Chapter Three

Potions Class

The feast was absolutely spectacular. Cailee had seen few occasions to match this one at home. With all the celebrations, the cuisine was extravagant and there was always lots of it. Cailee had clapped along with the rest as bunches of first years joined the table. She had also acted very modest when she noticed the stares she was getting from all the young men at her table. And not just her table, all four of them. Sometimes Cailee got very irritated with the attention; sometimes she loved it. She hated the fact that lots of girls, if not all of them, became jealous of her good looks and shapely figure. Cailee honestly believed she was no better than anyone else. The only reason she looked like this was due to the gift her family had been blessed with. And, she thought, if any of these guys had seen her sister Tara, they would faint. The boys wouldn't even notice the drool puddling around them from their mouths, that's how stunning she was. Cailee giggled at the thought of that.

Almost two hours later after the feast had started, it ended. Hermione stood up, looked over at Ron and a few other Prefect's, and started to talk.

"All right, students, especially you first years," she said, clapping her hands for their attention. "Follow myself and the other Prefect's upstairs to our House. We'll tell you the password then, and also explain some rules when we get there."

She pushed back her seat and started forward. All of a sudden, there was the sound of movement as the rest of the students got up to follow her. Ron rolled his eyes and hurried up next to her.

Cailee was one of the last people into the Common Room. The Fat Lady had almost shut the portrait. Cailee had never been into this school before. She and her brother Caleb were the only ones in her entire family to come here for almost six hundred years. She was fascinated by the fact that the occupants in the portraits could move around. Why, on the first floor she had seen some knight on a fat pony, and then when she approached her floor (isn't Gryffindor tower the 7th floor?) she saw the same man yelling at Harry and Ron.

"Turn around and fight you mangy cowards! I'm ready! I can take you, you filthy scallywags!"

"Shut up!" Harry had said, and almost punched the portrait had Seamus not grabbed his arm.

"Who is that?" Cailee inquired.

"That would be Sir Cadogan, one of the most physco people you will ever meet," Harry had murmured.

Also the knights were amusing. They seemed to think they were people; they yelled at each other and challenged each other to jousting matches. The armor clanked around as the lifted their legs up and down.

Cailee also had been graced by Peeves. He was the most absurd ghost she had ever seen, and the most obnoxious. When the group had passed a few classrooms, he jumped out shooting spit wads and chucking erasers at their heads. Most of the younger people turned tail and ran, but most of the others just kept walking, as though he hadn't been there. Peeves then proceeded to follow them for two more floors, shouting out obscene and rude comments.

Gryffindor Tower was marvelous. There was an enchanting fire burning with plush seats all around. There were many tables to sit at, and a few couches. There was a bulletin board in the corner; torches and lamps were all hung around the ceiling. Ron walked over to the message board and noticed that Neville had already put up a piece of parchment asking people to look for his toad, Trevor.

"Well, see you in the morning," Ron and Harry said, parting to the stairway. Hermione and Cailee went the opposite way, to their dormitory. Cailee was very much pleased to see that she was sharing with Hermione, who was one of her few friends at the moment. There were three other girls in there already, Parvarti, Lavender, and Amber. Cailee undressed into her pajamas and let her kitten out of its crate and cuddled it against her chest as she fell asleep.

Cailee pulled on her robes the next morning, adjusting them a bit so they were comfortable. She did her make up, and pulled her hair into a low ponytail that was parted on the side. She admired the natural ringlets in her hair, then grabbed her book bag and headed downstairs with Hermione.

Cailee walked through the Great Hall and felt two eyes staring into her back, almost willing to look all the way through. She had a good idea who it was, and when she turned her head to see, she was right. There, at the Slytherin table sat Draco Malfoy, staring at her. He nodded his head ever so slightly at her, and just when he started to smile at her, Pansy sat next to him and gave him what Cailee assumed to be a wet kiss. Malfoy looked disgusted, and turned away from her. Cailee giggled and sat next to Ron.

"Man! Does it never end? Why are we always tortured with those Slytherin's?" Ron yelled. "I mean, look at this, back to back Transfiguration, and back to back Potions! That's going to be a fun class, that one. Two hours with Snape is just what I hoped for on my first day back," he moaned.

Cailee laughed at him. "It can't be that bad, can it?" she asked, putting some jam on her toast.

"You have no idea," Harry said. "Going to that class is like going to the gallows, except we come out alive each time. That doesn't happen when you go to the gallows, does it?" he asked.

Hermione gave him a kick from across the table. "Of course not. When you go to the gallows, you're going to your death sentence," she laughed at him. Harry just grinned and shoved more food into his face.

Cailee descended into the dungeons and felt a chill run up her spine. Something terrible has happened down here, she thought. I can feel it; I can sense it. Cailee tried hard to evaluate what had happened, but she couldn't place it.

She followed her three friends to the back of the room where they all sat along a table that reminded Cailee of some of the mortal chemistry table's she had seen before.

As soon as they had sat down, Professor Snape came bursting through his office door. He stood behind his desk, leaning forward, his white, lengthy fingers spread apart. He glared at anyone in the class who wasn't from Slytherin, and praised those that were from Slytherin.

"All right, time for reviews. This year you will be taking your Junior N.E.W.T's, along with a more advanced testing of the O.W.L's, understand? It is most important you do well on these, as these will help determine your career. If you fail these, you will most likely fail the actual N.E.W.T's, and that will be the worst thing that could happen, understand?" A few students were brave enough to nod their heads.

"Here you go, then," he said flicking his wrist at the board, and the potion appeared. Cailee wasn't quit sure what to do, but she needn't have to worry—

"Miss Oteropeia? Please come forward for your evaluation," Snape said, watching her approach his desk. Cailee felt more stares on her back, and as she passed a few of the Slytherin desks' she heard low whistles and one "Oh, baby."

"Yes, Professor Snape?" she asked, standing before him. She felt a bit grossed out standing before him. She had been raised not to be judgmental, but she couldn't help it now. His hair was greasy and black, and long, and disgusting. His clothing made him look like a sick bug; his complexion was so pale, he looked as though he hadn't seen sunlight for ages. Like she had done to Hermione, she stared into his eyes. All she could really tell, and it was rather obvious, was that he was lonely. He was independent, he was brave, and he was a backstabber; at some point in his lifetime he had hurt someone bad.

"I need to know how advanced you are, and how exactly you got into my class," he growled.

You wouldn't understand. You don't know about my affairs, or why I'm here, nor will you find out. At home, I was tutored by my brother, Jonathon. He taught me so much. I already know this potion you want us to make. If this is what you call advanced, you are very behind. But Cailee couldn't tell him that. It would ruin the assignment she had to undertake.

"I'm all right. Probably like some of the students in this class, I would guess. But maybe not as good as Harry and Hermione, though." Snape visibly flinched.

"Then you must not be good at all," he hissed. "Sit down, at the end of the class make sure you bring me a sample of your potion. And I want an essay from you about Wolfsbane in the Moonlight, understand?"

"Yes, sir," she said, and turned on her heel to sit with Hermione again.

"How did you do that?" asked Ron.

"What?" Cailee asked, putting the finished potion into a flask and corking it.

"That. You're done. Hermione isn't. How did you finish?" he asked.

"I don't know. It seemed fairly easy to me," she said, walking up to Snape's desk.

"Here you go," she said, plopping it in front of him as he finished grading papers. He didn't even look up.

Cailee looked at the desk, and noticed her flask was the first one up there. 'Crap! You're such an idiot Cailee. You shouldn't have done that!' she mentally kicked herself. 'You won't succeed like this. You know what Dad told you, so do it.'

She sat back down and helped Ron with his potion, since Hermione insisted on helping Harry. Cailee inwardly smiled. She hoped they would get together, and soon.

"Hey, Cailee! Come here," someone shouted at her. She looked up from stirring Ron's cauldron and saw it was Draco.

"I'll be back," she said to Ron, and walked towards Malfoy.

"Not done yet?" she asked, sitting in the vacant chair next to him.

"No. Could you help me?" he asked, looking at her.

"Um sure, why not?' she said, and looked back up at Ron.

"See, what I don't get is this part right here. I didn't know powdered dragon teeth could be mixed with a wolf's blood. I mean, isn't the result dangerous?" he asked, looking thoroughly perplexed.

"Yeah, it is, but look, you're supposed to mix a bit of crushed beetle eyes with it. And I know it says half a pint, but I added that and a bit more, it seems to work better. The beetle's eyes seem to balance out the acid in the wolf's blood. I don't understand how, but that's how I was taught. Do you get it?" she asked Malfoy.

'Where had she learned this? No one I have ever taught had quite that knowledge. Except maybe Granger. But a few minutes ago I saw her try to mix the teeth and blood together without the eyes, and it erupted in a cloud of steam. I must find out where she was taught.' Snape thought, as he dropped eave's on the conversation in question rather than look at his papers.

"A little bit. But what exactly is in the eyes? They seem too small to be able to hold enough counter-active acid for the wolf's blood."

"Here," Cailee said, and reached across him for his book.

Malfoy inhaled deeply. He smelled some sort of flower on her. And, he wasn't sure if his mind was messing with him or not, but he thought she had rubbed her hand a little too close to his chest. He tried to sneak a peek down her robes, but it didn't work.

"To understand this, you need to look at the charts in the back of the book, see?" she pointed to some diagrams in the back of their potions book.

"The eye's hold almost twice as much anti-acidic as the blood does, kind of remarkable huh? Like you said, the eyes are so small. So, since there is twice as much anti-acid, it has more than enough to balance out the acid," Cailee said, dropping the book on the desk and once again reaching across him for some parchment and a quill. She began to draw equations on the parchment.

"I get it now," Draco exclaimed.

"Good!" Cailee said, giving him a hug. Malfoy inhaled deeply again. He didn't want to let her go. It was like their bodies were made for each other.

"If you need any more help, just ask. I need to help Ron now," she said, getting up and walking away.

Draco stood smirking at the retreating behind.

Author's Notes: Does anyone smell a romance cooking up? I don't know, but I need reviews if you want to find out!