Please do note that all HP characters are property of JK Rowling. The
characters of Nyx, Brenna, and any other unrecognized names are property of
Denise G., and ME (excluding any Hogwarts student only mentioned once in
the real story)!!!!!
Chapter Three
Potions and Demons
Brenna stared blankly at her schedule. She had to go to Potions class and had absolutely no idea how to get to the dungeons. Brenna suddenly wished she had asked one of the girls how to get there. She sighed as she wondered down a flight of stairs and shivered at the temperature change.
Finally, after walking down an endless hallway, Brenna reached a door that seemed like her last hope. She took a deep breath and opened the door. Inside, all the students turned away from their cauldrons and faced Brenna. She gulped as she slid into the room, causing the door to slam.
"Ah, you must be Miss Ollivander."
Brenna's eyes darted around the room in fear, looking for the owner of the voice. "Well, are you?" the voice asked. Brenna watched as Professor Snape stood up and propped himself up on his desk with a sour look on his face. At that, Brenna quickly nodded.
Seeing the fear in her face, Snape gave her a sinister half smile. "Please take a seat as well as five points from Ravenclaw," he replied as he designated the empty seats with his now outstretched arm. Brenna quickly slipped into the first empty seat she saw. It was two stations away from Snape's desk and a girl with long black hair occupied the seat to the left.
"You all already know my class policy," replied Snape, walking out from behind his desk, "Now that you are all fifth years, the potions we create in here will be more difficult and intricate. Therefore, it will require intelligence. That means no fooling around. . . "
Suddenly there was a cough that sounded quite remarkably like 'Nyx'. Brenna turned curiously and saw a boy with white blond, slicked back hair chuckling with two others boys who looked positively mean. The girl sitting next to Brenna quickly stood up, but just as she stood up, Snape stopped a possible fight by saying, "That's ENOUGH, Miss Black!" Fuming, the girl sat back down. "Continuing on," replied Snape, "Most of you realize this is one day closer to taking your O.W.L.'s and I will NOT tolerate failure on the Potions part of the exam. So, every last one of you will pay strict attention and come to class on time." His eyes flashed towards Brenna as he said this. Brenna blushed and sank slightly in her seat
"Now, I'm going to write the recipe for this potion on the chalkboard. You will be working the entire class period." With that, Snape quickly charmed a piece of chalk and it immediately jumped to life and began to write on the board. As the charmed chalk wrote, Snape prowled around the classroom, correcting students as he went.
All the students began setting up their cauldrons and getting out their potion kits that had been stored under their workstations. Just as Brenna fearfully realized hers was still sitting in her trunk, someone asked, "Wanna use my cauldron today?"
Brenna turned to her left to face the owner of that voice. The girl, Brenna noticed, had long black hair, tanned skin, pointed ears, three mauve scars across her right cheek and a mauve scar in the shape of an 'X' that lay across her nose. Brenna also noticed that her ears were adorned with several small hoops that went all the way up her ear lobe. She sat on a stool, holding out her cauldron. "Sure," said Brenna nervously. The girl smiled and set up her cauldron and got out her potion kit
As Brenna conjured a fire beneath the cauldron, the girl spoke again, "My name is Nyx Black." Brenna once again turned towards her and saw that Nyx's hand was stuck out in greeting.
"My name is Brenna Ollivander," Brenna replied as she accepted Nyx's hand. As Nyx gave Brenna a strong handshake, Brenna winced from where Nyx's many rings pinched her fingers.
"I bet you're in Ravenclaw," said Nyx. Brenna looked at her with awe.
"How'd you guess?" asked Brenna. Nyx picked up her wand and jabbed at the Ravenclaw house crest on Brenna's robes. Brenna crinkled her nose in disappointment. "Oh."
"That and Snape already said it when he took five points," replied Nyx, "I'm in Gryffindor." She pointed at the intricate gold and scarlet embroidery on her own Hogwarts robes. Suddenly, the girls felt a shadow come over them. They looked up and saw Snape's looming figure standing over them, sneering.
"I trust you girls will be starting your colouring potion soon," replied Snape as he pointed lazily to the half-filled chalkboard behind him.
"Yes, of course," stuttered Brenna. Nyx gave her cauldron a sideways glance.
"Aye, aye sir!" said Nyx stupidly as she gave Snape a salute. Snape quickly turned and walked away, scowling. "That stupid bloke thinks he's so intimidating!" said Nyx disgustedly. Brenna said nothing as she began to pull out a piece of parchment, a quill and an inkbottle. Nyx looked at her curiously. "What are you doing?" said Nyx as Brenna began to write.
"Taking notes," replied Brenna. Nyx gave her a look that clearly that clearly questioned the ludicrous idea of taking notes before shaking her head.
"We don't need notes. I know what I'm doing."
Brenna watched the charmed chalk zoom across the room to write down the remainder of the recipe on another chalkboard. "Are you sure?" she asked as she laid down her quill.
"Positive!" With that, Nyx began unloading her potion supplies. Most of what she was taking out of her kit appeared to be in the potion recipe so Brenna, sighing, decided to trust this girl. Mostly since she didn't really feel up to arguing.
As Nyx went to work, it indeed looked as though she had been truthful. Everything she was doing, Brenna noticed, was exactly how the recipe said it should be done. Brenna relaxed as she helped Nyx measure out frog's blood and cut cattails. But as she watched Nyx pour in salamander plasma, Brenna noticed she had poured in a little too much and began to feel uneasy again.
"Are you really sure that you know what you're doing?" asked Brenna as she watched Nyx measure out some powered lizard claws (Wasn't it supposed to be crushed spider legs? pondered Brenna).
"Yes, I'm sure," said Nyx offhandedly as she carefully put in two cormorant feathers. The boy with the white blond hair suddenly walked past Brenna and Nyx's station.
"You'd better watch yourself, Newgirl," replied the boy spitefully, "You may end up with some new shoes."
"Stuff it, Malfoy!" exclaimed Nyx as she stirred the potion, "Or do I have to give you another visit to the hospital wing?"
"Idle threats!" said the boy. Although he looked quite confident with his manner, a hint of worry was in his voice from Nyx's last comment. He then turned and walked away.
"That was Draco Malfoy," said Nyx, "He's a real pain in the ass. . . ."
Suddenly without warning, the potion began to bubble uncontrollably. Brenna fearfully watched as the potion began to bubble over the sides of the cauldron. Nyx, however, happily clapped her hands.
"Brilliant!" replied Nyx. Then the potion suddenly exploded and drenched both her and Brenna. Within seconds everything the potion touched began to change colour. It looked as though the potion worked, except that instead of one colour, there were at least five different ones, and each one was a bright fluorescent colour. Both Brenna and Nyx now had multicoloured hair, tye-dyed robes, and speckled hands and faces.
Brenna stared astonishingly at herself. "WHAT IS THE MEAING OF THIS?!" yelled an extremely angry Snape. Brenna looked up to see a multicoloured Snape standing next to their fluorescent workstation.
"Looks kinda like our potion exploded," said Nyx cheerfully. Brenna put her head in her hands. This was not how she planned on starting the new school year.
"If you had paid attention," seethed Snape, "You would know that it takes a counter-potion to reverse this catastrophe, whether or not you did it right!" Brenna's eyes opened wide with terror. Nyx, on the other hand, crossed her legs and smirked up at Snape. "I will be able to create a potion to reverse this but you shall not receive it for whatever time I deem you worthy of it. This is your punishment, so DO NOT TRY TO COVER IT UP!"
Nyx yawned exaggeratedly. "Is that the best you can do?"
"I can make it worse you little demon!" Snape growled.
"I'm only part demon, remember?"
An infuriated Snape reached into his robes as if to pull out his wand, but thought better of it and walked into his office, still fuming. The class burst into laughter as Malfoy once again walked over to their workstation.
"Looks like you've done it again, Nyxie," said Malfoy. Nyx jumped up and pounced on Malfoy, grabbing him by the collar of his robes.
"Stuff it, Malfoy" growled Nyx through clenched teeth. This time, Malfoy laughed heartily as he pulled away from Nyx and returned to his seat. "I swear, that boy is going to get the crap beat out of him the next time I see him on a broom! And Snape, ha! Thinks he can threaten me. Can't even give a proper punishment!"
"That's what you think," replied Brenna bitterly as she stared into her spotted hands.
Nyx gave Brenna a meaningful apologetic look. "Sorry I dragged you into trouble."
Brenna once again said nothing as she looked away from Nyx and sighed sadly. She spent the remainder of the class taking notes and hiding her face from the rest of the classmates.
Well, there was chapter two. Took me forever to update. I thought Nyx would be an interesting character to introduce: extremely brave and openly Potions illiterate. We'll find out more about her as the story goes on. Please review!!!
Chapter Three
Potions and Demons
Brenna stared blankly at her schedule. She had to go to Potions class and had absolutely no idea how to get to the dungeons. Brenna suddenly wished she had asked one of the girls how to get there. She sighed as she wondered down a flight of stairs and shivered at the temperature change.
Finally, after walking down an endless hallway, Brenna reached a door that seemed like her last hope. She took a deep breath and opened the door. Inside, all the students turned away from their cauldrons and faced Brenna. She gulped as she slid into the room, causing the door to slam.
"Ah, you must be Miss Ollivander."
Brenna's eyes darted around the room in fear, looking for the owner of the voice. "Well, are you?" the voice asked. Brenna watched as Professor Snape stood up and propped himself up on his desk with a sour look on his face. At that, Brenna quickly nodded.
Seeing the fear in her face, Snape gave her a sinister half smile. "Please take a seat as well as five points from Ravenclaw," he replied as he designated the empty seats with his now outstretched arm. Brenna quickly slipped into the first empty seat she saw. It was two stations away from Snape's desk and a girl with long black hair occupied the seat to the left.
"You all already know my class policy," replied Snape, walking out from behind his desk, "Now that you are all fifth years, the potions we create in here will be more difficult and intricate. Therefore, it will require intelligence. That means no fooling around. . . "
Suddenly there was a cough that sounded quite remarkably like 'Nyx'. Brenna turned curiously and saw a boy with white blond, slicked back hair chuckling with two others boys who looked positively mean. The girl sitting next to Brenna quickly stood up, but just as she stood up, Snape stopped a possible fight by saying, "That's ENOUGH, Miss Black!" Fuming, the girl sat back down. "Continuing on," replied Snape, "Most of you realize this is one day closer to taking your O.W.L.'s and I will NOT tolerate failure on the Potions part of the exam. So, every last one of you will pay strict attention and come to class on time." His eyes flashed towards Brenna as he said this. Brenna blushed and sank slightly in her seat
"Now, I'm going to write the recipe for this potion on the chalkboard. You will be working the entire class period." With that, Snape quickly charmed a piece of chalk and it immediately jumped to life and began to write on the board. As the charmed chalk wrote, Snape prowled around the classroom, correcting students as he went.
All the students began setting up their cauldrons and getting out their potion kits that had been stored under their workstations. Just as Brenna fearfully realized hers was still sitting in her trunk, someone asked, "Wanna use my cauldron today?"
Brenna turned to her left to face the owner of that voice. The girl, Brenna noticed, had long black hair, tanned skin, pointed ears, three mauve scars across her right cheek and a mauve scar in the shape of an 'X' that lay across her nose. Brenna also noticed that her ears were adorned with several small hoops that went all the way up her ear lobe. She sat on a stool, holding out her cauldron. "Sure," said Brenna nervously. The girl smiled and set up her cauldron and got out her potion kit
As Brenna conjured a fire beneath the cauldron, the girl spoke again, "My name is Nyx Black." Brenna once again turned towards her and saw that Nyx's hand was stuck out in greeting.
"My name is Brenna Ollivander," Brenna replied as she accepted Nyx's hand. As Nyx gave Brenna a strong handshake, Brenna winced from where Nyx's many rings pinched her fingers.
"I bet you're in Ravenclaw," said Nyx. Brenna looked at her with awe.
"How'd you guess?" asked Brenna. Nyx picked up her wand and jabbed at the Ravenclaw house crest on Brenna's robes. Brenna crinkled her nose in disappointment. "Oh."
"That and Snape already said it when he took five points," replied Nyx, "I'm in Gryffindor." She pointed at the intricate gold and scarlet embroidery on her own Hogwarts robes. Suddenly, the girls felt a shadow come over them. They looked up and saw Snape's looming figure standing over them, sneering.
"I trust you girls will be starting your colouring potion soon," replied Snape as he pointed lazily to the half-filled chalkboard behind him.
"Yes, of course," stuttered Brenna. Nyx gave her cauldron a sideways glance.
"Aye, aye sir!" said Nyx stupidly as she gave Snape a salute. Snape quickly turned and walked away, scowling. "That stupid bloke thinks he's so intimidating!" said Nyx disgustedly. Brenna said nothing as she began to pull out a piece of parchment, a quill and an inkbottle. Nyx looked at her curiously. "What are you doing?" said Nyx as Brenna began to write.
"Taking notes," replied Brenna. Nyx gave her a look that clearly that clearly questioned the ludicrous idea of taking notes before shaking her head.
"We don't need notes. I know what I'm doing."
Brenna watched the charmed chalk zoom across the room to write down the remainder of the recipe on another chalkboard. "Are you sure?" she asked as she laid down her quill.
"Positive!" With that, Nyx began unloading her potion supplies. Most of what she was taking out of her kit appeared to be in the potion recipe so Brenna, sighing, decided to trust this girl. Mostly since she didn't really feel up to arguing.
As Nyx went to work, it indeed looked as though she had been truthful. Everything she was doing, Brenna noticed, was exactly how the recipe said it should be done. Brenna relaxed as she helped Nyx measure out frog's blood and cut cattails. But as she watched Nyx pour in salamander plasma, Brenna noticed she had poured in a little too much and began to feel uneasy again.
"Are you really sure that you know what you're doing?" asked Brenna as she watched Nyx measure out some powered lizard claws (Wasn't it supposed to be crushed spider legs? pondered Brenna).
"Yes, I'm sure," said Nyx offhandedly as she carefully put in two cormorant feathers. The boy with the white blond hair suddenly walked past Brenna and Nyx's station.
"You'd better watch yourself, Newgirl," replied the boy spitefully, "You may end up with some new shoes."
"Stuff it, Malfoy!" exclaimed Nyx as she stirred the potion, "Or do I have to give you another visit to the hospital wing?"
"Idle threats!" said the boy. Although he looked quite confident with his manner, a hint of worry was in his voice from Nyx's last comment. He then turned and walked away.
"That was Draco Malfoy," said Nyx, "He's a real pain in the ass. . . ."
Suddenly without warning, the potion began to bubble uncontrollably. Brenna fearfully watched as the potion began to bubble over the sides of the cauldron. Nyx, however, happily clapped her hands.
"Brilliant!" replied Nyx. Then the potion suddenly exploded and drenched both her and Brenna. Within seconds everything the potion touched began to change colour. It looked as though the potion worked, except that instead of one colour, there were at least five different ones, and each one was a bright fluorescent colour. Both Brenna and Nyx now had multicoloured hair, tye-dyed robes, and speckled hands and faces.
Brenna stared astonishingly at herself. "WHAT IS THE MEAING OF THIS?!" yelled an extremely angry Snape. Brenna looked up to see a multicoloured Snape standing next to their fluorescent workstation.
"Looks kinda like our potion exploded," said Nyx cheerfully. Brenna put her head in her hands. This was not how she planned on starting the new school year.
"If you had paid attention," seethed Snape, "You would know that it takes a counter-potion to reverse this catastrophe, whether or not you did it right!" Brenna's eyes opened wide with terror. Nyx, on the other hand, crossed her legs and smirked up at Snape. "I will be able to create a potion to reverse this but you shall not receive it for whatever time I deem you worthy of it. This is your punishment, so DO NOT TRY TO COVER IT UP!"
Nyx yawned exaggeratedly. "Is that the best you can do?"
"I can make it worse you little demon!" Snape growled.
"I'm only part demon, remember?"
An infuriated Snape reached into his robes as if to pull out his wand, but thought better of it and walked into his office, still fuming. The class burst into laughter as Malfoy once again walked over to their workstation.
"Looks like you've done it again, Nyxie," said Malfoy. Nyx jumped up and pounced on Malfoy, grabbing him by the collar of his robes.
"Stuff it, Malfoy" growled Nyx through clenched teeth. This time, Malfoy laughed heartily as he pulled away from Nyx and returned to his seat. "I swear, that boy is going to get the crap beat out of him the next time I see him on a broom! And Snape, ha! Thinks he can threaten me. Can't even give a proper punishment!"
"That's what you think," replied Brenna bitterly as she stared into her spotted hands.
Nyx gave Brenna a meaningful apologetic look. "Sorry I dragged you into trouble."
Brenna once again said nothing as she looked away from Nyx and sighed sadly. She spent the remainder of the class taking notes and hiding her face from the rest of the classmates.
Well, there was chapter two. Took me forever to update. I thought Nyx would be an interesting character to introduce: extremely brave and openly Potions illiterate. We'll find out more about her as the story goes on. Please review!!!