchment when Gavin came in.
"Dinner's ready, Dad," he said.
Their Father didn't reply.
"Dad?" asked Gavin.
"I'm much too busy son," said their Father, who hadn't stopped writing, "I have to get this owl out."
"Dad, they'll understand." started Gavin, but their Father cut him off.
"This may just be a misunderstanding, but if I don't clear it up terrible things."
The light faded and Alexia began to fall again.
"Dad!" she yelled, reaching out, but the room faded from view.
She fell on her back this time and opened her eyes. She was in a small plush bedroom, with a small girl sitting on a bed, her red hair hung in front of her face as she sobbed into her hands. She could hear screaming coming from outside the room and the scared little girl pulled a pillow over her head. Alexia knew this girl and as she reached out she began to fall once more.
She was now in a different room, a dark and smelly cell in a prison when her feet hit the ground hard. A tall, thin man with blond hair sat in the corner, mumbling to himself.
"Stupid mudblood, trying to soil my family name," he growled.
She paused. Suddenly this didn't seem so much like a dream. She moved towards him and felt cold rushing through her body. She stopped after a few steps and the man looked up. His gray eyes burned into his.
"MUDBLOOD FILTH!" he yelled.
"Lex!" yelled a voice.
Her eyes flew open and she looked around. She was covered with sweat and a slight hint of sweat was on her back. She was breathing fast and looked around. She could see there was a slight hint of light in the common room.
"I have my detention with Snape tonight," she muttered distractedly as she looked around the room.
She looked up and saw Lorelei looking down at her; she had obviously just woken up.
"You all right?" asked Lorelei.
"What time is it?' asked Alexia.
"Six in the morning," said Lorelei, yawning.
"I have so much work," she grumbled, pulling a book towards her.
Lorelei stopped her.
"Lex, what happened?" she asked.
Alexia looked up at her.
"Nothing happen," she said, tearing the book away and opening it to the correct chapter.
"You were saying something about Mudbloods," Lorelei whispered.
"I.what?" asked Alexia.
"You just yelled something about.Mudblood filth.." said Lorelei, her eyes full of tears.
Alexia froze and the world of the man echoed in her ears. She dropped her book and it hit the floor with a loud thud. She sat there, frozen, full of questions and fear. Lorelei sat down and looked at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Alexia looked blankly at the floor for several minutes. The dream she had had replayed several times in her head. She looked at Lorelei and sighed.
"Nothing, just forget it," she said, "I have potions to finish."
Alexia picked up the book again and began to scrawl down words and looked out of the corner of her eye. Lorelei was still looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
Lorelei shook her head.
"It's just.I thought friends told each other stuff," she muttered.
Alexia rolled her eyes.
"You're being stupid," she said firmly, and continued writing.
Several minutes went by and all the noise that could be heard was the scratching of her quill. Lorelei watched her, and Alexia tried her best to ignore her. Finally Alexia threw down her quill, parchment and book and glared at Lorelei.
"What!" she yelled, "Why are you staring at me?"
Lorelei didn't looked scared, in fact she looked upset.
"Because I want to know what's wrong!" shouted Lorelei back.
Alexia growled with anger. She tried to move past Lorelei, but she pulled out her wand.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Alexia.
"Tell me or I'll hex you," threatened Lorelei, "I swear I'll do it, Lex."
Alexia sighed and sat back down. For a moment Lorelei just started at her and finally Alexia spoke.
She told Lorelei everything, everything she had seen. She had carefully left out the fact that she had in fact seen the young child version of herself crying. When she had finished Lorelei simply stared at her.
"Do you know who the man was?" she asked.
Alexia shrugged.
"He looked a little familiar.but I dunno," she said.
Lorelei moved next to her.
"It was just a dream," she said, trying to sound convincing.
Alexia nodded slowly and picked up her book. The dream raced through her mind again as she tried to finish her work.
That day was a blur. She didn't remember any of her classes but some how found herself at dinner with Venefica sitting next to her reminding she had her detentions with Snape. Alexia dropped her head to the table with a loud thud. Lorelei rolled her eyes across the table and Alexia looked at her.
"Can my life get any worse?" she moaned.
"You have the weekend to look forward to," said Venefica trying to sound happy.
Just then Parvati walked by and glared and Alexia.
"And why is she still mad?" she fumed.
"Said that she saw you and Scott holding hands in the hall the other day," muttered Verity, who was next to Lorelei.
Alexia growled and finished her dinner.
Afterwards she headed up to the common room, threw her bag on the bed and left again. She didn't have time to do anything, she was due at Snape's office in ten minutes. She headed out, waving good-bye to Lorelei and Venefica, who were sitting with Parvati.
She had reached the Entrance Hall and looked around. Only a few minutes left, why had she been so quick to mouth off? She had just started into the dungeons when someone yelled behind her.
"Hey, Lex," the voice said.
She turned around and saw Scott walking towards her.
"Detention?" he asked.
She nodded wearily. She wished he would leave.in all honesty she didn't him around right now. She turned to continue down the hall, but Scott followed right behind her. She reached Snape's door and could hear the clock chiming seven. She grinned shortly at Scott and entered the office. He looked thoroughly disappointed, as though he had expected her to skip her detention to be with him.
Snape sat at the desk in his office, scribbling on a piece of parchment. Alexia walked quietly to his desk and he looked at her.
"On time, good," he said, not smiling, "You will spend this detention pickling slugs."
Alexia looked at the corner, where several jars and a cauldron of liquid were setting. She sighed and began to work.
It was after midnight when Snape finally released her. She smelled like nasty and as she walked up the steps to the Entrance Hall, she looked out the window. It was snowing again and she smiled. She loved snow, but it made her sad to see it. It made her miss home and her brother.
She reached the empty common room and made her way to the dormitory. There she found that no one was asleep, in fact they seemed to be having a heated argument about something. Parvati was sitting on her trunk, glaring angrily at Lorelei and Venefica, while Verity sat on her bed, listening intently.
"You're being stupid, Parvati!" yelled Venefica.
"She knew I liked him!" growled Parvati.
"No she didn't," muttered Verity, looking at Parvati, "You never told her."
"Yes I did!" snapped Parvati.
"Well, I don't remember you tell me," said Alexia, closing the door and looking a little worried.
Parvati looked up at her and froze.
"Erm.oh.well." she stammered.
"Look I'm sorry," said Alexia, "I didn't know, kay?"
Parvati looked at Alexia for a moment. She wasn't sure what was going to happen. Then suddenly Parvati flung her arms around Alexia.
"Oh Lex, I'm so sorry!" cried Parvati.
Alexia looked at Venefica, who rolled her eyes.
The next day Alexia woke up to some poking her in the arm.
"What?" she grumbled.
"Wake up Lex," said Verity.
Alexia lifted her head and looked at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Snape is outside the common room looking for you," said Verity.
It took several seconds before these words sank in.
"Wait.who.what?" asked Alexia.
"Snape is outside waiting for you," said Verity again.
"Why?" she asked.
"Detention." muttered Verity.
"Detention!" exclaimed Alexia, "On a bloody Saturday?"
Verity gave an uneasy smile and Alexia threw off the covers. She dressed quickly and left the common room.
Sure enough there stood Snape, smiling with glee.
"I thought I had made myself perfectly clear," he spat.
"Evidently not," muttered Alexia, tying her shoe.
"You've got a days worth of detention to do," stated Snape, as he led her back to his office.
The day was hell. She spent five hours scrubbing all of the cauldrons and then the rest of it measuring and filling potion ingredient vials. At one point while she was elbow deep in cleaning a cauldron, Fe entered Snape's classroom, and seeing he wasn't there, she proceeded to laugh at Alexia.
"Detention?" she asked, "Nice one Malfoy, you really don't live up to your name."
"Shove off!" hissed Alexia.
Fe turned around and smiled. She pulled her wand out and Alexia busied herself with the cauldron again. She was scrubbing when suddenly.
SPLASH!
Alexia felt a liquid covering her from head to toe and a bucket fall over her head. She lifted it slightly and scowled at Fe, who howled with laughter.
"You look like a wet rat, Malfoy!" she said, leaning on a desk as she laughed.
Alexia removed the bucket from her head and reached for her wand. Just as she pulled it out Snape re-entered the classroom.
"Can I help you, Fe?" he asked.
He looked at Alexia and she noticed a small smile crossing his face.
"Get out, Malfoy," he said, "No detention tomorrow, seven sharp on Monday."
Alexia stormed out of the room, fuming with anger. She could still see Fe's face laughing at her. She wanted revenge, but now would be too obvious.she would have to wait until later.