Antoniaeast: I'm glad you like it. So far, I don't know if there's a purpose for the mirror, but we'll see. I do use a spell checker actually, but they don't catch everything, and I'm only a high school student, so I'm not very good at catching things myself. I do try though.
Techy El Nerd: Thanks for reviewing. More is coming.
Chapter 5: Albino or Silver
Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me. I am making no money off of this.
Before she even got to potions, Sarah knew that this would be the class she hated the most, not because she was necessarily bad at potions, but because this was the class she took with her brother.
Like Granger, professor Snape, the potions teacher took roll first thing as his students got into class.
Unlike Granger, Snape hated Gryffindors.
This became evident firstly when he reached Danny's name on the list. He paused nastily.
"Ah yes…" He said. "I remember your father. I hope you have a bit more talent than him…" He grinned coldly.
When he called out Zena's name, he sneered at her, and continued. Zena sunk down into her chair.
When he came to Sarah's name, he paused, as if unsure of what to do about her. Finally, he muttered something about disgracing a good family name, and moved on.
It was obvious who was going to be worst off in this class when he got to the Potters. The sneer that crossed his face as he read off their names left nobody in doubt.
He smiled even more nastily when he was finished. He crossed his arms, and announced, "There will be not foolish wand waving, or silly incantations in this class. You are here to learn the exact art and subtle science of potions making. I can teach you to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper on death… if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." He sneered at the Gryffindors, and smiled coldly at the Slytherins.
Serpen Malfoy smirked.
"James Potter…" Snape said smoothly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"The draught of living death." James said, sounding bored.
Snape's lip curled. He rounded on Sirius, asking what the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane was. Zena's hand shot to the ceiling at this question, but Sirius answered that they were the same plant.
Frowning, Snape attacked James again, who as able to answer his questions with ease, then Sirius. He went back and forth, seeming to go over just about all the material in the books. James and Sirius knew it all.
Disgusted with his inability to faze the boys, he set everyone to making a potion to cure boils. He was furious when everyone got it perfect.
Sarah smiled to herself as the class ended. Not only had it been informative, (ever the resourceful ones, she, Lily, Zena, and Heather had taken notes on everything Snape had quizzed the Potter twins on for later use) it had been entertaining to see the way her brother scowled when James and Sirius had answered all the questions correctly.
Now…if only I was friends with those two… She thought to herself.
Lily and Sarah, hoping to be paired up together for detention, arrived early at McGonagall's classroom that afternoon.
Unfortunately for them, it seemed that the Potter boys had the same idea. All four arrived at the same time.
"Well…" McGonagall said when she saw the four. "At least you're punctual. Very well, Mr. Potter…" She nodded at Sirius. "You and Miss Malfoy will be cleaning the trophy room… without magic. Mr. Filch will be supervising you. Miss Wright, Mr. Potter, you will come with me to help clean the dungeons."
Sarah groaned. It couldn't be worse. She wouldn't have minded so much if she had been stuck with James, at least he was civil to her some of the time. But Sirius was a nightmare. He taunted her, tripped her, and played pranks on her at every minute. It wasn't helping that she would be under the lash of Filch, who hated all students.
Sirius didn't exactly look happy at the prospect either. "Just stay out of my way, Malfoy." He hissed at her.
"Don't worry Potter." She muttered back. "Just as long as you don't get in mine." Sirius sneered.
This isn't fair. She thought a half-hour later as, for the fourth time, Sirius managed to smear all his dirty water on the trophy she was polishing without getting caught. Filch always blamed her, and so she had to start cleaning it again. "Stop that Potter." She hissed at him. "You realize that neither of us is going anywhere until this trophy room is all done. The longer you do that, the more work you have to do."
Sirius stopped after that.
Five hours later, Filch finally decided that they had been tormented enough. He let them go. Aching with pain, the two of them hobbled up to Gryffindor tower, leaning on each other for support.
Toughen up girl. Sarah thought to herself. You know you're going to be serving a lot more of those at the rate you're going, you might as well get used to it.
They found the other two already there. As soon as they got through the portrait hole James and Lily turned from the argument they were having (Probably about me, Sarah thought) to stare at them.
As if they had just realized what they were doing, Sarah and Sirius leapt apart, sagging to the floor as soon as they did.
"Was it that bad?" Lily asked as she ran forward to help Sarah.
"Worse." Sarah groaned. "I'll get used to it though." A sly smile crossed her face. "After all, I would be ashamed if our first detention was our last detention."
Lily grinned back. "Come on. Lets get you up to bed." She heaved Sarah up.
The boys stared at them as they left. "James…" Sirius said. "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?"
"Yeah." James said. "It looks like we have competition."
Sirius groaned. "Oh great."
Because Sarah and Sirius were so sore, the first real pranks of the year did not happen until a few days later, but when they did…
Sarah was not the best at Transfiguration, but she was good enough that by the fifth try, she had managed to turn her matchstick into a needle. She was not as quick as Sirius and James, who had transfigured their matchsticks on the first try and sat grinning smugly until Professor McGonagall noticed, but she was not bad.
Transfiguring matchsticks gave her an idea though. That afternoon, she had walked out on the Hogwarts grounds and found a few regular sticks. After breaking them down into matchstick size, she began to experiment. She found that after a few tries, she could make some rather oddly shaped pointed bits of metal that couldn't quite be labeled needles. It was good enough. Grabbing them, she ran up to Gryffindor tower to tell her friends about her find.
A few days later, everyone came down to breakfast as normal. Nobody noticed the tiny twigs that had been placed on all the teacher's chairs.
The next part was tricky. Heather, Sarah, Zena, and Lily had to transfigure the twigs from far away without being able to see them. They had practiced this tirelessly until they got it perfect.
As soon as all the teachers had taken their seats, Heather nodded at the other three. They pulled out their wands, grinning. None of them noticed Danny give Sirius, James, and Zach a similar nod.
Suddenly, the teacher's sprang up with yelps of pain. Even Dumbledore sprung up in a rather undignified manner. The teacher's looked down to see little needles that they knew hadn't been there before
At the exact same time, Dumbledore's food blew up and splattered the entire staff table with powder that turned every teacher's hair hot pink. Sarah recognized this one.
The result of the two pranks put together was absolute hilarity. Even some of the Slytherins had to stifle giggles as McGonagall, Snape, and Granger looked furiously around for the culprits. The eight Gryffindors didn't hide their wands in time.
"Sirius Potter, James Potter, Zachary Weasley, Daniel Longbottom, (deep breath) Heather Weasley, Zena Lupin, Lillian Wright, and Sarah Malfoy!!! (Gasp) Come up here this instant!!!" McGonagall screamed. She would have looked extremely dangerous, except for the fact that she had bright pink hair. Instead, she looked fairly ridiculous. This only made the eight of them laugh harder. Gasping for breath, they stumbled up to the staff table.
"Detention, all eight of you. And twenty points from Gryffindor." McGonagall said. "Report to me after class tomorrow."
It was definitely worth the detention. Sarah thought to herself as she and the other girls scrubbed every single one of the girls bathrooms. No question.
"Hey, Albino." Sirius called out to Sarah a few days, and pranks, later in detention as they scrubbed the hallways. "Yeah, Malfoy… I'm talking to you. You know what an albino is right?" He grinned. "It's a member of its' species that has no color in its' skin, fur, or eyes. In other words, it's all white." Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Congratulations Potter. You have learned a new word." She said. "Quite and amazing feat. Should we hold a party?"
"Very funny." Sirius said dryly. "I just happened to note that this description bore a surprising resemblance to a certain girl I know."
"Gee, I wonder who?" Sarah grumbled. She did sort of fit the description. She had very fair skin, and her hair was silvery blonde. Her eyes were also silvery gray. But that didn't mean that she was abnormal.
"Well, Albino." Sirius grinned. "Now we all know what you are…"
"Potter…" She said calmly. "Do you know what an ass is?"
Sirius shut up.
"So, according to Potter, I'm an Albino." Sarah said as she recounted the incident to her friends.
"Doesn't fit you." Zena said. "Albino's are usually afraid of light, and their not just pale skinned. They're white. You're more… Silver."
"So first I was Albino, now I'm Silver." Sarah grinned. "Well, at least it's not you guys calling me that."
"Are you sure Silver?" Lily said teasing.
"Are you telling me I'm stuck with that name?" Sarah asked, sounding horrified.
"Yeah, Silver." Heather grinned. "It kinda suits you."
"I'm not sure whether or not that's supposed to be a compliment." Sarah said.
"It could be worse." Lily said, throwing an arm about Sarah shoulder. "We could have just stuck with Albino."
"Silver's better." Sarah said quickly. "Silver is a very nice nickname. I like Silver a lot."
"Are you sure?" Heather teased. "Because if you really want to be called Albino…"
Sarah glared at her. Heather laughed. "Well Silver…" She said. "What tricks are in order tonight."
Sarah grinned. "I think it's time I showed you a secret I've been sitting on for a little while." She said slyly. "Come up to the dormitory."
AN: Well, I said that I wasn't going to put anything up until I got three reviews. I didn't actually get three more reviews, but I got reviews and somebody emailed me, so here's the next chapter. As thanks for reviewing, you get another chapter to go with it. Enjoy, and remember to review. It helps to inspire me.
