T/N: Due to me being a lazy bum, I have taken forever to respond. SORRY! Will try to update oftener, hehe. Blame it on………….. The lord Goddess of Ethiopia, who have cursed me with laziness. Or that's what I'm telling my teachers. Send me a friendly word of encouragement… or a flame, whichever you think with get me going faster, at strictlyslytherin@owlpost22.zzn.com
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Disclaimer: Read the other disclaimers, as follows:
Disclaimer 1: I own nothing that's owned by anyone else!
Disclaimer 2: See Chapter 1
Disclaimer 3: See other chapters!
Disclaimer 4: blah, blah, blah, I own nothing that you recognize, blah, blah, blah.
Disclaimer 5: I hope you've caught on by now I don't own anything that's someone else's.
Chapter 6
Potion Daze
"There you are!" Rose yelled, running from one end of the table to the other.
"G'morning, sleepy-head!" said Mariana. Rose eyed her plate. It had bagels, eggs, bacon, pancakes and a bowl of cereal to the side of it. A cup of apple juice and a mug of hot chocolate sat on the other side.
"Mmm… looks good. Oh, and for your information, I wasn't sleeping; I was getting our schedules. Does anyone know what day it is, just by the way?" Rose responded, heaping her plate full of food. Not as full as Mariana's, but still quite full.
"Monday?" Anj'la asked, stifling a yawn. Mariana and Matt may be morning people, but Anj'la would rather sleep in to the time most people are ready to go to bed, thank you very much.
"The first day of school?" Blaise asked, taking a sip of his orange juice.
"September 2nd?" asked Matt.
"Two months 6 days, 4 hours, 10 minutes and 23 seconds until Anj'la 17th birthday?" Quinn asked, glancing at his watch. Jovanna clapped her hands.
"Oh Matt, you remembered!" she squealed, hugging him. The others traded glances. Hadn't Matt said September 2? Oh well.
"Well, yes to all of those," Rose admitted. "Quinn, how do you know that? Never mind, I don't want to know," she decided, as Quinn opened his mouth. "It's all of those other things, but, most importantly, it's a Potion's day!"
"Oh, I love those," Mariana said wistfully.
"Who doesn't?" asked Anj'la, grinning.
"The Gryffindors?" Blaise suggested.
"You mean GryffinDORKs," said Lauren, "with emphasis on the DORK part."
"Especially Harry Potter," said Anj'la.
"I hate Potter," said a cold drawling voice coming from behind them. Draco Malfoy. He eyed Mariana's heaping plate, as she had just helped herself to hash browns and biscuits.
"God, Starbanks, leave enough for the rest of us, why don't you?" Mariana turned around, knife in hand. (She had just been slicing her biscuit open) She pointed it at his nose. Draco went cross-eyed staring at it.
"Did you know breakfast is the best meal of the day for you? Kinda surprising, isn't it that most people skip breakfast when, if you think of it, you haven't eaten in like, 10 hours?" With that, she turned around and went calmly back to eating her breakfast.
During this, Anj'la had been snickering quietly. Draco finally turned to her.
"What're you laughing about?" he demanded.
"Well, you said you hate Potter and… and…" Anj'la could barely talk for laughing. "You know what they say; love and hate are VERY closely connected…"
"What! You won't tell Potter that I love him- because I don't! I DON'T!" Matt snickered.
"We won't need to, will we, Harry Potter, Boy-who-lived?" he said to someone over Draco's shoulder. Draco whirled around, eyes wide. There was no one there.
"Twitchy little rodent, aren't you Malfoy?" Lauren said scathingly. While that memorable event had taken place almost a year ago, they all still recalled it in wonderful clearness. Lauren then sent a jet of blue light at Draco, turning him into a creamy white weasel.
"Oh, no! I missed!" Lauren said, clasping her hand together.
"What do you mean?" Anj'la asked, smiling at the little rodent that Mariana had scooped up. "You hit him dead on."
"I meant to turn him into a hamster." At this everyone laughed, except for Mariana, who cuddled the creature.
"You know, he's kinda cute this way. Can I keep him?" she asked. At this, the weasel bit her, so she flung him to the ground. He quickly scampered into the dungeons, where Professor Snape would turn him back to his normal self. Snape had learned that any white rodents in the Slytherin dungeons were really Draco Malfoy.
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When they arrived at the potions room, the corridor was filled with students waiting to be let in to the locked dungeon. Mariana, Anj'la, Rose, Jovanna, Lauren and Quinn had to wait outside. Matt and Blaise weren't in this class, unfortunately.
"Why are you here?" asked a small brown-haired Gryffindor by the name of Rebecca Turner.
"Who are you addressing, Gryffindork?" Lauren asked. The girl frowned as that last 'k' was heard.
"Her." At this, Rebecca Turner pointed her finger at Mariana. "How did you get in this class? Snape only accepts you if you got an 'O' on your O.W.L. and you ALWAYS explode your potion, so you didn't."
"He also accepts you if you happen to be like me," Mariana told her. "Mariana Starbanks."
"Well, where's your creepy twin? He's as like you as can be."
"He decided not to come. This class has too many Gryffindorks in it." Truth was, he hadn't been accepted, but Mariana wasn't about to let this girl know that.
"What's that supposed to mean? Anyway, we always knew you just as that girl who always got nine out of ten for trying," Turner said, trying to put up a brave front.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Anj'la asked, stepping towards her menacingly. In turn, Turner stepped forward, glaring at Anj'la. Secretly, she admitted to herself she was rather glad it wasn't Mariana she was having this glare war with. Anj'la might send a better glare, but Mariana's white-blue stare was strangely scary.
"It means that the rest of us EARNED the right to be in this class. She's only here because Snape likes her and thinks she deserves to."
"HA!" Anj'la yelled. "SHE DESERVES IT!"
"He FEELS she deserves it!" Turner yelled back. Anj'la picked the Gryffindor up by the neck of the robes and slammed her against the dungeon wall, pulling her wand out.
"Take- It – Back!" Anj'la said through gritted teeth. From behind Anj'la came footsteps, followed by Snape's icy voice.
"Ms. Evans, I'm afraid I have to ask you to drop Ms. Turner."
"Yes, Professor," Anj'la replied, letting Turner slide to the floor.
"What has been going on here?" Snape asked, looking from Anj'la to Rebecca Turner. "Explain." Instantly, the hall burst into a flurry of everyone trying to explain at once.
"SILENCE!" Snape roared. The hallway fell silent as his gaze swept through them. His eyes singled out Mariana. Quinn had a comforting arm around her just for this reason.
"Ms. Starbanks, what happened?" Mariana sniffed and suddenly burst into very realistic sobs and covered her face with her hands.
"Turner- she- she said I don't belong in this class and I can't- can't do the work!" Mariana's voice rose and she buried her head in Quinn's shoulder, not to hide her tears, but the lack thereof. Quinn awkwardly patted her head. Snape had heard enough from his favorite student to deduct points.
"Ms. Turner, maybe I should have let Ms. Evans strangle you. 20 points from Gryffindor."
"But- but Professor-" the girl tried to protest.
"Silence, now into the room before the bell rings or more points will be lost from Gryffindor." Everyone scrambled into the room and into their seats, Mariana and Anj'la feeling comfortable enough in Snape's presence to sit in the front row. Everyone else in the class sat farther back.
"Now," Snape said, as soon as everyone settled. "We will begin with a review from last year. You must brew the draft from memory to warm up your skills… or let me know if you shouldn't have been placed in this class." At this, his lip sneered as he gazed at the Gryffindors. They cringed away, having already lost 20 points before class even started. He continued. "The draft you will be brewing is the Draught of Peace. Any ingredients you may need are on my desk. Begin."
Mariana and Anj'la both grinned. Although they had only done this one once, both had memorized the steps. Both started instantly. Anj'la lined up the ingredients in the order they were used as her water was boiling. In comparison, Mariana had dumped all her ingredients on her desk and was throwing them into her water as she chose, in a seemingly random pattern.
"Hmm… this one's pretty… What a gorgeous color…" She could be heard muttering.
About five minutes into the class, there was a loud explosion that blasted Mariana, Anj'la and Professor Snape, who happened to be behind them at the time, through the back wall. They were thrown through the class, upsetting tables that tipped over the cauldrons, causing more explosions. Anj'la slammed into the back wall, but not before her foot collided with Quinn's nose, making a sickening crunch.
"Oh my god- Quinn, are you alright?" Anj'la asked, pulling her body from the debris.
"I….Wing…." were the only words distinguishable as he tried to stop the flow of blood coming from his nose. Snape dismissed him with a curt nod.
"Mr. Thompson, you may go to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey will be able to patch you up."
"I'll go with him!" Anj'la said, but Snape declined the offer.
"No Ms. Evans, I believe we need you more here. We'll be working to fix this up. Mr. Thompson?" Snape pointed his wand at a chair, which started to float. Quinn sat down in it, and it whisked itself off to the Hospital Wing.
By the end of the period, Quinn had returned, fully healed and blood-free, and the classroom repaired. It was time for Snape to give out the points. He assigned everyone normal scores- until he got to Mariana.
"Eight out of ten, Ms. Starbanks." The classroom fell silent. The general question seemed to be, did Snape really just give Mariana Starbanks an eight out of ten? As Turner had pointed out earlier, Mariana ALWAYS got a nine out of ten for trying. It was unheard of for her to get less than that. Mariana's bottom lip quivered.
"But, Professor, I know the potion; I just have trouble brewing it!" Mariana then began to recite the potion from memory, including where you could get all of the ingredients for the potion. Snape smiled faintly.
"Very well, you obviously know the material, so nine out of ten," Snape concluded. The classroom then resumed its normal loudness of barely above a whisper. Snape was returning to his desk when the bell rang.
Outside in the hall, the others grouped around Rose.
"What class have we got next?" Anj'la asked.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Rose replied.
"With the old toad," Quinn said gloomily.
"But it is with Matt and Blaise," Mariana said happily.
"Yep, you're stuck with us," Blaise said from behind them. They turned around. Matt was looking sulkily at Blaise, who was leaning, relaxed, against a pillar. "Yup, you're stuck with us. DADA is in the same place," he added, jerking his thumb in the general direction of the classroom.
About 10.342 steps later, they were standing in front of Professor Umbridge's door. Anj'la was reaching for the handle when the door swung open. The eight Slytherins gave the person in the doorway a careful scrutiny, not bothering to hide that they clearly disapproved of her. She was about 4 feet 11 inches, and, even Lauren, who was the smallest, was taller than she was. She really did look like a toad.
"Oh, hello Mr. Zambini," she said in an unnaturally high voice.
"Hello Professor," Blaise said quietly.
"Mr. Zambini, your voice is deeper," Umbridge remarked.
"I KNOW!" he said loudly, and rushed into the classroom. Mariana followed him and gave him a hug. Rose bowed her head as she followed them in, trying hard not to laugh.
Inside the classroom, once the bell had rung, Umbridge sat down and cleared her throat with an annoying little cough. * Hem, Hem *
"Good Morning, class," she squawked. There were a few nods and waves from her class. "No, no, no, that won't do at all," said a shocked Umbridge. (T/N: do remember this is her first ever class) "When I say good morning class, you will say Good Morning Professor Umbridge. Let's try it again. Good Morning, Class."
"Good Morning Professor Umbridge," the class repeated dutifully, except for Blaise, who didn't say anything.
"Very good. Now, do all of you have your books?" Umbridge asked. The class nodded as one. "Fine, then. Wands away and I can take attendance." There was a small flurry of movement as people put their wands into book bags. Umbridge called out the Ravenclaw names, which were all responded to by, 'Here, Professor," by the studious Ravenclaws. However, when the Slytherin names were called out, few students responded to the call. The few that did responded simply with "Un-huh," or "Yeah," which Umbridge wisely ignored.
"Has anyone seen Misses and Misters Baker, Copperfield, Evans, Murphy, Starbanks, Starbanks, Thompson, and Zambini?" Umbridge asked. The eight mentioned all stood up and made very elaborate, mocking bows.
"I'm Anj'la Evans. Anj'la J. Evans," Anj'la said. There was a subtle warning undertone to these words that Umbridge seemed not to catch.
"Quinn Thompson."
"Rose Copperfield."
"Jovanna Baker."
"I'm Blaise Zambini, as you already know."
"We're the Starbanks, Matt and Mariana." The two said this in absolute unison, their eyes issuing a challenge to the professor.
"Why did you not answer when I called roll?" Umbridge asked, looking at the list to break eye contact with the two. They had eyes so light blue they seemed white, and it was very unnerving.
"We wanted to introduce ourselves- Specially," Anj'la said. The warning was so obvious this time even Umbridge could not deny it.
"That sounds like a threat to me, young lady," Umbridge said, standing up, which was no big action. If anything, it might have made her smaller. A Ravenclaw boy, Mark Randolph, raised his hand cautiously. Umbridge acknowledged him with a nod of her head. "Yes?"
"Miss? That wasn't a threat; that was a precautionary warning. Trust me. These Slytherins do not give what SOUND like threats. They give THREATS." Umbridge considered this for a moment.
"Detention!" She finally snapped. Mark gaped at her.
"Not you Mr. Randal."
"Randolph," corrected Mark. Umbridge waved it away.
"You eight, my office, tonight at six o'clock sharp." Another person raised his hand, but this was a fellow sixth year Slytherin.
"Miss, you might wish to find some other way to punish them. They have contests, complete with bets, to see who can get the most detentions in the year."
"I already have two," Blaise bragged. "This class and Thesel's class."
"Blaise, that's why you have the record," Anj'la reminded him. Blaise grinned and they gave each other high-fives.
"By the way, madam" Anj'la put no respect into the word, making it seem no better than a common cuss word. "Why are you giving us detention?"
"Why? Ms. Evans, I don't need a reason. I am a teacher."
"Then we are just going to be forced to go see Dumbledore about it," said Rose. "If you're just going to give us detention."
"Maybe you'd be deemed unfit to teach at Hogwarts. You're blatantly favoring the Ravenclaws over the Slytherins," Lauren said.
"Yes, and-" Anj'la never got the chance to finish her sentence.
"Sit down and be quiet, you stupid girl!" Umbridge screamed at her. Only Anj'la self-control kept her jaw from dropping. This- woman just called her a stupid girl. The eight of them sat down, all planning their revenge. (T/N: I think it should end here, but it won't) Umbridge seemed taken aback by them going along, but kept going.
"Take out your books and read chapter one in your books." Rose raised her hand, and Umbridge cautiously acknowledged her.
"Yes Ms. Copperfield?"
"We read it in the train. All eight of us." She waved her hands to encompass the eight who challenged Umbridge.
"Read chapter two then," Umbridge said through gritted teeth.
"We read that too. We read the whole book aloud and discussed it." Everyone gaped. One would expect this from Ravenclaws, not respectable rule-breaking Slytherins. Rose shrugged. "What can I say? We were bored- VERY bored."
"I did not expect this of you. Ravenclaws, or maybe Hufflepuffs-" there was a cough from Quinn that sounded a lot like * pushovers * "But not Slytherins," she finished, confused.
"As you will soon learn, we are not normal Slytherins," Mariana said, flashing a grin at Anj'la.
"You got that right," a Slytherin boy by the name of Joe Cornwallis muttered, a grin on his strong features. Anj'la shot a jet of gold light at him, which hit him square in the chest. He was hurled across the room, hitting the black board with a loud *thud* and sticking there. By the time people looked at Anj'la, her wand was back in her bag and she was grinning.
"I said, wands AWAY, Ms. Evans," Umbridge said sweetly. "And please do unstick Mr. Cornwallis."
"But Professor, you said wands away," Anj'la countered.
"Then tell me the counter curse," Umbridge suggested. Anj'la told her.
"Fist Medilcum," Anj'la said. Her seven friends glared at her.
"Anj'la, I can't believe you told!" hissed Mariana. The others sent looks of disgust at Anj'la before turning away with a wink.
"Fist Medilcum," Umbridge said. Everyone in the classroom, Umbridge included, floated up to the ceiling. Eight very special Slytherins rolled in the air, laughing so hard they were almost crying. Umbridge, on the other hand, was not amused.
"Put me down!" she screeched, as her head bumped against the ceiling. "I'll give you to the count of ten to release everyone! ONE! TWO!"
"Four! Five! Seven! Nine! Ten!" yelled Quinn happily.
"Someone failed pre-school," Jim Ryly, Isabel the prefect's little brother, muttered. For some strange, unexplainable reason, Quinn had indeed failed pre-school. Unfortunately, for Jim, he was also very sensitive about it.
"Rehillamorah!" Quinn shouted, flinging out his hand to point at Jim. A jet of light flew from his extended hand and formed two 'hands' which tossed Jim Ryly from one side of the room to the other. This went on for a few minutes before Quinn grew tired and the hands dropped him. Jim landed on Umbridge's desk, shattering it. Papers and ribbons flew everywhere.
"QUINN! What was THAT?" Mariana and Matt screamed, in prefect unison.
"You can do wandless magic?" Anj'la asked.
"Always have been able to do it," Quinn muttered. Many students gave him frightened looks, which Quinn ignored. He waved his hand and muttered, "Fist Muclidem." Everyone slowly floated down. The last student was just touching the floor when the bell rang. The eight grabbed their bags and ran out of class.
"I guess you always learn something new," Rose said as they walked down the corridor. The rest of the day went without any more major incidents. News of Quinn's wandless magic spread throughout the school like wildfire. It's impossible to keep secrets at Hogwarts for long.
"It's no big deal, Quinn," Anj'la said as a Ravenclaw second year ran out of his way. "Not to us, anyway," she added, sneering at the Ravenclaw.
T/N: aren't you all proud of me? I got it up! I will try to get the next one up. If you want me to send you an email that says when I put a new chapter up, send ME an email at the address at the top. Make sure you put your email address in it.
MKN: Sorry about the name thing. Is the FBI after you too? That always puts me in a bad mood, Grassfairy. Is that better?
Zmedlebum- Yeah, it's pronounced Angela, just an exotic spelling.