Chapter 6: Winter and Water

"Gryffindor!" burst the Sorting Hat. There was a loud cheer coming from the Gryffindor table. Janieve stood up, smiled weakly at a cheering Harry, and walked unsteadily to the Gryffindor table. She took a seat beside him.

The sorting continued with three more first years before it was over. Dumbledore stood up and addressed the students. Immediately, the buzzing Great Hall fell silent.

"Good evening, residents of Hogwarts," came Dumbledore's sombre voice, "before we start our feast, I would like to inform you that there will be a few minor alterations to the school rules, due to the return of you-know-who. Those could be found on the notice board outside Mr. Filch's office. For the benefits of the first years and the new students, I would like to repeat and stress that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds." At this, Dumbledore cast a meaningful look in Harry's direction. "I know it is a difficult time for most of us, with the rise of the Dark Lord. Many of you who came from long-standing Wizarding family would know of the terror that he-who-must-not-be-named would instil among us. It is also only natural that those who came from muggle families would fear for the safety of yourself and your family. If anyone should find themselves on the verge of a breakdown, please feel the need to consult help from any of our friendly professors, including me. Lastly, I would like to introduce to you our new Potions teacher, Miss Florence Winter. The position of the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts would be taken over by your previous Potions teacher, Mr. Severus Snape. Now, shall we let the feast begin?" With a wave of his wand, all sorts of delicacies appeared on the table in front of Janieve.

"Wow…" she mumbled in awe. If she had thought Mrs. Weasley was a great cook, it was nothing compared to this. Ron, Hermione and Harry, however, did not seem too please despite the food.

"I can't believe it!" cried Ron. "How could he let Snape be our Defence teacher? He'll more likely teach us how to use the Dark Arts than to defend it."

"Well, I wouldn't mind learning that," said Harry gloomily, "I would like to try the Avada Kedavra on Voldermort."

Ron winced and Hermione gave Harry a reproachful look. "Look, Snape's not that bad. If Dumbledore thinks Snape is up to the job, then he most probably is," she said.

"Well perhaps Dumbledore simply could not find a replacement. I mean, how many of our Defence teacher actually lasted more than a year? That position is jinxed," Ron argued. Then, his face lit up and he added in a more hopeful tone, "actually that wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Janieve, puzzled. Harry began to fill her in on the five different Professors that had taught them Dark Arts and why they had not lasted. He also told her about the vendetta he had with Snape (excluding the one about Harry's father taunting Snape when they were fifteen) and ended it by telling her what a slimy git Snape is.

"Snape is not a slimy git!" Hermione protested, though quite unconvincingly.

"Wait! Are you telling me… that Lupin is a werewolf?" Janieve blurted, feeling quite taken aback by this revelation.

"Didn't you know?" Harry asked. Janieve shook her head.

"Well, it doesn't matter. He's still the best Defence teacher we've ever got," stated Harry.

Janieve had always thought Remus Lupin looked rather peaky, but she would never have imagined that he was actually a werewolf. She did not even know that werewolves actually existed before this. This new world that Janieve suddenly found her in was getting more and more tricky. She only prayed that she would not suffer from a heart attack before the end of this school year.

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"Double Potions and double Transfiguration… Great, just great… The dungeon first thing in the morning," muttered Ron, his eyes scanning the newly issued timetable. It was the first morning of school and most of the students were having their breakfast in the Great Hall.

"Honestly Ron, it's not that bad," chided Hermione, "at least you know you can breathe easy in Potions now."

"The smelly dungeon?" yelled Ron. "No way!"

"You know what I mean," she replied sternly.

"Hold your breath Hermione," said Harry, "we don't know that for sure."

Meanwhile, Neville was making some sort of odd noise at the other end of the Gryffindor table, his voice drifted over to where Harry was seated. "I can't believe I dropped Potions for nothing," he said miserably.

It was open knowledge that Snape picked on Neville nearly all the time in his Potions class and that Neville's fear for him was enough to make him drop the subject despite its importance – something that Hermione always stressed on.

"I can't believe you dropped potions," said Hermione disapprovingly, "it's one of the most important subjects in Magic."

"Well, if I had known Snape wasn't going to teach us Potions, I wouldn't have dropped it," said Neville hoarsely.

Harry turned to look at Janieve. She was playing with her bowl of cereal with a spoon, her mind clearly somewhere else.

"What's up?" Harry asked, concerned.

"Nothing really. It's just…" she said, then continued in a confidential whisper, "I've never taken these subjects before, I'm not sure if I can cope. I don't even know what the hell Potions is about."

"Well…" said Harry, thinking hard, "Potions is something like Muggles' Chemistry. It involves adding and mixing different ingredients to brew something really useful. It's really fun, or at least I imagined it to be without Snape barking at you from behind."

Janieve looked a lot more relieved after that. They headed down to Snape's dungeon out of habit after breakfast but were shooed away by Snape.

"Potions is with Professor Winter," he snarled, "her classroom is beside Professor Binn's."

"Does that mean that we're going to have our Defence class in that creepy dungeon?" Ron had asked fearfully after that. Nobody answered him but from the look on everyone's face, Harry knew Ron had got the point.

They piled into Professor Winter's classroom. It was a major contrast to Snape's dungeon. There was a pleasant smell of morning dew and the room was brightly lit. There was a ceiling to floor cabinet behind their new Potion Master's desk, its shelves filled up by colourful assortment of potions in small conical flask.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Janieve took their seats behind one of the benches, a pile of ingredients laid out in front each of them. Harry recognised some of the ingredients to be garlic, leeches, and the skin of a Boomslang.

"I took the liberty of preparing your ingredients for you," began Professor Winter. "Now, can anyone tell me from the looks of it, what Potion do I want you to make today?"

Hermione's hand shot up in the air immediately.

"Very good," said Professor Winter, "your name?"

"Hermione Granger. We are making Anti-Turning Potions. It is to prevent victims of a vampire bite from turning into one," Hermione said confidently.

"Well done," said Professor Winter, "Ten points to Gryffindor. Very good indeed. Miss Granger that is? I am impressed." Hermione tried vainly not to look too pleased with herself. "Just follow the steps I've written on the board," she told the class while waving her wand at the white board behind her, and words began scribbling furiously on it, "I want your potions ready by the end of this class. Queries on class-related topics would be welcome."

A loud snicker came from the Slytherin side and Harry saw that it came from Draco Malfoy. "Please, professor," he said in a condescending voice, "it's not like those vile creatures are actually capable of attacking us."

Professor Winter looked up from her table and fixed Malfoy with a penetrating gaze. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Draco Malfoy," he said smugly.

"Are you sure Mr. Malfoy? Perhaps you've already been bitten without realising, with that sickly white skin of yours," she said in a low but menacing voice. Then, she added coolly, "Ten points from Slytherin for disrupting the class."

And that shut Malfoy up for good. Harry took a liking to this woman already. Although the way she handled the situation was uncannily like their previous Potion teacher, Severus Snape, the fact that the receiver of the insult was not Harry but Harry's archenemy Draco Malfoy brought a smile to Harry's lips.

Janieve was having a lot of trouble recognising the ingredients and dealing with the leeches, having not handled any before. Harry had to struggle with his own cauldron of mixtures, while assisting Janieve with hers. However, they managed to fill up their transparent flask with a satisfactory yellow liquid before the end of the bell.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Harry asked Janieve, as they thronged out of the classroom.

Janieve shook her head. "Yeah, it wasn't so bad," she confirmed and gaze up at Harry with a smile that made his insides squirm.

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Harry, Janieve, Ron and Hermione grabbed some ham and chicken legs and walked out to the lake outside the castle seeing that it was such a good weather day. They sat down behind one of the bushes and tucked into their lunch.

Janieve was brandishing off her last piece of chicken leg when she noticed something peculiar moving in the lake. "D'ya see that?" she asked alarmingly. The movement was sudden but it was unmistakeable. The water had swirled up into an odd shape of a claw. Harry, Ron and Hermione followed her pointing finger. The shape was gone.

"What? I don't see anything," said Ron anxiously. Janieve looked at Harry and Hermione.

"Me neither," said Harry.

"What was it? What did you see?" Hermione asked.