Disclaimer: I do not own most of the characters or settings in this story. The honour belongs solely to JK Rowling. I suspect that I do not even own half of the plot, as this has been influenced by the numerous fanfics I've read.
Chapter 3: The New Potions Professor
The current team is as follows:
Seeker: Harry Potter
Keeper: Ronald Weasley
Beater: Andrew Kirke
Beater: Jack Sloper
Chaser: Katie Bell
Chaser: ?
Chaser: ?
If you are interested in trying out for any of the available positions,
Or any reserve position,
Please sign your name in the space provided below.
Thankyou,
Harry Potter (Captain)
Very early on Monday morning, Harry had just completed writing out the notice for Quidditch tryouts and was pinning it to the message board before breakfast. They had spent most of the last few days searching for 'The Ancient Book of Carvin' in the History section of the library, and apart from some minor references to the family which contained no detail of who they were at all, they had very little success. Now that classes were beginning, their time was limited to breaks between classes or at night to continue their research.
"Quidditch tryouts, next Friday," Ron said suddenly from behind him, making Harry jump and pinning his own thumb to the board. He had thought he was the only person in the room.
"Ow!" Harry exclaimed. He tenderly removed the pin and immediately started sucking his thumb to stop the bleeding.
"Sorry, mate," Ron said, on the verge of laughter.
"It's alright. I didn't hear anyone come in," Harry smiled.
"What are you doing up so early, anyway?" Ron asked
"First day of classes. Couldn't sleep. You?"
"Heard you get up."
"We've still got an hour before we have to start getting ready. Do you want to hit the Quidditch field?" asked Harry.
"Sure."
An hour and a half later, Ron and Harry were with Hermione in the Great Hall for breakfast.
"And it all starts here," Harry said. "Care of Magical Creatures with Vexten, Charms with Malfoy, Potions with Malfoy." Harry sighed, leaning back on his chair. Ron let his head fall into his hands in an expression of exasperation.
Just then, Malfoy and Vexten, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, entered the hall. They strolled casually to their seats. Vexten took her seat, but not before giving them a condescending wave.
"She'll get hers," Hermione threatened, looking murderous.
"Hermione!" Harry said, amused. Hermione was normally the rational one; she rarely ever made threats.
"She kissed me! And she stole my wand! How am I supposed to go to class without a wand?"
"We've got Care of Magical Creatures first; you don't need a wand for that. Vexten's in that class. We'll get it back then," Harry said.
"That's if she's got it with her. She's probably hexed it," said Hermione. She glared at Vexten all the way through breakfast, while making plans with Ron for her revenge.
"Maybe put a dung bomb in her bag?" Ron suggested.
"Suspend her from the South tower," Hermione countered.
"Force a dozen Skiving Snack Boxes down her throat. It'd give her a haemorrhage."
"Trap her in the Weeping Willow."
"Nah, we'd get expelled ..."
"It would be worth it!" Hermione insisted.
Harry was glad when breakfast had finished actually, it was starting to get on his nerves.
On the way to Hagrid's hut, they saw Vexten strolling along not far in front of them, Hermione dashed ahead to catch up with her. Fearing danger, Ron and Harry followed.
"I want my wand back!" Hermione demanded
Vexten took out Hermione's wand from inside her robe. "What this?" she asked.
Hermione blinked. She clearly didn't expect it to be so easy to get Vexten to admit she had it. She held out her hand. "I want it."
Vexten smiled, said, "No," and walked off.
Hermione reached out and clutched Vexten's arm.
"Let got of me, Mudblood," Vexten said, throwing Hermione to the ground. Despite the violence, Harry could see that Vexten was amused.
Hermione got back to her feet. "If you don't give me my wand, I'll tell Professor McGonagall!"
Vexten just laughed. "I'm shaking now, Mudblood."
"Just give back the wand and there'll be no problem," Harry said trying to be diplomatic.
Vexten turned to Harry. "You didn't say the magic word," Vexten taunted with a malicious gleam in her eye.
Harry sighed. "Please," he said without emotion.
"Not good enough," Vexten said, and with a mighty heave, she threw the wand a hundred yards into the lake, and strolled off towards class.
Hermione was really looking murderous now. She stamped her foot, and looked like she was going to say something several times, but she was so angry nothing would come out.
"So that's how you shut her up," Ron joked, trying to calm down the situation.
It had the opposite effect. Hermione turned to Ron with murderous eyes. "How the hell am I going to get my wand now? I'm not going in there!"
"There's no time now. I'll get it out after class, ok?" Harry said.
Ron and Harry led a very distraught Hermione to their Care of Magical Creatures class. Once there, they saw that the class was made up of mostly Gryffindors, with a few Ravenclaws, and a couple of Hufflepuffs. Vexten was the only Slytherin. Hagrid had that large crate with the spider like creatures inside which Harry saw the other day, and Ron promptly stepped behind Harry.
As Hagrid opened the lid of the crate, a putrid stench filled the air.
"Eww!" several of the class said, holding their noses, while others were becoming dizzy. Susan Bones had to hold onto a nearby bench to stay upright. Almost as one, almost every student in the class stepped back a couple of paces, except Vexten, who stepped closer.
Hagrid seemed oblivious to his class's distress, and the smell. "I 'ave another fasinatin' creature to show yer!" he declared happily.
"Areeknoids!" Vexten said, stepping even closer to the crate.
"I knew she was insane," Ron mumbled to Hermione, in an effort to cheer her up. Hermione was looking daggers at Vexten, as if to say, 'How dare she show in interest in Hagrid's class. She's a Slytherin'.
"Tha's right, Miss Vexten. Can anyone tell me anythin' about' Areeknoids?"
Hermione, as usual shot her hand up.
"Hermione?" Hagrid asked.
"They are spider like creatures with 8 legs, and a scorpion's tail. They let off a putrid stench when angry or scared. Their tail can paralyse victims in a heartbeat," Hermione said, giving her usual text book answer.
"Very good, Hermione. Five points ter Gryffindor," Hagrid said, cheerfully. "Anyone else?"
Hermione looked smugly towards Vexten, who simply smirked and rolled her eyes skywards. "The paralysis is only temporary, and can last anywhere between a couple of minutes and a few hours, depending on the amount of poison injected and the state of health of the victim. There are a few different breeds of Areeknoids, with varying levels of danger associated with them. After the females have laid their eggs, the male kills the female and uses her as nourishment for the Areeklings when they hatch, which takes about two weeks. A typical sack can contain a few hundred eggs, but only a dozen or so survive because the male will only allow the strongest Areeklings to live and will eat the rest. Their poison makes an excellent Vomit Inducing Brew once tapered down to a non-lethal concoction," Vexten said, glancing over at Hermione and sarcastically mimicking Hermione's expression of smugness. "And they make excellent pets," Vexten added.
Hermione looked shocked at Vexten's answer, as did Hagrid. In fact, it looked like Hagrid didn't even know some of what Vexten did about Areeknoids.
"Um, well, ten points to Slytherin," Hagrid said, coughing. "Do you own any Areeknoids, Miss Vexten?"
"I have a collection of thirty, from Scottish Flowarts to Chinese Black Deaths."
"Ever been bitten'?" Hagrid asked.
Vexten nodded. "I was paralysed for over a day with a Chinese Black Death. If it wasn't for the anti-venom I keep on hand, I would have died," Vexten laughed, as if being almost killed by a Chinese Black Death was the most pleasurable thing in the world.
Hagrid looked impressed, and beamed at Vexten. It wasn't often that anyone was so enthusiastic of the creatures he brought to class. "Would yer like to come and hold one?" Hagrid asked Vexten, and she readily nodded her head.
"All righ' then," Hagrid said, and reached in to gently grab one of the Areeknoids and handed it to Vexten. She casually placed it over her shoulder, and the Areeknoid started swiping its scorpion's tail against her cheek, unfortunately in Harry's opinion, not hard enough to penetrate the skin to eject the poison.
"This is a Western Spine Crest. One of the least dangerous Areeknoids as their tail is small and doesn't inject much poison, and since these are only babies the poison is only enough to make a person dizzy," Vexten continued impressing Hagrid.
Hermione, not to be outdone, stepped forward and said, "I'll hold one too, Hagrid."
Hagrid picked up another Areeknoid and handed it to Hermione. When she grabbed hold of it, it immediately pierced her skin. She shrieked and dropped it.
"I need to sit," Hermione said, and plopped down on the ground. The Areeknoid scampered away to places unknown.
"Hermione!" Hagrid exclaimed and reached for a bottle of potion underneath the table he was working from. "Here, take this," he said.
Hermione took the potion and immediately began to feel better. She gave Hagrid an apologetic smile. She got up, determined to give it another try. Wearily, Hagrid got another Areeknoid and tenderly placed it on Hermione's shoulder.
"They like it on yer shoulder, near yer face, at first. It helps them to trust yer more," Hagrid explained.
Hermione stood stock still, doing what she could to not aggravate the Areeknoid into stinging.
"How's it goin' Hermione?" Hagrid asked.
"Fine," Hermione responded with clenched teeth.
Since they knew that the Areeknoids couldn't hurt them too badly, more students decided to game holding them. Hagrid's potion bottle was getting used up quickly, and after Neville's third sting, Hagrid had to retrieve another antidote from his hut. To Harry, Ron and Hermione's disgust, Vexten hadn't received one bite. Ron refused to touch them.
When it was time to pack up, Ron felt a wriggling sensation under his robes. He lifted up his robe and screamed. The Areeknoid that had scampered away after Hermione had dropped it had found its way into Ron's robes. The Areeknoid started crawling over Ron's legs, up his stomach and chest, to stop right next to his face. It started tapping Ron on his cheek with its tail.
Ron looked panic stricken. "Get this thing off of me!" he demanded.
Vexten was almost doubled up with laughter. "I'll do it, Professor Hagrid," she said, calming herself down.
"No, not her," Ron said in horror.
"Yer'll be right, Ron. It won't hurt yer," Hagrid said soothingly.
Vexten took her time strolling over to Ron, taking in every moment of Ron's distress with glee. Eventually, she took the Areeknoid away, and placed it in the crate with the others. It immediately crawled out and rushed directly to Ron. Ron, seeing it come after him, sprinted straight to the Hogwarts front doors (with Vexten laughingly calling out in the background, "He likes you, Weasley!") and slammed them closed behind him. With his mind's eye, Harry could see Ron sprinting all the way to Gryffindor tower.
"We'd better go and see if he's alright," Harry said to Hermione.
Hermione nodded but then exclaimed, "My wand!"
In all the excitement, Harry had forgotten about that. They both went to the lake and Harry pulled out his wand and said, "Accio!" A mess of green sludge came whirling out towards them, landing on Hermione's chest. The sludge splattered over Hermione's robe.
"I'm going to get her for this!" Hermione declared. Then she cleaned herself and her wand up with the 'Scourgify' spell, and stomped angrily to her next class.
Harry arrived at Charms five minutes later, faced with a gang of Slytherins, who, through Vexten, and already heard about Ron's ordeal. Ron hadn't turned up yet.
"Where's the Weasel, Potter?" Malfoy asked haughtily.
Harry ignored them, and waited for Ron to arrive. Hermione wasn't in this class, because she had been smart enough to fill in her schedule early so she wasn't stuck with the Slytherins. When Ron eventually did arrive, the Slytherins were about to begin their tirade when Flitwick opened the door, indicating to them to come in. The Slytherins had to content themselves by sniggering at Ron throughout the lesson.
The first Charms class with Flitwick was just revision from their O.W.L year. Harry and Ron had seated themselves close to the door for an immediate exit when the class ended so as to not give the Slytherins a chance to mock.
Harry and Ron were relieved when the bell rang for lunch. They met up with a much happier Hermione in the Great Hall.
"What happened?" Harry asked her.
Hermione looked startled for a second and said, "Oh, I just received my first homework assignment for Professor Sprout, look."
"Only you could get excited about homework, Hermione," Ron said, and they all cheered up. They went on to happier topics and actually managed to successfully ignore the demonstrations that were going on at the Slytherin table, much to the annoyance of the Slytherins.
"It's good that we don't have homework yet, though, isn't it," Ron said to Harry. "Last year they were already piling it on."
Harry agreed, but Ginny was glaring at Ron from across the table.
"Speak for yourself, Ron. I've got piles of homework already and the day's only half over!" she complained.
Harry remembered that Ginny was studying for her O.W.Ls this year and he could sympathise with her. "It'll get better, Ginny. I promise."
"Harry, don't lie to the poor girl like that!" Ron exclaimed in a friendly manner. "O.W.Ls is hell, Ginny, hell I tell you! It never lets up!"
"Oh, shut up Ron!" Ginny said and exasperatedly returned to her lunch, trying unsuccessfully to ignore a laughing Ron.
"What class do we have next?" Ron asked Harry when he had calmed down.
Harry looked at his schedule. "Potions."
"I get a break then," Ron said. "I'm not taking Potions."
Harry felt a twinge of guilt. The only reason why he was taking Potions was because Dumbledore gave him a second change to get a higher grade. Ron had received an 'A' as well.
"It was lucky really," Ron went on. "I don't have to put up with the Slytherins in Potions as well."
Harry was looking at his schedule. "Hermione, you've got Potions now as well? Why?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Is it my fault that the Slytherins decided to sign up for this class after me? Thank Merlin it's the only one though."
So Harry and Hermione went to the Potions classroom, which was still situated in the dungeons, while Ron got in some flying, to which Hermione had earlier responded, "Ron, you've spent every spare moment on that broom, you should be studying!"
Harry and Hermione arrived early, but the door, which Snape usually had closed until the last moment, was wide open, so they both entered the classroom and looked for seats at the very back. They were hoping to avoid being noticed by the Slytherins when they came. They saw Professor Morgan at the front of the class, arranging the ingredients needed for the class, completely oblivious to Harry and Hermione's presence. Eventually, the Slytherins rolled in. Harry's hope that they would remain unnoticed in their seating position proved to be short lived, however, because as soon as Malfoy walked in, he swept the room with his eyes, spotted Harry, and said, "Where's the Weasel, Potter, playing with his new friend?"
"Rack off, ferret," Harry said shortly. He was about to get his cauldron ready when he was surprised with the sight of Crabbe and Goyle entering the class. Surely they had not received an 'E' in their O.W.L?
"Settle down, class," a voice said from the front of the room. Malfoy took the seat directly in front of Harry. Harry flexed his fingers, wishing desperately that he could use them to wring Malfoy's neck from behind.
"Please open your text to page 1,254, the section on Ingredient Combinations. You will not need your cauldrons as today's lesson is theoretical," Morgan said to the collective astonishment of the class. They had never had a completely theoretical Potions class before, and visions of Umbridge flashed in front of Harry's eyes.
"Professor? How come we are not brewing anything today?" Malfoy asked with his arm in the air.
Professor Morgan flashed them all a smile. "Don't worry; I will not be keeping you away from the cauldrons for long. Normally, I would not hit you so quickly with the theory, but Professor Snape has you all at such a high standard that I feel there is no need to wait."
Professor Morgan paced the front of the class, her hands entwined behind her back. "I will briefly explain the structure of the Advanced Potion class. Over the next two years you will be studying this class with the expectation of obtaining your N.E.W.Ts. The O.W.Ls tested your brewing ability and your understanding of a variety of different potions and what they can do. But simply brewing a potion can be done by memorising the steps, and doesn't necessarily require any knowledge of how each step works together to produce the desired result. The N.E.W.Ts go beyond that. The N.E.W.Ts will test your ability to not just brew potions, but to develop your own, and that will take a much greater understanding. You will also learn how to fix a potion that has gone wrong."
The class looked at each other. They were going to design their own potions?
"The first potion I will be getting you to design is the Confunded Potion, which as the name suggests leaves the drinker in a confused state. There are many Confunded Potions out there which you may look at if you wish, but if you simply copy that potion I will know about it immediately, and you will receive zero marks. If you create your own design from start to finish, clearly argue and back up the methods you used and clearly have an understanding of what the ingredients are supposed to do, yet the potion fails, I will award you high marks. Getting the potion to work is important, but understanding what you are doing is more important. The reason why your potion fails could be something small. We will also be studying strategies you can use to get a working potion when your potion fails.
"This year, you will be designing simple potions, ones already in existence, to develop your potions design and research ability. In your seventh year, you will be required to work on something completely unique, something that has never been done before.
"Right now, we will be concentrating on your knowledge of ingredients, and how they interact with each other, before we start on the Confunded Potion. Any questions?"
No-one spoke. They were all looking at each other, many with fear with the thought of what they must accomplish. But Hermione's eyes were bright with excitement. Harry could virtually see what was going in her mind. She was already deciding what potion she would brew in her seventh year and was systematically working out the steps with which to achieve it.
"Good. Please read the sections outlined. We will discuss what you have read in thirty minutes."
The class sighed but did what they were told. Harry was having difficulty focusing on the task at hand due to Malfoy noiselessly banishing bits of parchment towards Harry's face at frequent intervals. Eventually, Harry put a repellent charm on his face, causing the bits of parchment to fly back to Malfoy's head. In response, Malfoy banished a slug with a piercing hex on it to penetrate Harry's repellent charm and the slug somehow managed to infiltrate Harry's glasses and it landed squarely in his eye.
"Eww!" Harry said a little too loudly, grabbing the slug and throwing it to the ground.
"Is something the matter, Mr Potter?" Professor Morgan asked from behind her desk.
"No, Professor," Harry said, wiping his eye.
"He was throwing bits of parchment at me, Professor," Malfoy piped up.
"No I wasn't! Malfoy -" Harry tried to protest, but Professor Morgan shushed him. She walked towards Harry at the back of the class. Harry quickly vanished all the bits of parchment that had accumulated around his seat before Morgan could see it. Unfortunately he missed one, and Morgan picked it up.
She lifted her eyebrows in a questioning manner. Harry shrugged as if to say he didn't know how it got there, but Morgan wasn't convinced by his pathetic display of feigned innocence.
"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter. Please read the text," Professor Morgan said and returned to her seat.
"But-" Harry started.
"Read the text," Morgan said more firmly.
Harry started to read the sections, trying to ignore the low sniggers coming from the Slytherins.
Ten minutes later, Professor Morgan stopped the class.
"Now that you have read the required sections in the book, could anyone tell me what the effect is of adding porcupine quills into a mixture containing Grashauk?"
Hermione's hand went immediately into the air.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Porcupine quills acts as a stabiliser to many heat emitting potions such as Grashauk, thus cooling the mixture down for the next stage," Hermione answered
"Five points to Gryffindor. And when would this be desirable?"
Hermione's hand shot back up into the air. "Someone else this time, Mr Goyle?"
Goyle looked like a kangaroo caught in headlights. He shrugged.
"Your best guess will do fine," Morgan said.
"Er- after adding Redfin?" Goyle answered uncertainly. Hermione started shaking her head, her hand still in the air.
"Very good, Mr Goyle, five points to Slytherin. However - "
Professor Morgan was just about to continue when she was cut of from Hermione. "Please, Professor, that's not true. Adding Porcupine Quills to a cauldron containing Redfin will cause a noxious gas to emit – "
"Five points from Gryffindor for your impertinence, Miss Granger."
Hermione gaped at Professor Morgan, hand still half in the air, but she said nothing else.
"If I could finish what I was about to say," Professor Morgan looked pointedly at Hermione, "Redfin will indeed act as a destructive catalyst for Porcupine Quills and is not desirable to mix them both together. However, Redfin, when added to any mixture containing Grashauk, will cause the potion to overheat unless a suitable stabiliser is added. Porcupine Quills, in theory, would cool the potion down, stabilising it, except for that side effect. I awarded Mr Goyle points for a reasonable effort in answering my question logically and thoughtfully, not because the answer was correct. I expect students to leave this class with a clear understanding of the topic, not enter the class with it. Alright, Miss Granger?" Professor Morgan looked at Hermione with a raised eyebrow.
Hermione finally lowered her hand and nodded.
"What other, more suitable stabiliser could be added to a potion containing Redfin and Gashauk?"
Emboldened, a few people raised their hands this time, but Hermione kept hers down. Professor Morgan, true to her word, awarded points for effort. When a student made a reasonable effort but answered wrongly, she still awarded the points but explained the problems inherit in their answer. Pretty soon, Hermione got over the shock of her chastisement earlier and started participating. Even Harry answered a few questions, and by the end of the class he had earned Gryffindor 15 house points, which when added to Hermione's 35 points, more than made up for their loss of ten points at the start of the lesson. The idea that Gryffindor could be up 40 points after a Potions lesson was unheard of, and the fact that Harry contributed to the fact would have sent many into heart palpitations just a few months ago.
On their way back to the common room, Harry and Hermione had to concede that that was their best Potion lesson ever, despite Hermione's brief reprimand. They met a wind-blown Ron, who had obviously just come back from his solo Quidditch practise, sitting on a lounge chair by the fire and they told him all about the lesson.
"She had to start teaching now, didn't she?" Ron said. "I might have been in that class."
Harry again felt that twinge of guilt. He shouldn't have been in that class either.
"Just think," Hermione said to Ron, amusement flooding her eyes, "This time tomorrow, you can tell me all about your Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Snape."
Both Ron and Harry groaned.
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Please R&R
