Chapter 4
"Potions 101," Peter said quietly, but not quietly enough, as Professor Soos walked into the classroom. Professor Soos was an old looking man, but seemed to have a lot of energy, like Professor Flitwick. He had black hair that was just littered with gray hair. His dark blue eyes seemed to bore into people as he looked at each on in turn at the beginning of the class.
"Potions is about potions, brewing things to help you get better, get smarter, get fame, and even fall in love," Professor Soos started out, looking around and the kids. "You will not need your wands, as wands are no use in this class. They will not make your potion better. Your potion is as is when you brew it, so I hope you are excellent in this section of magic."
Peter looked shocked for a second, and then slowly looked at his wand, then at his Potion's book, which he had dared not to open at all.
Remus laughed a little at his expression then suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He almost doubled over in his chair, but managed to suppress the groan of pain into a slight moan. No one noticed so, as they were all intent on Professor Soos. Remus quickly and quietly took out a small piece of parchment and stole a glance at it.
"Dang-it! I forgot!" Remus said quickly, but loud enough so that the people around him glanced at him. Remus sunk down in his chair a bit then looked the paper. The parchment was an ever-changing calendar that showed when the next full moon was going to be. And tonight was a full moon.
Remus slumped in his chair, thinking about the upcoming night. Suddenly he thought of something that made him shoot right back up in his chair. What was he going to tell his friends?
"Since you seem so overly eager, why don't you tell us the answer?" Remus heard Professor Soos say. Remus looked around at the faces all staring at him. Most of the Slytherins had smirks on their faces.
"Um…what was the question again?" Remus asked timidly. The Slytherins snickered.
"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Professor Soos repeated.
Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane. Where had he heard that before? Remus thought and thought, but just couldn't remember. It probably only sounds familiar because it has the word wolf in it, Remus thought.
"I can't remember sir," Remus said truthfully.
Professor sighed and said, "Wolfsbane and monkshood is the same plant, also known as aconite." Professor Soos walked to his desk in the front of the room. I've defiantly never heard of that before, it was just the word wolf, Remus said to himself."Are you kids going to just sit there or take notes?" he yelled quite suddenly. The room was soon filled with the noise of the scratching of quills.
Professor Soos talked for ten more minutes, stopping every so often so the students could write what he said.
"We are going to start a potion today. Write down the ingredients on the board, get a partner and get started," Professor Soos said a moment later, waving his wand as words appeared on the board. Remus wrote down the ingredients and then felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Want to be my partner?" James asked.
"Sure," Remus said. He wasabout to ask why Sirius wasn't his partner, but decided against it at the time being.Remus and James got out a caldron and then their ingredients.
"Are you and Sirius having a fight or something?" Remus asked after a moment of silence.
"Just a friendly brawl like always," James shrugged. Of course that's all, it was always just a friendly brawl, nothing more. James and Sirius were inseperatable.
"I'll crush the snake fangs," James said, after another moment of silence, getting out his snake fangs from a small bag. Remus nodded and started to weigh dry needles. He added them in the caldron when he got the right amount. Next he stirred in the horned slugs, just as James added the powered snake fangs. They added a few other ingredients.
"Ready for the porcupine quills?" Remus asked. James held out the quills. Remus removed the caldron from the fire just as another shape pain went threw his body. His hand twitched violently as he doubled over in pain. The caldron fell to the floor spilling it contents just as Remus fell to the floor.
"Crickey!" James yelled as the potion fell to the floor and spread. Girls screamed and boys yelled as they jumped on stools to avoid the mess. Professor Soos ran, carefully avoiding the mess, over to Remus and picked him up as he cringed in pain.
"Everybody out!" Professor Soos yelled as he carried Remus out. The children didn't need to be told twice. Everybody grabbed their bags and ran out, lifting his or her robes and avoiding the potion. The kids stood outside the door as Professor Soos came out holding Remus. "You're dismissed for the day. All we need to do is clean up this mess. You'll finish the potions next week. Homework: read pages 6-18, and I want 14 inches of parchment of an essay."
People groaned as they walked down the dungeon hallways to their common room. Professor Soos laid down Remus.
"You okay, son?" he asked him and Remus stood up.
"Y-yeah, I just need to see Madame Pomfrey," Remus said, lifting his bag.
"Boys, make sure he makes to the hospital wing okay," Professor Soos said to James, Peter, and Sirius who stood there. "I've got to go find Filch," he muttered as he walked away.
When Professor Soos was out of earshot, Remus was bombarded with questions. "Are you okay?" "What happened?" "Is your stomach okay?"
"I'm fine you guys, I just want to go see Madame Pomfrey," Remus said, walking off toward hospital wing.
"Professor Soos told us to come with you," Peter said as they catched up with him.
"I'm okay you guys, I just need to see her. Go get your books and I'll be there in a minute," Remus said, trying to shake them off. He didn't succeed. They walked with him all the way to the hospital wing and didn't leave him until Madame Pomfrey ordered them away.
"Madame Pomfrey, I need to talk to you," Remus started off.
"Please leave us boys, I can take it from here," Madame Pomfrey said, shooing them away. Peter, James, and Sirius looked at him strangely as they were ushered from the doorway.
"It's a full moon tonight," Remus said, sitting on the bed.
"Yes son, I know. Have you been getting the pains?"
"Yes ma'am. I knocked over my caldron and spilt the potion all over the floor in Potions. Professor Soos had to carry me out of the classroom," Remus said, embarrassed.
"Would you feel safer if you just stayed here the rest of the day so that you don't have any more accidents? Then around supper I'll take you down to the hole and pick you up in the morning," Madame Pomfrey said, staring at him.
"Um, you might want to wait a day, it isn't exactly pretty in the morning and there are always these after shocks. I'd wait a night or something," Remus said.
"Well, how will I know what night I should come to collect you," Madame Pomfrey asked.
"How about I just come up to the school on my own the first time and then I'll tell you about how long?" Remus suggested.
"Do you promise you won't get caught?" Madame Pomfrey said, eyeing him.
"Promise."
"Okay then, just lay here right now, and in a little bit I'll bring you a little bit to eat," Madame Pomfrey said as she walked away.
Remus slung his bag next to the bed and looked around. The hospital wing was white with metal wire beds. There were several beds with curtains in-between them all for privacy. He sighed and lay back on the bed, looking at the ceiling.
"Are you sick dear?"
Remus stretched his neck back at the wall behind him and saw a painting of a young looking nun looking down at him. He sat up and flipped around.
"No, not really sick. I mean I guess you could call it an illness or whatever, but I've had it for a long time," Remus replied to the nun painting.
"Well this is a hospital wing. If you aren't sick then why are you in here?" the nun asked curiously.
"Just because," Remus said laying back down.
"I just wanted to know," the nun asked, sitting back down in the chair in her painting and picked up the Bible from the table and continued reading.
"Well maybe I don't want to tell you," Remus muttered under his breath, crossing his arms.
The rest of the day was boring. It was only a couple of hours or so, but it seemed to stretch on forever. His pain attacks became more and more frequent as the hours wore on. Finally Madame Pomfrey brought him some food and then they went down the grounds to the Whomping Willow. Madame Pomfrey poked a knob on the trunk with a long stick and the branches immediately became still.
"Go through the hole and keep going till you come to an opening. That is the inside of the house. They windows and the doors are boarded. You are not to leave the house! Do you understand? You are not to leave!" Madame Pomfrey said sternly. Remus nodded. "Ok, now go on before the branches start moving again. Just push the knob to get out." Remus nodded again and ran to the hole and climbed in. The last thing he saw was the branches creaking into movement again and Madame Pomfrey walking off.