Chapter 7
LB
The next morning, I was dressed in the normal uniform of Hogwarts, my robes accentuated with red and the Gryffindor crest. I fidgeted with my tie for over ten minutes, before Remus came in to help me, a grin plastered on his face as he tied it for me. I wasn't used to a short skirt, so I was tugging it absentmindedly all the way to the great hall.
Now I was leaning against the head table talking to Remus and getting to know Professor McGonagall who sat next to my uncle. The transfiguration professor looked uneasy for the first five minutes, until we started talking about her subject and my former grades and accomplishments in it. I was just telling about my first class of transfiguration at Beauxbatons that went horribly wrong, making the two professors laugh so loudly the students all look at us in curiosity. That's when someone called my name.
"Alec!" I turned to look who called for me and saw Angelina waving excitedly at me.
"Go on, we'll talk later." Remus smiled.
"I'll be there in a moment with your timetables." Professor McGonagall smiled. I smiled at the both of them before I walked over to the two girls.
"Good morning." I said as I sat down across from them and put my hair in a high bun.
"Morning!" Angelina said excitedly. "We were wondering if you wanted to come back to the common room later."
"Yeah, I would like that." I said as I poured myself a glass of pumpkin juice. "Hello again, professor." I said after I swallowed my drink.
"Morning girls, and boys." The professor added when Lee and the twins walked up. "Mister Weasleys tuck in your shirt and straighten your ties, you won't be welcome in my class like that." Angelina, Alicia and I shared a look and snickered as the twins did as they were told before sitting down next to me. "Well, that's better, isn't it?"
I heard the twins grumble and pursed my lips together trying to hold in my laugh, and I saw the girls and Lee doing the same.
"Here are all of your timetables." She said choosing the rights ones and passing them out. "You all have potions in half an hour."
They all nodded politely as they looked from the professor to the timetable in their hands and the professor walked to the next students coming in.
"Double potions this early in the morning." Lee groaned, placing his head on the desk, and the others all had the same look.
"Snape is the worst. He hates Gryffindors." Alicia explained.
"Yeah, heard about that." I glanced at the head table and saw Snape glare at Remus. "He was in the same year as Mo- Professor Lupin."
"That must've been fun." Angelina scrunched up her nose.
"They were not exactly friends." I said looking back at the girls in front of me. I knew, of course, what had happened between Remus, his friends and Snape and it wasn't pretty. Remus had warned me this morning too, that he'll probably take it out on me. But I was ready, not only was I brilliant in potions, but I also had a plan. "I'm off at two today, what about you?" I asked Angelina and Alicia.
"Not until four. We have care of magical creatures with Hagrid then."
"We're free at the same time." The twin, I thought Fred, said.
"Well, Angelina and Alicia invited me to the common room."
"No one needs to invite you, you know." Lee said as he leaned forward to look past the twins.
"I know, but I don't know where it is, remember?" I said with a smile.
"Right, forgot about that." He grinned sheepishly.
"We can escort you there." George offered looking at me from behind Fred.
"Don't worry." Angelina said. "We'll be there soon, you don't have to get stuck with those two for too long."
"Oi!" The twins yelled and the others, including me laughed.
"Alright, I think it couldn't hurt." I shrugged with a grin.
"We better get going, Snape already left." Lee pointed out and we quickly stood up and walked out of the great hall.
LB
When we arrived at the dungeons, the professor wasn't there yet as the door was locked. The twins leaned against the wall, Lee standing slightly on Fred's left and the girls in front of them.
"Blood traitor." I heard someone hiss behind us and the girls all turned in a hurry.
"And who might you be talking to?" I asked with a snare.
"You, the Weasleys. Doesn't really matter, does it? You all are." The Slytherin boy spit out. I looked over my shoulder and saw the twins' fury, their faces turning red. Lee looked worried between the Slytherin boy and his friends.
"Hm." I hummed looking back. "What's your name?"
"I don't need to-"
"What's your name?" I said with a stern voice, that made the girls look at me with raised eyebrows. Their eyes turning even bigger as the boy answered.
"Vanity, Lowell Vanity."
"Family of Emma Vanity?"
The boy nodded dumbly. "That's my mum."
I pulled back the grin that wanted to escape and answered. "You know that her father was a muggle born?"
"Wh- what?!" The boy sneered but looked confused and frightened.
"Oh, yes. He was killed in the last war, probably due to his background. I have a feeling that your family kept it a tight secret and decided to continue with Vanity name instead of Dollor."
"You're lying!"
"I am certainly not, Lowell. You can even check it out in the library."
"You-!" Lowell charged forward and the twins had pushed me back in an instant and jumped in front of me.
"What's going on here?" A new voice said in a bored voice next to us. We all turned to see Professor Snape looking at the group.
"Just waiting for you, professor." I jumped in before the twins or Lowell said anything. Snape's eyes flickered to me and stayed there for a moment.
"Everyone inside." He snarled as he opened the door with a wave of his hand, only then he looked away. It wasn't that he tried to enter my mind, but he was looking for something. I followed the Gryffindors and Slytherins inside and chose to sit down next to Lee. "Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at your OWL's, The Draught of Peace. Can someone tell me what this is for?"
My hand shot up in the air, together with one of Slytherin. And to no one's surprised he chose the Slytherin to answer.
"Thank you, sir." The girl answered. Suck up. Lee whispered next to me with a wink. "It's to calm anxiety and agitation."
"Indeed. What happens if you brew it incorrectly?"
My hand went up in the air again, but now I was the only one and Snape reluctantly waved his hand towards me to continue.
"If you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy sleep. It can sometimes even be irreversible."
"Correct." He said briskly and turned to the board and the instructions appeared on it. "Well, we don't have all day." He sneered as he sat down at his desk. Everyone got up quickly and made their way to the cupboard to gather ingredients.
We were at it for a little over an hour by now, and I was almost done. My textbook and the instructions on the board said I had to stir clockwise four times, but I did it five times. The professor was next to me in an instant, the movement made the other students look up.
"Why did you stir the potion five times, miss Lupin?"
"It's Lupin-Black, sir." I directed my gaze at him and added my three spoons powdered moonstone in it, without looking at the potion.
"So, I've gathered." He said through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing. I added the powdered porcupine quills in it without breaking eye contact and stirred the potion. "So, why did you stir the potion five times instead of four, miss Lupin-Black."
"Well, professor." I answered, lowering the heat underneath the cauldron. "I've made this potion before."
"You have?" Lee asked surprised, but shut his mouth when Snape glared at him.
"I have." I said as I took the pipette from my desk and squeezed the tube seven times, letting exactly seven drops of hellebore fall into my cauldron. "And now it's perfect." I tore my eyes away from the professor and looked to my cauldron, my potion perfect white as it should be.
"Perfect? If you're so sure of yourself, you can drink it."
"Professor, you can't-" Angelina said outraged but closed her mouth as Snape's head snapped to her.
"Who's the professor in the classroom, miss Johnson? I thought so." He said when she didn't answer. "So?"
"Happy to, sir." I put out the fire and put a cooling charm on it.
"Alec." The twins whispered from behind me, their eyes wide. I just smiled and took a ladle before tasting my potion. It tasted like the ones I made before, like the ones I took when I was younger. I glanced at the twins in the corner of my eyes and pretended to faint. The boys, Angelina and Alicia jumped up, as Lee's hands tried to catch her.
"I'm just joking." I chuckled as I straightened myself. I heard the Gryffindors blow out a breath of relief, while the Slytherins looked disappointed that I didn't fall unconscious. I looked back at the professor in front of me. "If you had read the letters my guardian had sent you this summer, you would've known that I studied under Lore Peeters, thé potion master of Europe, for the last two years and you would know that the classes in Beauxbatons are different than the ones here. From what Remus has told me; I would be in seventh year class at Hogwarts." I took a binder from my bag and gave it to a stunned Snape, who tried to hide it from the others, but I caught it. Snape snagged it out of my hand and walked back to his desk.
"Five points from Gryffindor for insubordination." He said sitting down, the Gryffindors groaned.
After we cleaned up our stations, I followed the rest out of the classroom. When I walked past the professor, he said without looking up. "I'll review this, miss Lupin-Black."
"Thank you, professor." I said sincerely. The professor looked up for a moment. I opened my mind to show it, as I figured out quickly, he's a legilimens. When he found what he was looking for, he looked back down to his papers.
"Welcome to our home away from home." George said as he spread his arms as we climbed through the portrait hole. I had seen pictures of the Gryffindor common room of course but being here was an entirely different feeling. I recognized the couch in front of the fire from the picture of Remus, Sirius, James and Peter. I recognized the corner where Remus always did his homework. George was right, it was home away from home.
"So, what do you think?" Fred asked stepping on my other side.
"Brilliant!" I beamed at the twins.
"Come on." He took my elbow and dragged me to the couch. He put me in the middle of the couch, while they sat on either side of me, sitting against the edge, facing me.
"What about -"
"Twenty questions?"
"Sure." I kicked of my shoes and sat cross-legged on the burgundy couch. "If it goes both ways." The twins nodded with a grin. "And twenty questions each, not ten-ten."
The twins pouted a little, as I figured out they were playing just so. "Fine. We'll act like real gentleman." George said.
"It was time really, -" He chuckled. "- so, you can go first." Fred's grin back in place.
"Alright. How many siblings do you have. I've met Percy." I asked Fred.
"Six. Five brothers, one sister. Bill, Charlie." He started counting on his fingers. "Percy, me, George, Ron and Ginny."
"Poor Ginny." I chuckled, thinking about being the only girl. "All Gryffindors?" I turned to George.
"Yes, parents too. Our uncles were Gryffindors, grandparents too. We have an uncle that was in Hufflepuff though."
"Oh, and great-aunt Bessie was in Ravenclaw." Fred pointed out. "Our turn. Why were you hiding that pretty face of yours on the train?"
I rolled my eyes at the not too subtle compliment. "I wasn't in the mood to explain who I was to everyone I met on the train."
"I can understand that; we were pretty curious too."
"Really? I had no idea." I chuckled lightly.
"Where did you go after bumping into us?" George asked.
"I went to sit with Oscar."
"Oscar?" The twins chorused.
"Yeah, the train driver. He's a family friend."
"You're getting more interesting by the minute." George's eyes twinkled.
"Believe me, once you know me, I won't be as interesting at all."
"I highly doubt it." I glanced to Fred, who had the same twinkle in his eyes.
"My turn." I cleared my throat. "What have you two been smuggling in your pockets today?"
"Oh, you noticed that, did you?" The twinkle even more evident in Fred's eyes. He glanced over to his twin with a grin before they pulled out small candies from the pockets. "We make them ourselves."
"Candies?"
"Not just candies." George said holding out a pink and green one. "One side makes you puke, the other side stops it."
"I'm confused. Why would you make something like that?" I asked looking at the candy before my eyes darted to George.
"That's your second question then? Okay, we're planning to open our own shop, a joke shop."
"Like Tom's Grappen."
"Tom's what?"
"It's a joke shop in Belgium." I waved my hand a little. "It's absolutely brilliant there."
"Ours will be better."
"Well, if you can make something like this at your age, I don't doubt it." I said giving the candy back and the twins beamed at me.
"I thought you lived in France?" George asked, stuffing the candies back in his pocket.
"No, I mean yes." I shook my head trying to find the right words. "I was born in Ireland and lived there with my mum for four years. Then Remus and I moved to Belgium, we stayed there for another four years. Then three years in France and a few months before my eleventh birthday we moved back to Belgium. Beauxbatons accepts students from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal."
"Wow." The boys gasped.
"Yeah, so the school is at least three times as big as Hogwarts."
"How does it work with the language barrier?" Fred asked.
"There are French classes you can take. But there is also a spell that translates for you, so that's one of the first spells that is being taught at the school. I speak English and Dutch fluently and a little French, so I could talk to most of them and otherwise I had the spell."
"Didn't know there was a spell for that." Fred frowned as he racked his brain.
"The previous headmistress there, the great-grandmother of Miss Maxime invented the spell and it mostly used there and in Durmstrang."
"Wicked." They chorused. We continued the questions and were way past the twenty when Lee and the girls climbed through the portrait and joined us at the fire.
LB
Since it's my birthday, I'm going to update all three of my current stories! Hope you enjoy!