Chapter 3: Potions NEWT
Just my rotten luck thought Hermione as she lined up with the Slytherins outside Potions Dungeon A for her Potions NEWT. It had been a one out of three chance that they would have to share their dungeon with the Slytherins…why did she have such bad luck? She watched as the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws lined up outside Potions Dungeon B for their exam.
By now, Neville was a bluish shade of green. Ron wasn't looking much better either. Harry's mouth was shut in a firm line and he refused to speak to anyone. Hermione felt her heart pounding hard…she mentally went through all the potions she knew as quickly as she could. Of course, that was a silly thing to do before an exam because, of course, in her panic she felt as if she couldn't remember even a single one.
To her dismay, she saw Professor Snape marching down the corridor, his cape billowing darkly around him. He looked like an overgrown bat. He paused and said something to the students outside Dungeon B and she saw the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws visibly droop after he swept away from them. Susan Bones had started crying and was being comforted by Padma Patil.
Then Snape was upon them.
"Well, well…another unlikely lot of NEWT examinees." He said crisply. "Some of you should have no problem…" he nodded curtly at the Slytherins who simpered, "…but some of you might want to consider withdrawing from the examination now before you record your idiocy at Potions in a NEWT result for all posterity. Anyone wish to withdraw?" He glared at the Gryffindors. Neville started forward desperately but Seamus yanked him back by the hem of his cloak. Snape smirked. "Very well then…good luck…I only say it because you'll need it."
Lavender and Dean turned white. Neville was trembling. Harry still kept the resolute expression on his face as he stared at the back of Ron's head. Hermione swallowed hard. Ignore Snape she told herself.
"Ah…Students! You may enter the Dungeon!" a short, balding wizard with "EB" for "Examinations Board" emblazoned on a jacket that was slightly too small for him hopped out of the previously locked dungeon and held the door open for the students.
The Gryffindors and Slytherins went immediately to their usual benches.
"Welcome, welcome. Now, now, don't be nervous." Chuckled the balding wizard, looking at the tense faces before him. "I remember myself at your age…thought I would fail…but instead I got an Outstanding…ha ha…"
No one laughed.
"Ah…Ahem…all right, as this is an examination, you will not be seated in your houses. To prevent cheating, a random seating list has been issued to me by the teachers in your school so will you please listen for your bench partner's name and then move to the correct bench."
The Gryffindors and Slytherins pulled faces at each other, but obediently gathered up their cauldrons, wands and quills.
"Listen up...Brown and Bulstrode, Bench 1 if you please. Ah, excellent. Thank you Miss Brown and Miss Bulstrode. Bench 2…lets see here… Carrington and Crabbe. Excellent…."
And so the list went on…Hermione did a little mental calculation of whom she would be paired with, the list seemed to be going alphabetically...oh no she thought suddenly. Oh no, please God no…
"Granger….Malfoy, Bench 6."
There was a tense silence in the class and a complete lack of movement. Ron shot Hermione a look of sympathy.
The balding wizard glanced over the top of his list. "Are these students present? Granger? Malfoy?"
There was small noise as Malfoy picked up his things and walked smartly to Bench 6. Hermione felt her hands and feet mechanically doing the same.
"Ah…Head Boy and Head Girl at the same bench. Charming. Don't think we'll have cheating there…ha ha…ahem…" The examiner coughed when he saw the murderous looks on the Heads' faces. Hermione and Malfoy's faces showed that they did not think the arrangement charming at all.
Hermione carefully avoided looking at Malfoy. So what if she had to share a bench with him for Potions? In three hours, it would be over.
"Scared, Granger?" she heard him whisper at her shoulder.
"You wish."
Malfoy raised an eyebrow and twirled his quill around his fingers.
"Don't let this morning's talk upset you" Draco said pleasantly before dropping his voice "…stinking mudblood"
Hermione turned round and glared at him. "Don't worry, I won't- ferret boy."
"Students! Please refrain from talking." said the examiner.
Malfoy and Hermione glared at each other.
Once all ten benches were filled, the examiner put down his list and began giving out the examination papers.
Hermione fingered her parchment nervously, eager to turn it over.
"The first part of the exam will be a written test. You have two hours to complete all the questions on the parchment. Any cheating will be punished with immediate failure. The second part of the exam will require you to brew a Thyme Eliminus Potion. Basic instructions are given at the bottom of your parchment. At the end of the third hour, you will each stopper your flasks and hand in your potions labeled with your names to me. Be very careful not to DRINK or TOUCH the finished potion. As you know, the Thyme Eliminus Potion has drastic effects if not administered correctly. Questions?"
Pansy Parkinson tittered and raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Oooh…What if we run out of parchment?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. Parkinson never failed to ask the same question at the start of every exam even though all the students knew the routine.
"I have spare parchment with me. Raise your hand and I will give you an extra sheet. Any other questions? No? Then your time begins now, you have three hours."
The examiner flipped over an enourmous hour-glass on his desk and the students turned over their parchments.
Hermione quickly read through the written part of the exam. It looked fairly straight forward. Section two read "Brew a Thyme Eliminus with the ingredients you find in a box under your bench." Hermione looked under the bench to see two boxes, one near her feet and one near Malfoy's.
Malfoy.
Ugh.
She watched him begin writing calmly at her side. Never making mistakes, never crossing out words. For once, he didn't seem to be obsessed with making feel uncomfortable. He was completely absorbed in the paper. This was no surprise, besides herself, Malfoy was the only other student in the school who managed to receive "Outstandings" from Snape for Potions. She had better get started as well. She read Question 1 carefully.
1a. Describe the dissection process of Mandragora and how to brew a Restorative Draught using the results of said process. (10 marks)
1b. How may one alter the strength of the restorative draught to cure different levels of Petrification? (5 marks)
Easy. Hermione had known how to do this since Second Year. She picked up her Quill and began to write. Mandrake Root or Mandragora may be dissected by… her quill stopped mid-sentence and little bursts of lights flooded her vision. What was happening? She shook her head. Why was it so hard to remember? She wrenched her brain back from its inclination to sluggishness and forcd the words out onto the parchment. Second Year…the chamber of secrets…Basilisk…petrify…moaning myrtle… as she wrote the answer, memories of Second Year flew threw a small part of her mind. She shook her head…why couldn't she concentrate?
Finally, she managed to answer question one. She sneaked a look at Malfoy and saw that he was already on Question 3.
He must have noticed her peeking because he flashed her a glance. There was no anger or accusation in that glance. He appeared to be absorbed in the examination. Over to her left, Pansy sighed dramatically and Harry Potter stuffed his fingers into his ears.
She put her quill down, rubbed her eyes and closed them for a second.
She saw Malfoy looking oddly at her again. Tears sprung to her eyes as she read the second question. She knew the answer, it was simple, but her brains felt like cotton wool.
…stinking mudblood…you'll be next, mudbloods…you ruined my life… Malfoy's words hovered stubbornly in her brain. She shook her head violently and picked up her pen. No, she could do this. Using every ounce of her intellectual ability (which was a lot), Hermione Granger began her examination in earnest. Before she knew it, she had finished Part 1.
"Students, you may begin Part 2. The ingredients for the Practical Part of your examination are under your table in a box."
Hermione was so relieved at having finished Part 1 that she took a few minutes to close her eyes and rub her head again. She heard other students setting up their cauldrons and picking up their boxes. Malfoy was already opening his box. Slowly, she bent under her table to pick up her box. She was surprised to see a torn piece of parchment, smaller than her thumb, resting on top of her box.
"I saw you crying" was all that was written on it.
She choked with anger. She wanted to yell at Malfoy…how did he always manage to make her feel so furious and helpless? But she couldn't yell at him now, because it would be a breach of exam rules. She saw him smirk to himself as she prepared her ingredients. Ooooh, Malfoy, what wouldn't I give to pull that pretty blonde hair till you scream…
She lit her fire savagely and threw the strip of parchment on it. She pretended it was Malfoy burning there and it made her feel slightly better. She began to sort her ingredients. A Thyme Eliminus Potion wasn't so hard…they had covered it earlier in their Final Year. It was a time-travel potion that brought you back in time…sort of like a time-turner but capable of bringing you back further in time more rapidly. When they had practiced brewing it earlier in the school year, splashing a drop of it on themselves had brought them back one week in time. It had needed a time-turner to bring them forward again, Professor Snape had brought one along for just such a purpose.
She pulled on her thick gloves and put on her goggles. This was easy. She remembered exactly how to brew it.
Or she thought she did. She suddenly had lights flashing before her eyes again. She staggered slightly and gripped the edge of the bench. She was aware of Malfoy at her side glaring at her.
"Watch it, Granger."
She tried to answer but couldn't.
"I don't feel well…" she whispered. She couldn't believe she was admitting this to Malfoy, but she had been trained to alert her bench partner to any difficulties she might be facing.
Malfoy stared at her like he didn't know what to do.
"Shall I tell the examiner?" he muttered at last. "Do you want to stop?"
She steadied her self and shook her head. "No, I can go on."
He shrugged and continued with his own potion.
The examiner hadn't noticed the exchange, he was busy helping Neville select a new cauldron from the spares…Neville had managed to melt his cauldron down in the first five minutes of the hour.
Hermione went on with her potion. She knew for certain she was not well…it was the studying and nerves and exhaustion. But she was so close…just ten more minutes and she would have the perfect Thyme Eliminus Potion stoppered, labeled and sent on to the Examinations Board to get an Outstanding. Then there would be summer holidays…Hermione fanned her cauldron and added the last two ingredients…a large bunch of dried Thyme and a dove feather. She stirred it three times with a ladle and watched it simmer.
In eight minutes, it would be finished. All around her, students heaved sighs of relief and sat back, watching their own potions brew for the last eight minutes. Hermione checked the colour…it had turned a dark red…that seemed correct. Hmm…maybe a tad darker than regulation but that could be the effect of the light.
Hermione thought about summer and fanned her cauldron fire. What would she do after graduation? Harry would be an Auror of course. Even after Voldemort's defeat, there was still Dark Arts in the world. Ron wanted to be a professional Quidditch player. Bill had been keen on Hermione joining Gringgotts and had tried to convince her when she visited the Burrow last summer to join them. Her arithmancy skills would be very useful. But Hermione didn't want to be stuck in bank all the time. She knew her heart was in mediwizardy and she had even written to St Mungo's about their training programme.
Hermione didn't notice her potion begin to bubble and turn a dark shade of brown.
She glanced over at Blaise, stirring her potion. Blaise would be Mrs Draco Malfoy. Would she work? She knew Blaise wanted to work with magical creatures but would being married to Malfoy end that dream for her? She looked at Malfoy. Was he old enough to be a husband? She wanted to giggle, surely not! Just seven years ago, he had been a snotty, weedy, little blonde boy….completely hidden in his father's shadow. All my father this and my father that…Malfoy was stirring his potion. His gray-blue eyes were cast down, and a frown was on his pale face. His blonde hair now fell loose around his face, not worn in that ridiculous slicked-back style he had favoured in the first year.
Hermione's potion bubbled ferociously but quietly, now dripping down the sides of the cauldron.
Malfoy was tall, taller than most boys in Hogwarts. But he was also slim, not broad like Harry and Ron. His fingers were pale and thin, with surprise, she saw a large gold and emerald signet ring on his right ring-finger. She had never noticed it before. It bore the crest of a snake and a dragon curled around the letter "M".
Without a doubt, it was the Malfoy family seal.
She knew from her study of history that the family seal was worn only by the head of the family. But wasn't that Lucius Malfoy? Lucius was in Azkaban now…and that meant…She glanced at the ring again and back at the serious-faced blonde man next to her. The ring, she thought, looked very heavy.
She was so deep in her thoughts of Malfoy as the head of the Malfoy estate at the age of eighteen that she didn't notice her cauldron begin to crack. Malfoy himself was brewing the perfect potion, he had already uncorked his flask and was waiting to fill it with a sample of the brew.
He turned to look at her, suddenly aware she was staring at him. She was aware he was looking at her but again, her brains felt like cotton wool. As if from far away, she saw his eyes grow wide and his mouth move …granger, your potion…
She felt herself grow giddy and slid down onto her bench. At that exact moment, she heard the most tremendous explosion and felt something hot splatter all over her. There was a lot of screaming, she knew…coming from far away. She was drenched in something wet that smelt pleasantly like herbs… Thyme….a man next to her was yelling something….it all got softer and softer, and she felt like she was falling through a soft black cloud….then finally, there was a pleasant silence. Like being asleep.
Hermione let go of all her examination worries, all her stress and nervousness. She gave herself up to a deep, comforting sleep. She really needed this. No more exams. No more studying. Just deep, deep sleep. She never wanted to wake up, she was so warm and comfortable…
"Good morning, M'Lady" said a voice.