A mysterious new student tranfers to Hogwarts. Outgoing yet gentle, she captivates everyone she meets, including a certain blonde haired boy. Although the Trio caution her against becoming his friend, will she trust her insticts and follow her heart? Will she be able to melt the heart of the reigning Prince of Slytherin? Or will she get hurt by wearing her heart on her sleeve?...Read more to find out:)
Chapter 1
"And who can tell me what the essence of Shiva does to a potion if brewed on the night of a full moon?" Snape posed the question, far to early in the morning, thought Harry.
The question had barley left his lips before Hermione's hand shot up into the air.
Snape looked around the room, obviously pretending not to see Hermione's up stretched hand, as hers was the only one raised at the moment. Yet, he feigned blindness.
"No one can tell me then?" He continued to scan the dungeon. Hermione sat up a little straighter and waved her arm side to side. Her arm was now so out stretched, Harry was sure she might pull a muscle.
Harry rolled his eyes. He was all too familiar with this game. Any moment now, Snape was going to pounce on Harry with a rant of unanswerable questions. However, today would be different. He smiled inwardly to himself. He knew this question.
"No volunteers? Well, what about the famous Harry Potter? According to The Daily Profit you must be quite brilliant to take on full-grown wizards, Death Eaters, even. Surely, it's brains, not luck, that has gotten you this far?" Snape sneered. "You must know something this simplistic?"
Harry almost laughed in his face. He wanted to shout the answer at him, the stupid prat. Of course he knew this. He had had several conversations with Lupin, many about what full moons did. He found that his old Defense Against the Arts teacher knew much more about the full moon, other than that it transformed him into a werewolf. He found these conversations interesting, as it gave him some insight into the only one of his father's friends that was left.
He kept his face neutral, his glasses hiding the triumph in his eyes, waiting to make sure everyone in the class was paying attention to them. And, by now, of course they were. Draco Malfoy was making sure all the Slytherins were ready to laugh at him. All the Gryffindors were preparing for the worst, dread in their faces. They need not worry, Harry thought happily. Although, he lost points in Potions class yesterday, today would be different.
"Well, Potter?" Snape toyed. "Coming up short, again?"
"Actually, No. You'll find I'm actually quite brilliant this morning. Essence of Shiva, when brewed on the night of a full moon, doubles the potion in strength. The full moon acts as a magical magnifier. "
Snape looked furious. Harry imagined that if the whole class had not been present, Snape just might have cast an Unforgivable Curse in Harry's direction. Slowly, the angry face gave way to a face that worried Harry far more: Smugness, mixed with a touch of triumph. Harry didn't want to know what prompted this change.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor. "
"What!" shouted Harry. "I answered your stupid question!"
"You cheekiness already cost your house valuable points. Do you wish to continue? As head of Slytherin, I don't mind". The corner of Snape's mouth twisted into a wicked smirk, daring Harry to make a snide retort.
None came, however. Hermione was sending him pleading looks and he had already lost more points in the last two days than he had so far this year.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when Harry didn't answer his challenge. She resigned herself to relax in her chair, fairly confident that this row was over. Harry silently fumed as they all began to make the potion Snape had assigned to them for the day.
Harry was grumpily mashing his beetle eyes, pretending they were miniature Snape heads. He was trying with all his might to keep quiet, when all he wanted to do was sent a stream of hexes toward the Slytherin side of the room. He didn't care who they hit; they were all the same.
He had already lost 40 points, yesterday, in Potions. Snape had just taken 20 more points from Gryffindor, after that outburst from him. He wished Potions would just hurry up and end already, which wasn't likely. Today they had double potions with the Slytherins. He decided he would just try to work on his potion and try to at least get a passing grade for the day.
Twenty minutes went by fairly uneventful, except for the occasional outburst of laughing from the Slytherins. They were talking, quite loudly, about the house cup.
"If Potter keeps this up, we'll have no problem winning this year! He's practically giving it to us!" Draco sniggered.
Snape seemed very wrapped up in a Potions book he was flipping though. Obviously pretending not to hear them. Harry was getting really tired of his "random deafness and feigned blindness" acts. They were just getting back to their potions when there was a brisk knock ay the dungeon door.
Snape looked up from the book and raised his eyebrows in acknowledgment that he had heard the noise.
"Weasley, do you think you could tear yourself away from your dreadful potion and see who's at my door?"
Ron looked up mutinously and pushed his seat back, making sure to make as much noise as possible. He trudged over to the door and opened it. He was surprised to see Professor McGonagall in front of him, as was Snape.
"Minerva, what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Excuse my intrusion, Severus." All the students turned around and started whispering, wondering what brought Professor McGonagall here. This was certainly out of the ordinary for her to visit Snape during the middle of class -or at any time for that matter. Harry couldn't remember, in all his time at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall just "popping in" for a chat with Snape in the dungeons.
"Something I can help you with, Professor?" Snape kept his voice light and friendly, though Harry knew Snape hated to have his classes disrupted.
"Yes, well, I know this is quite rare, however…" She seemed to be uncharactisticly, at a loss for words. "However… it seems we have a new addition to Hogwarts". Her normally strict voice had a softness to it that Snape did not seem to miss.
Professor Snape raised his eyebrows and a look of mild surprise crossed his face. He wondered why she had decided to come to his classroom to tell him this, and not waited to later in the day. "Well, that is most unusual."
"She is a transfer student, from America."
"She?", thought Harry.
A look of disdain crossed Snape's face. McGonagall saw this and added quickly, "She received top marks in all her O.W.L.S. and I think she will make a nice addition to Hogwarts, once she settles in." Harry was surprised at how upbeat she kept her voice.
"She was actually quite keen on meeting you…seems to have a special interest in Potions. I said she could wait until tomorrow to start. I thought it best that she spend the rest of the day settling in, but she insisted that the best way to familiarize herself with everything was to go around to her classes. So…she's just outside here. I wanted to be sure it would be alright for her to have her first class now, since it was with you."
All the students craned the necks to see the mystery student. "Who, in their right mind would want to meet Snape?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Someone who obviously has no bloody idea what a slimy prat he is" Harry spat moodily.
"Ten points from Gryffindor. It seems you are thicker than even I suspected, Potter." Snape was standing right in front of them. They had been so busy trying to see whom the new student was, no one had even noticed that he had gotten up from his desk. "Hopefully she isn't as much of a dunderhead as you or Weasley. Or be as insufferable as Miss Granger. However, she is an American, so I probably should expect as much. I guess I can only hope to Merlin for such small blessings."
Harry fumed and Ron turned bright red. Hermione looked hurt and hung her head while she busied herself with mixing her caldron.
Snape slinked pass their table back to the front of the room. "Well, Minerva, don't keep us waiting. Do show her in", he said in mock excitement.
"Yes then…" She opened the door and seemed to have a short conversation with someone just outside. When McGonagall turned a round again, she took a step forward and to the side. "Come on dear…"
Thanks for reading!... This is my first story... I hope you liked it and continue to follow me on this journey!...please review!