Chapter 4: Getting started
It began to seem that there was not enough time in the days as the first week soared by, quickly followed up by the second week.

Thursday night found me in the common room in front of the fire, Jadyn, Lyric, Ivor, and I discussing the possible ingredients for our potion for Snape. We had decided on what we thought would be a simple true friendship potion that would create an unbreakable bond between two people.

But once we cracked open the books in the library on potion ingredients, we realized that there were no simple potions. After almost three full hours of searching, the entire group retreated to the Great Hall for dinner then the common room.

"I think what we need to know first is what a true friendship consists of."

"Trust. If you don't trust someone you will never be friends with them." Jadyn leaned back into the pillows, pondering. Momentarily he said, "Laughter or happiness."

I took a quill out of my bag and opened my spell journal, writing down each thing they named.

"Memories."

"What about shared experiences, well maybe that's to much like memories…umm…interests like they both like Quidditch or the color green. You know."

"Respect."

We all stopped to think about the next aspect when Cree piped in from her room. "Love."

"Yes darling, you called?" Ivor called back.

"Not you, you idiot, I meant that all friendships need love…well at least close friends do."

We all looked at each other doubtfully. "Well I don't know about love, but I know that when I hang out with someone it has to be fun." Lyric said, lowering his voice so that Cree couldn't hear from the other room.

I nodded then wrote both their ideas down.

"What about loyalty and honesty?"

"Yeah that's good…I feel like we're missing something." Jadyn said as he leaned forward to look over the list.

Ivor began drumming his fingers and Jadyn shrugged his shoulders.

Cree piped in again from her room, "Ask the wizard in the window."

I was confused, "The wizard in the what?"

"The window. He was created by Rowena when Hogwarts was first built."

"Yeah she got tired of running back and forth to the library, so she brought the library to her and gave it a personality."

The window shifted, and the wizard in the glass I had noticed my first day really was moving.

"Legion meet Artair, Ravenclaw's very own library."

The glass wizard stretched and yawned, he seemed bored. "What do you sniveling know-nothings want now, can't you see I'm sleeping?"

"Well we can't help it you have an entire library in your head and we don't." Ivor said in what I had come to realize was his well practiced hurt voice.

"Nor can I help the fact that you are all idiots."

"Yep that's right we are the dumbest smart people you know."

Artair rolled his eyes in disgust. He looked ready to just go back to sleep. "Yes well, I know you did not disturb my sleep to tell me how smart I am, so what do you want to know?"

I looked at the rest of the group and stepped forward, "Well you see we have to create a potion for Professor Snape…"

Now the wizard really looked annoyed with us. He muttered something along the lines of "…damn bloody potions…" and "…that bloody time already…" before snapping out, "I bloody well already know about the bloody damn potion so get on with it. What have you chosen to make?"

"A true friendship potion, one with an unbreakable bond."

Pieces of the stain glass moved together to form glasses on Artair's wizened features as he thought out our problem.

"The first thing that must be done is to make a list of all the aspects of a true friendship-"

Jadyn stopped him before he could go any further. "That's what are question was about. We already have some of the aspects but we think we are forgetting some of them. We wanted you to search the library for the one's we're missing if you would please."

"Hold on then."

I watched as more of the glass moved to form a very large book in Artair's hand, one he quickly opened and began searching. I held my quill at ready, checking off all the things that were called. Surprisingly it didn't take long for Artair to search the "Library" and in the end we were only missing two or three more things.

"Now you nit-wits probably want me to analyze different properties that may work for each thing so you begin experimenting correct?"

We each looked at each other. My first thought being 'Would that be considered cheating or not?' Then again how is it cheating if it was only a basic search of the library, if not a much quicker search without the actual process of having to look through all those dusty books?

"If you would please," I answered politely. I took my wand out of my pocket and charmed my quill to write what he said then watched again as he searched the library.

With our list of ingredients in hand the next morning, we made our way to potions about 15 minutes earlier to ask Professor Snape for his input.

The old bat was snarky to say the least when we walked in early with our list.

"Yes?" He hissed as we crowded around his desk.

I handed him our list, which he snatched with a glare. "And what is this?" He almost snarled as he glanced over it. Then "You can not have possibly gotten all of the proper ingredients yet." His eyes however said differently.

Before anyone could make an answer to his accusation, Snape burst out with a shocked exclamation, "You want to use Hufflepuff blood!" His voice was almost three octaves higher than normal and his face was going a bright shade of purple. "Do you have any idea how dangerous using blood in a potion is?"

None of us answered. Luckily we were saved by a loud crash in the hallway. With one last look at us, Snape hurried to find out what the commotion was all about.

Momentarily he returned with two very guilty, very angry looking students and Professor McGonagall.

"I just do not know what we are going to do with them, professor…" McGonagall was saying in an exasperated voice.

Snape was leaning against his desk eyeing the two boys in front of him. Who upon closer inspection turned out to be none other than Potter and Malfoy.

"I believe I know exactly what to do with them," Snape said with a glare at Potter. "Mr. Olivander, Mr. Rosier, does it not say on your list that one of the things you required were a set of subjects, one from two rival houses?"

"Yes sir," Jadyn answered for our group.

Snape nodded, and opened his mouth to continue when Professor McGonagall cut in, "Ah yes good idea, Professor. Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, it seems you have just volunteered to become…guinea pigs." The woman said it with a smile as she looked over the potion lying on Snape's desk. "I have a feeling this little experiment will go over quite well." She added.

The look on Potter and Malfoy's faces was classic. Almost as if someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over their heads and asked them to kiss.

Potter was doing his best to stutter out a question about exactly what they were expected to do, and Malfoy cut directly to the just-wait-till-my-father-hears-about-this crap, but McGonagall and Snape both were not having it. "You two will go through with this potion or you will both be expelled," McGonagall was saying as Snape added something along the same lines.

This drained the blood from both the boys faces, but when added to "And you will do this without knowing what potion you are taking and with complete compliance to the needs of this group, is that understood?"

The two nodded looking dazed.

"Now on to class before House Points are deducted. This has truly gotten out of hand."

Without a word the two arch rivals exited the room followed by a stern looking McGonagall, leaving us alone again with Snape.

The dark wizard still leaned against his desk, but now he had our list back in his hands and was looking over the rest of our ingredients. His dark eyes were calculating, his posture relaxed. It was the first time I had ever seen him so laid back. The man was in his element, nodding at some of the items on our list and quirking his eyebrows at others.

Just as the bell rang for students to go to class, he said, "Next class I will have the ingredients you need to get started. Until then, talk to Potter and Malfoy. Set up a time for you to talk with them and begin getting the specimens you need." Checking a notebook on his desk behind him he added, "Next weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. One of you will need to buy a pensieve to collect their memories, You have two weeks to get the necessary items in order before you begin brewing. Now take your seats and we will get started."

At the end of potions class, the greasy git handed us back a revised addition of our list along with a parchment telling us exactly how and when to add the components we had already given him.

He explained each element he had written down to us, leaving Jadyn and I barely any time at all to make it to Ancient Runes.

Professor Morgana had already begun the lesson on basic runes when we rushed in the door, luckily not seeing us slip into our seats and opening our books to the correct page.

"There are twelve basic runes, the one we will study today is the rune of protection" She pulled out her wand giving it a quick flick.

"The first step to creating protection runes looks so," she made a swirling motion clockwards, leaving a purple spinning streak where her wand had been.

"Now add four circles around the center base. The first will encircle in the front vertically. The second will encircle the base and the vertical front circle…"

By the time she finished the rune it was a multicolored cage surrounding the swirling base. Running her hand through the rune, the class watched in amazement as it disappeared from the air and reappeared in a totally different shape as a black mark on her hand.

She raised her hand to show the class her palm. "This is how the protection symbol is read."

A boy in the second row raised his hand, a gryffindor. "Why isn't the symbol on your hand the same as the one you made?"

Professor Morgana smiled, "Very good question. The symbols we use to read runes differ from the symbols we make because when the language and magic of runes was discovered, the magic floated freely, found on certain nature items such as trees. These first runes were discovered by tribes of people whose shamans, or early witches and wizards, translated them into the language of the tribes. Today we still use the same symbols to keep the magic pure."

Another Gryffindor raised their hand, a girl I recognized to be Hermione Granger. "Professor, I thought when I read the chapter that to apply the rune to something you must state the rune's true name."

"Ah yes, well that rule applies only to inanimate objects and things stronger in magic than yourself. It also applies if you want to make the rune permanent on yourself. For instance, some couples use the bonding rune in their marriage ceremony to truly have a life long marriage. Although this type of bonding can have it's drawbacks if you apply it directly to the skin instead of something like a ring or necklace. But enough questions for now. I will answer more when I have finished the lesson."

When we were finally dismissed, Granger stopped by the desk on her way out of the door.

"Harry told me about this morning, and I know you can't tell me what it is that you're making, but I wanted to ask you about it's effects. Like how long do they last. Are they harmful, that sort of thing."

Jadyn wasn't saying anything, but I saw no harm in telling her. "If it works correctly, the effects should be permanent but they won't really be harmful."

The hope that had burned momentarily in her honey brown eyes died so quickly it could have just as easily never existed. In its place solid determination dominated.

"So it will not really hurt Harry in any way?"

I didn't quite know how to answer that question. I wouldn't want to be Malfoy's friend, but in a physical way I didn't think it would cause Potter pain.

"Not physically, but his life will be drastically different from before. So will Malfoy's," I answered.

"I don't care what happens to Malfoy, but…" She bit her lip in thought.

"But what?" Jadyn asked impatiently looking at the door.

Granger's eyes bored into my red retinas furtively and she let out a long sigh.

"Ron and I decided that whatever the potion was, that we would take it to. It's unfair for Harry to always take the blame for Malfoy's comments and Snape is just doing this for spite anyway."

"So you are just going to take something you do not know the contents of?" Jadyn asked incredulously.

Granger nodded.

"That defies all logic!" He said shaking his head.

Granger raised her head and squared her shoulders. "That is why I am a Gryffindor and you are a Ravenclaw," She said almost haughtily before walking out the door.

"Wait," I called after her and ran to catch up," You do realize that to do this, we are going to need things from you, right?"

"It occurred to me, yes. Although I figured most of the ingredients would come from Snape."

"Not this time, our potion is going to be quite a bit different from the normal things we use. We're going to be adding in things we've learned from other classes maybe even some of the Ancient runes. This potion is permanent."

Her eyes widened a little but she was determined. "Ron and I will take that potion, just tell us where and when. We'll be there."

It was almost like talking to a brick wall, but it actually gave me an idea. "Fine, the group decided to meet out side by the lake after Quidditch practice on Sunday. Be there."

"We will."