Disclaimer – All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling and are a product of her wonderful imagination and creativity. Well except for Jaden – she's a product of my imagination and limited creativity.

Love Potion #9

It was the first potions class of the year and Harry was dreading it. Even though he had done all of his readings over the summer he knew that he was no where near prepared enough to please Professor Snape.

"There you are Harry!" Hermione hissed as Harry walked up to the classroom. "Snape just opened the door to let us in. It's a good thing that you weren't late."

"No kidding," Ron said as they walked in "Snape would have murdered you."

"Is he really that bad?" Jaden said as she dropped her books on the desk next to Ron, not noticing the glare that Hermione sent her.

"In a word – yes," Harry said as he and Hermione took the seats in front of them.

"Sorry to interrupt you all," a cold voice said from the front of the classroom "but need I remind you that you are here to learn." Everyone in the classroom immediately silenced. "Well now that I have your attention…" Snape began as he picked up a piece of parchment that was on his desk. "This is NEWT level potions and, as you all know, is not an easy class. This year, more than the previous years, will require a keen eye and a steady hand, along with hard work. You will not be able to get by if you do not do your readings and if you do not complete assignments. I do not tolerate slackers in my NEWT class. Now with that said lets make sure that everyone is here. Brown, Lavender," Snape said as he began to take the attendance. Everyone answered with a simple present when they were called upon; there was no room for jokes in Professor Snape's class.

"McAllister, Jaden," Snape said looking up from the parchment for the first time since he began to call the roll.

"Right here… Professor," Jaden said putting up her hand.

"Well well well," Professor Snape said looking at her with a bit of a smirk on his face. "It seems that Professor Dumbledore finally got you here."

"Yes… sir," Jaden said a little unsure of how to address the man standing in front of her.

"Well welcome. I'm sure that if all I've heard is true, as I'm sure that it is, you will be quite comfortable here at Hogwarts."

"Thank you," Jaden said with a smile as Snape went back to taking attendance. Harry turned around and exchanged a look with Ron that clearly said "can you believe that just happened?" Ron just looked back at Harry, absolutely flabbergasted that Snape actually exchanged, what some would call, a pleasantry with Jaden.

"Now that that is done, let us begin," Snape said as he flicked his wrist and the parchment rolled up neatly. "The first subject that we are going to address this year is… love potions," Snape said with a disgusted sigh as Hermione's hand shot up into the air. "Now as I'm sure you all know," Snape continued ignoring Hermione who was now waving frantically to get his attention "love potions are forbidden for personal use here at Hogwarts," Hermione's hand slowly lowered. "I must warn any of you who are expecting to try and use them that you will be expelled, with no exceptions. However, that does not take away from the fact that they are some of the most difficult potions to master. We will begin with you all carefully and correctly copying everything that is written down on the board," Snape said as he flicked his wand and what seemed like miles of writing appeared on the board. Everyone set to work copying it down and double checking to make sure that what they had copied had been correct. Everyone knew that careless mistakes, or mistakes of any kind, were not tolerated in Professor Snape's classroom. Once the note had been copied the students each moved to their work stations to begin mixing their potion.

"I hope I do this right," Neville said as he carefully measured and remeasured his ingredients.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Jaden said from her workstation next to his.

"Miss McAllister," Professor Snape said coming up behind her.

"Yes sir?" She said turning around to face him.

"Is there a problem here?"

"No sir, just giving Neville some reassurance," Jaden said looking up at Snape.

"That's good of you, he needs it," Snape said looking at Neville. "Back to work!" He said loudly when he realized that the class had stopped working and was watching him. Harry was sure that a smile had crossed Snape's face as he cast one last look at Jaden before he continued his rounds. The rest of the class was spent in silence until Snape announced that they were to finish up their potions and bottle them to be tested.

"Single file please," Snape said as the class lined up to have their potions tested. Snape had placed two frogs on the table. If the frog that was given the potion immediately went to the other frog the student had made a good love potion.

"Alright Mr. Weasley lets see how well yours works," Snape said as he dropped some on the frog's tongue. The frog didn't move. "Well Mr. Weasley it looks like you've begun the year with a failure." Ron who was turning a bright shade of red didn't answer. "You'll have to do better Mr. Weasley." Just as Snape was about to remove the potion from the frog the frog jumped over to the other frog and began to try and mate with it.

"Yes!" Ron breathed.

"Alright Mr. Weasley it's passable, but it should take effect sooner," Snape said as he marked Ron's grade down in his book. The line continued until Jaden who was the last in line walked up to Snape's desk.

"I have high expectations for this Miss. McAllister," Snape said as he drew some of her potion out of her bottle. "However, based on what Dumbledore has said you shouldn't disappoint."

"Hopefully not sir," Jaden said as she watched as her frog immediately jumped over to the one without the potion.

"Excellent," Snape said watching the two frogs. "Best one in the class. 10 points to Gryffindor."

"Thank you Professor," Jaden said as she turned around. The rest of the class had their mouths hanging open. No one could believe that Snape had just given points to Gryffindor. He usually was the first one to take them away.

"What?" Jaden said as she exited the classroom.

"I'm just in shock," Harry said as he fell inline beside her. "Snape has never acted that way with any student that wasn't a Slytherin."

"I guess Dumbledore talked me up pretty good then," Jaden said with a laugh as she walked back towards her house to drop off her books. The others still in shock followed.

Title Song – Love Potion #9 by the Nylons