BITTERSWEET
Chapter 10: Potions Class
September 1976
"Okay, now, you just need to remember that although the potions master can be sort of menacing, he's really a nice man once you get to know him," said Lily.
Sirius snorted. "Don't listen to her," he advised Hermione. "She's biased. She seems to take a special liking to any teacher that isn't an idiot. Professor Rathurius is extremely strict and seems to hate anyone who isn't a Slytherin, but he does know his stuff. He hates us Marauders, though, and I couldn't stand to be in a class for anymore years with someone who dislikes me just because I've pranked him once or twice, so I dropped it."
James smirked. "To hear Rathurius tell it, we're uneducated muggles undermining the hope for the future of the wizarding world. He's just jealous that none of his precious Slytherins have turned out to be so brilliant in the ways of pranks."
He ran a hand through his hair to rumple it up. "And that Snivellus is the only Slytherin that can hope to complete the potions properly, while many of the Gryffindors do," he added as an afterthought.
Hermione ventured a glance over at Lily. She made a mental note to thank her later, for not putting up a fuss when Hermione wanted to walk with the boys. Lily was still staying as far away from James as she could, but something about the friendship Hermione was developing with both the Marauders and Lily seemed to be bringing the two a little closer together.
Lily was finding that she didn't mind the boys as much as she'd originally thought, especially when she discovered that Remus enjoyed their classes almost as much as she did. Hermione, for her part, had been friends with Harry and Ron for so long that it was second nature for her to want to spend time with the guys of this generation.
"And this is where our paths shall diverge," said Sirius as he came to a stop in front of a door Hermione knew all too well.
"What are you going to do for the next hour or so?" Hermione asked curiously.
He winked at her. "I'm sure I can find something to amuse me." Sirius frowned. "I may try to find out where Peter has been these last few days."
"Hey, yeah," James said. "He's usually tagging along with us most of the time."
Hermione made sure to keep her voice carefully neutral. "Peter?" she asked. "I don't think I've met him yet."
"You will soon enough," said Remus. "Maybe he has some things to take care of." He shrugged. "Oh, well. We need to concentrate on potions now."
"Yes," said Lily impatiently. She looked visibly fed up with the wait. "We need to get inside before Professor Rathurius marks us late."
Sirius saluted them then turned and walked back down the corridor. The remaining four looked at each other. "Good luck, Hermione," Lily said.
As they walked into the potions classroom, Hermione was amused to see that nothing had changed from the one she was used to. James gave Lily a hopeful glance, but her returning glare told him that she was sticking by her original statement that she would rather go out with the Giant Squid than have anything to do with him, including partnering with him during class.
James shrugged, and plopped down in the nearest chair. He motioned Hermione to the seat next to him. Surveying the room and seeing that Remus and Lily were preparing to sit next to each other, Hermione took the seat next to James.
Before either one of them could say anything, the door slammed shut and a tall man strode to the front. "So," he said. "You are the few students from the sixth year that have chosen to continue your education in potions. Let me warn you, if your work this year is not up to standard, then I have no qualms about dismissing you for my class next year. This is an advanced level, NEWT preparation course and anyone desiring to waste time rather than learn will be severely punished." His eyes traveled over the room before coming to rest on James.
"I will have no tolerance for those aiming to turn my class into a circus," he continued. "For the first time, all of the houses will be combined into one class, as the number of students up to par is minimal." He paused. "We will start our year with a befuddlement potion. Take care not to breath in the fumes as you are working, or it will turn into a hopeless disaster. The directions are posted up front. Begin." With a flick of his wand ingredients appeared on all desks.
Hermione took care to make sure her potion was perfect, as usual. This was a new teacher she needed to impress, and did not want to get off on the wrong foot. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that while James displayed no visible effort, his potion was turning out exactly as it should.
As the period neared the end to read over the instructions one last time, and stirred her potions thrice clockwise. It turned a pale shade of lavender, and glancing around the room she saw that most of the others had managed to produce potions that were some shade of purple.
Professor Rathurius was pacing the room, peering over the students' shoulders at their finished products. He passed Hermione and James with nothing to say, which Hermione took as a good sign after studying so long under Snape.
He stopped behind a cute, pixie-like Ravenclaw. "Miss Courchesne, what is this?" he asked.
She turned to face him. "It's--it's my befuddlement potion, sir," she stuttered, fear entering her warm brown eyes.
"I don't think so," the professor responded. "This potion wouldn't confuse a fly. Take a look around the room. Do you see any other potions that are blue?"
"Um, no, sir," she said quietly.
"That's what I thought. If you cannot manage to even follow simple directions, then there is no hope for you. I expect six inches by tomorrow on where exactly you went wrong and what effect that had on your sad excuse for a potion."
He strode to the front of the class. "The rest of you, bottle up and place your samples on my desk. For homework, do two feet on the properties of dragon scales in potion making and explain why this is a crucial ingredient in the befuddlement potion."
A collective groan went up, and the professor's eyes narrowed. "Do you want me to make it three?" he snapped. The class quieted and went to work cleaning up.
Hermione bottled up a portion of her potion and expertly vanished the rest. She placed her work on the professor's desk and looked at the rest of the potions. About a third of them were identical to her own. The rest were varying shades of violet, from near white to a dark mauve. Hermione thought it was quite unfair for the professor to single the Ravenclaw out, for while her potion was the only one not purple, it was at least the correct shade, instead of being too dark or too light as many of the others were.
She walked over to where the girl was packing up her items. "Hey," said Hermione. "Don't worry about it. I don't know what his problem is, but you're a lot smarter than he made you out to be. Just make a really great potion next class and show him what you can do."
The Ravenclaw looked up at her and managed a smile. "Thanks," she said. "I think he's just annoyed that my sister beat out Narcissa Black for the position of Head Girl."
"And he's taking it out on you? That's not fair."
She shrugged. "It's not like there's really anything I can do about it. By the way, my name's Apolla."
"Nice to meet you, Apolla," said Hermione. "I'm Hermione Gr-- er, Mandelin."
Apolla grinned. "I know. Everybody's talking about you."
"Really?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, it's extremely rare for someone to transfer here." She giggled. "Everyone's trying to figure out whether you're nice, or a snob, or what, since no one really knows anything about you."
Hermione laughed. "Well, I hope I don't come across as a snob."
"Don't worry, I think you're fine," Apolla said. She glanced around, then lowered her voice. "Actually," she whispered, "a lot of the guys want to get to know you better, if you know what I mean." She playfully winked at Hermione.
Hermione looked semi-surprised, then a little confused. "If they want to get to know me better, then why has no one come up to talk to me?" she asked.
Apolla rolled her eyes. "Because of Sirius," she explained patiently. "He's already sort of claimed you. There is something between you guys, isn't there?"
Hermione blushed as she responded. "I don't know. I mean, he's cute and everything, but sometimes it seems like he likes me, and sometimes it doesn't."
"That's Sirius for you," said Apolla. "He's a player, but a downright handsome one. Seriously, I'd love it if he paid me as much attention as he's giving you, and I'm sure many of the other girls would agree with me. Just a warning: he moves on quickly, but wow, from what I've heard he is more than worth it."
"I don't want to be 'just another girl' to him, though," Hermione said.
"That's your choice, but if I were you, I'd enjoy it while you can." She looked down at her watch. "Hey, I've got to go, but it was nice meeting you! Maybe we can partner next time." Apolla picked up her things and walked out of the room.
Hermione followed, slower. Why does every new meeting with someone turn into a discussion about how lucky I should be that Sirius seems to like me? she wondered. Am I missing something? Or is Sirius not just a major flirt who would drop me the first instant another beautiful girl walked by him? Maybe I should just have fun. After all, if things don't work out, from what Apolla said there are plenty more guys who would love to hang out with me.
She grinned inwardly. Wow. I go back in time and suddenly all I can think about are boys. She mentally shook her head. I've got to find something else to focus my attention on. But maybe I should give Sirius a try. He seems to like me, and he's really nice. Why not?
Because he doesn't really care about me. He just sees me as another notch on his bedpost, she answered herself. He may be good-looking, but it takes a lot more than that for anyone to win my heart, and if he really wants to get to know me, he's going about it all in the wrong way. He has such a big ego, I'm sure he hasn't even thought of the possibility that someone won't want to sleep with him. I wish there was some way I could show him that I'm not like the girls of this time, because I'm not. Aside from Lily, they're all ready to fling themselves at the first guy that shows any interest in them. And I'm not like that.
Hermione grabbed her belongings, refusing to think about it any more, and hurried out of the room to find the other Gryffindors waiting for her.
"There you are!" Lily exclaimed. "I'm starving. C'mon, let's go to lunch." She grabbed Hermione's wrist and half-dragged her down the hallway, leaving James and Remus to catch up.
Part of the way there they ran into Sirius surrounded by a group of giggling girls and one short, slightly plump boy. He saw his friends coming and nodded to them. "Sorry, ladies," he said, smirking, to the girls around him. "Can't spend anymore time here with you. Run along." They eagerly followed his orders, each glancing back at him a few times before turning out of view.
Sirius flashed a dazzling smile at Hermione as she walked up to him. "And how are you doing on this fine afternoon?" he asked.
"Potions," Remus answered for her. "Need we say more?"
Sirius mockingly shook his head. "You are going to come to me, and beg me to tell you how I got to be so smart. I kept telling you that potions was a killer, but did you listen to me? No. You have no one to blame but yourselves for any misery inflicted by Rathurius."
"You found Peter!" James said, just now noticing the quiet boy.
"Yea," said Sirius with a glance over his shoulder to where Peter was standing. "Had something to do in the library, he said. Ran into him on my way back from the kitchens for a snack."
"Speaking of snacks," Remus interjected, "It's lunchtime. We're standing in front of the Great Hall. We can finish this fascinating conversation as we eat."
"Point taken," Sirius said. "I forgot that all of you were suffering at the hands of that madman while I was busy enjoying life." He smirked at them, then held open the door to the Great Hall.
"Ladies first," he said, winking at Hermione. "Or should I say, beautiful females such as yourself first?" He gave her what might be considered a leer if it were done by anyone but him.
Hermione smiled sweetly at Sirius. "Thank you ever so much. Now is this just part of your goal to get me between your sheets? Or would you even be doing this if you didn't think you could get something from me?" She grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her into the Great Hall, leaving a very stunned Sirius and three snickering boys behind.
