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Chapter 8-
The Potions Master
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"I lived a life of shadows, never felt the sun on my face."
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Katrina snuck into the potions dungeon - late, wet and shivering where the rest of her class was already assembled. Now there was the simple question of whether her teacher, who currently had his back to the class would notice. She inched past the desks, looking around the class for a seat. She looked nervously at the back of her Professor who was writing something on the board.
'Just don't turn around, just don't turn around' She thought, biting her lip nervously.
"Oi, thingy! Spare seat here." Ron said, catching sight of her. Katrina froze, watching as the teacher turned around, raising his head to look her in the eye.
"Well," He said, slowly and deliberately. "Nice of you to join us, Miss…"
"Milano." Katrina supplied quietly, looking down at her shoes. Severus Snape paused and stiffened, eyeing her with an unreadable expression.
"Milano, eh? Would that be Katrina Milano, daughter of Drucilla and Fillip Milano?"
Katrina looked at him steadily for what seemed like an age before nodding slowly. Her face seemed calm but her heart was thumping so loudly she was certain that everyone could hear it. This must be Severus Snape. Interesting. Katrina surveyed him briefly before ducking her head – the simple action showing that she knew who he was as well as portraying the fact that she was apologizing for being late.
Snape watched her coolly, his greasy black hair falling in his eyes.
"Sit down and don't be late again or you'll end up in detention. 10 points from Gryffindor."
Katrina simply nodded, walked over to Harry and sat down, beginning on the task set, a drowsiness potion.
"Are you feeling better now?" Harry whispered after a while, looking at her worriedly. She smiled at him and nodded, just as a piece of parchment hit her in the back of her head.
"Ouch!" She said scowling, rubbing the back of her head with one hand, picking up the parchment and smoothing it out with the other.
"Meet me in front of the weeping mermaid at midnight tonight. We need to talk." Katrina read out loud, a confused look on her face.
"Who's it from?" Harry asked offhandedly, concentrating on putting in the right amount of Mermaid scales in his cauldron.
"It's from that Draco person you were talking about."
Harry's head snapped up, emerald eyes flashing.
"Draco? Draco Malfoy?"
"Well, I think so. It doesn't say his surname but Draco isn't a very common name is it? Draco…" She said again, trailing off, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Can I see the note?" Harry asked, eyes narrowed. Katrina nodded, tossing it towards him the thoughtful yet slightly confused look on her face still present.
"He's trying to trick you." Harry said abruptly as soon as he read the note. "He did the same thing to me in our first year. Said he wanted to duel me but never showed up and tipped the school caretaker so we'd get in trouble."
"We?" Katrina asked, slightly bewildered.
"Oh, Ron was my second and Hermione tagged along just to yell at us. Neville had gotten locked out of the common room because he'd forgotten the password if my memory serves correct."
"Interesting…" Katrina said absent mindedly, not really listening. What were the odds that on her first day at Hogwarts she'd get two notes from people she'd never even heard of and both were asking her to meet them at the same time?
"I would advise not meeting either of them." Harry said, looking at her. Katrina shook her head slowly, a thoughtful look on her face.
"I need to go, otherwise one of two things will kill me. My curiosity or paranoia that he's stalking me."
Ron cleared his throat loudly and abruptly, jerking his head towards the advancing Snape. Harry and Katrina didn't get his message as they weren't paying attention. The brunette folded the note carefully and was about to slip into her notebook but was interrupted by Snape.
"What's this?" He snapped, materializing out of thin air. Hermiones' hand shot up as it always did after a teacher had asked a question.
"Yes, Miss Granger? Would you care to enlighten me?" He asked, an exasperated look on his face.
"It is… I mean, was an invitation Professor" She said matter of factly.
"From Potter I assume?" Snape said nastily, turning on Harry. Briefly Katrina wondered why he would think that but was distracted by Hermione's answer.
"No, actually Professor it was from Malfoy." Hermione interrupted, grinning. By the end of the lesson both Katrina and Harry had detention.
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The rest of the lesson went by slowly and painfully but they all emerged in one piece. "Well, we survived the first potions back." Ron said cheerfully, hoisting his satchel more securely onto his back. Katrina nodded absent-mindedly. She was too preoccupied with the uneasy thought that Snape knew more about her than he was letting on… she had a feeling that she and the potions master were not going to be the best of friends.
She was beginning to feel rather ill with the realisation that Snape had the upper hand. He could make her do anything he wanted. On the other hand all hated him so she would have some sympathy on the matter. Still, the fact remained that it was Snape - one Katrina - zero. She had to find out how much he knew and fast. A wave of nausea threatened to engulf her as she saw everything that she had worked so hard for go down the drain. Her fresh start. Her new life. All gone. Finished. She had to obey Snape's' every command if she hoped to achieve what she had set out to do. If she put one toe out of line… who knew what he would do. Katrina was his human house elf. He was her master. She might have to beg… to plead for his forgiveness if she couldn't control her temper. Katrina would have to be a complete suck up and be little angel in potions. It would be like she was a potion ingredient. She was going to be sick.
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A/N – I found this chappie on a rouge floppy, thankfully… however I won't be able to post any more chappies until I get my A drive fixed. –Sigh-
But thank you so much Divine Silence. One of your favourite stories? Really? And Anime-Fangirl2, I haven't forgotten about the Millenium Necklace; I still intend to finish this fic =D You guys rock!