"The Porcelain Doll"
Hermione entered the cold, dark, classroom. She could see Harry at the back of the room, slumped down in his chair. He was hidden behind a stack of books, and his almond shaped, bright, emerald, eyes seemed darker than usual as he had his bout of fun by glaring daggers at his arch-nemesis. Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, was calm and relaxed by his cauldron. His shiny, blond, hair was slicked back as usual, and his robes were casually flung open as he sat "ghetto style". His feet were nonchalantly placed one in the aisle and one under his desk. He was hunched over with his arms in a random spot in front of him. Hermione rolled her eyes as she breezed past the blond Slytherin and made her way back to the empty seat at Harry's desk. It was almost the moment that she had sat down that Professor Snape, their greasy haired professor, had entered the room.
"Welcome to Advanced Potions. I expect nothing but expertise in this area this year. You will focus on your potions like they were a little baby in distress. You will not be working in pairs this year, you will be working alone. This year I expect you to be a little better than you have in the past." The menacing professor said the last line, with a meaningful look at Harry. The Slytherins in the class noticed, and laughed openly. Every Gryffindor was silent. Not to say there were many Gryffindors to begin with. Only four in fact. "Today you students are making the antidote to a particularly nasty bug bite. I expect a flask full on my desk by the end of the period. The ingredients and directions are on my board. Begin."
The classroom instantly busied with people bustling back and forth between the ingredient cabinet and their work stations. Hermione scribbled down each ingredient on her pad of paper.
1. Peppered Newts Tongue (2)
2. Beetle Eyes (10)
3. Human Sweat (1 droplet)
4.Spider Legs (8)
5. Ginger Root (1 Root)
Hermione nodded her head and stood to go over to the now empty of students closet of supplies. She walked across the room with her thick pad of yellowing paper in one hand and a blue, feathery, quill in the other. When she reached the oak doors of the closet she stepped in, breathing in the smell of an mini apothecary. One by one she found the ingredients: Two Peppered Newts Tongues from the basket on the second shelf, the ten, itty-bitty, black, beetle eyes from the drawer on the left, the droplet of Human Sweat from the bottle on the bottom shelf, The dead spider from the collection in the jar on the floor, and the single ginger root from the dark green basket on the middle shelf. When she was satisfied with what she had, she made her way back to the desk.
She took her seat and immediately looked at the directions on the board.
1. Remove the legs from the spider. There should be 8. Mix them and the beetle eyes in boiling water, let sit for two minutes.
Hermione grimaced at the dead spider in front of her. She gently plucked the legs from the little circular body and then tossed them quickly into the boiling cauldron in front of her. She then took the handful of beetle eyes and let them fall into the water. She gently stirred the beginning of the potion and let it sit for the required two-ever so long- minutes.
2. Chop the root into 10 even pieces. Add five now, let sit for two minutes.
The brunette girl, hard at work, chopped the root quickly and expertly. She added the five and watch them sizzle immediately. Glancing at her book, she saw that this was a good sign. She sighed in relief and then read the next direction through the next two minutes.
3. Add the Peppered Newts' Tongues and the remaining pieces of root. Stir evenly and let sit for 5 minutes.
Hermione added the ingredients and stirred it until it was smooth and even. It smelled awful, but looked the perfect color. It was a crimson red with bits of dark silver mixed in. Finally, after the even longer than usual 5 minutes was up, Hermione read the final instruction:
4. Pour droplet of Human Sweat into potion. Stir counter clockwise 10 times. Bottle Potion.
Hermione picked up the eyedropper and let the bit of human sweat plop into the potion. It instantly turned a solid gray, and Hermione knew it was correct. She stirred it counter clockwise all ten times and was satisfied. She bottled the potion in a fashion of expertise and proudly walked it to the front of the room. As usual she was done first, with the great Draco Malfoy not far behind. She signed her name on the fiery-orange flask and handed it in. She made her way back to her seat, where Harry was vigorously stirring the potion.
'1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11...' Hermione counted in her head, shaking her head sadly when he finished after stirring it 15 times. She watched him frown at the green concoction as she poured out the rest of her potion (After bottling some for herself. You never know when it can come in handy!) And sponged up her desk area. The stone desk ate up the water as quickly as it was given it. She rinsed the sponge and put it in it's drawer and then packed up her books. There was two minutes left in the period and Hermione couldn't wait to get to her next class. Charms, her favorite subject, was taught by Professor Flitwick. A tiny old man who loved his work and his students.
Hermione stood from her seat and threw her sack of books and quills and things over her shoulder. She loved the feeling of carrying around something she could busy her time with all day. The carefree girl left the potions room, without saying much to Harry. He was too busy muttering to himself, trying to figure out what he had done to his potion this time.
She made her way up to the main floor and up another flight of stairs. She was on her way to the second corridor on the right. The flock of students in the hallway reminded her of sheep that needed to be herded. The already sweaty from their first period students bumped into her, making her grab her bulging bag of dictionary sized books to keep it from falling to the floor. She finally found herself shoved into the charms classroom by the herd of people rushing to get to their classes on time. She rolled her eyes and then found Harry sitting at a desk towards the front of the room. She joined him there and sat quietly, as the Hufflepuffs and rest of Gryffindors who were taking Charms this year could find their seats. Hermione and Harry were taking almost all of the same courses, with Hermione taking a few on the side. The two were studying to become Aurors when they graduated and they had to take two full years of extremely hard courses. So they had to really buckle down and work hard.
The charms class consisted of lots of wand waving. It became a little loud, too. In fact, Hermione could barely hear herself think as she read the book for the year. She, of course, had gotten the spell they were working on right the very first time she tried it. With a small jab of her wand at the doorknob in front of her and the word ,
"Essinay." The little golden doorknob floated into the air and began to sing a sweet melody. The only other song Hermione heard right now was the doorknob across the room. Except, it wasn't a sweet melody. It was painful to listen to, almost like nails on a chalkboard. The class groaned and covered their ears with their hands, while Professor Flitwick instantly shut the floating doorknob up. It sank to the table and then clattered onto it. As if one person, the class sighed in relief.
By the end of the Charms period, Hermione and Harry were starving and ready for lunch. The two made their way into the hallway, which was heavy with students. When they reached the Great Hall, they were finally able to breathe. The speed-walked over to the Gryffindor table where they found Ron already busy eating a Roast Beef sandwich.
"Lumfh ith goofd." Ron said, with his mouth full, as he waved them to the seats next to him.
"Care to re-phrase that in English?" Harry asked, grinning at Ron. The red-head swallowed and took a sip of pumpkin juice from the golden cup on his right.
"Lunch. Is. Good." He explained, and took another large bite out of his sandwich. Hermione and Harry laughed and sat, and they helped themselves to lunch. So far, the first day had been going swell.
"So, Ron, How was Herbology?" Hermione asked, glancing at the boy who was to become a Doctor.
Author's Note: Strange, huh, Malfoy didn't comment on harry or hermione..wonder what happened to him? I hope you like. Constructive Criticism as always. Thank goodness for spell check, my mind was elsewhere today and I spelled a lot of words wrong... "criticism" was "critisism". Well..I'll stop writing now and let you go, Enjoy.