Hermione throws her head back and laughs. "Daphne, you did not."
Daphne grins at her friend as they descend the stairs that lead to their common room. "Oh, but I did. I still don't think my mother has forgiven me for that one."
Hermione shakes her head. "You're absolutely mental."
"I know."
The two girls enter the common room and head immediately to their shared dormitory. As they enter their dorm, Hermione frowns.
"I still haven't touched Professor Snape's extra work, and I see him in two days!"
Daphne pats Hermione on the back as she walks past the suddenly sour girl. "You'll be fine, Hermione. I'm sure you already know all about the potions he's assigned you."
"Well, yes, but do I know enough about them is the problem! And he's said something that's still bothering me." Hermione says as she haphazardly dumps her pack out on her bed. Taking her used dance clothes and putting them in a pile on the floor, wincing slightly as she does so. It's such a strange concept to her still that she doesn't take care of her own laundry and that someone else is in charge of washing it. I put up such a fuss when I realized Jackson was taking care of my washing. I yelled at him and then my parents. She smiles down at the pile of clothes, lost in memories for a minute.
Daphne flops onto her bed in a swirl of robes. "What do you mean?" She asks as she rolls herself over onto her stomach and places her chin in her hands.
Hermione turns towards Daphne as she gets out of her memories. "He said that I have to execute the ingredients as he tells me." Hermione pauses. "I follow what the book says exactly. So why would he feel the need to tell me that?"
Daphne giggles. "Hermione, it's Professor Snape that we are talking about here. His one true love is potions. He's just being himself."
Hermione frowns. "You think so?" She asks to be sure, as she stuffs her pack with both of the potions book, a healthy stack of parchment, and her boxed quill set as well as some extra ink pots. She puts a couple of other books in her pack as well. Intent on looking into some sort of charm that makes her things lighter.
Daphne nods. "I know so."
"Ok. I'll take your word for it." Hermione pauses and changes the topic altogether. "I have to come up with a way to get myself into the infirmary."
Daphne blinks at Hermione, trying to keep up with her thought process. "Um. Why?"
"I need to see the latest petrified victim."
"Ok, but why?"
"I can't figure out why Mrs. Norris was only petrified and not killed. So if there is another petrified victim, I might be able to start connecting some missing pieces."
Daphne nods, her face thoughtful. "Oh! Did you want me to send the letter to Mrs. Malfoy, or would you like to send it?"
Hermione purses her lips and scrunches her nose. "Will she answer a letter from me?"
Daphne nods her head. "Absolutely."
Hermione looks at her friend with apparent skepticism but concedes. "Ok, then I'll send her the letter. It is my question, after all."
Daphne nods and gets up from the bed, preparing her pack for their library trip. She's stuffing her parchment paper in when she suddenly stops and looks at Hermione. "We are still going to the library, right?"
"Oh, of course. I might lose my head if I don't get started on Professor Snape's extra assignment. I figured afterward we can go to the infirmary."
Daphne nods. "Great, because I really need to get my head around the transfiguration work Professor McGonagall assigned."
Hermione looks over at Daphne as she puts the finishing touches into her pack. "Would you like some help?"
Daphne shakes her head as she flings the shoulder strap onto her left shoulder and fiddles with it until it lays precisely as she wants it too. "I'll let you know if I do. I'd like to see if I can work it out myself."
Hermione smiles in understanding. "Ok, just let me know." She says as she too puts her shoulder strap on and starts to walk towards the door of the dormitory. "So shall we?"
Hermione groans as she raises her arms above her head and stretches her back from her hunched position. She and Daphne have been at it for a while now, and Hermione is thoroughly ecstatic about the considerable dent she put into her advanced potions work. She breezed through the 5 essays she needed to write for the ingredients, and she just put the finishing touches on her dissertation for Draught of Living Death. Hermione rubs at her eyes, the dryness in them causing unbearable itchiness. Blinking rapidly to clear the spots she made to appear due to her vigorous rubbing, she turns her attention to Daphne.
"Still being stubborn?" Hermione asks as she takes in Daphne's glare that she's directing towards her open book and parchment. After hearing her question, Daphne brings her ocean eyes towards Hermione and sticks her tongue out.
"Why is this so hard ?" Daphne asks the glare leaving her eyes, and a pout appears on her face.
"Is this you finally asking for help?" Hermione asks a brow raised.
"You're so insufferable." Daphne whines. "But fine, yes."
"Ok, what's the problem?"
"The spongify charm, and the best practices for using it in everyday life."
Hermione blinks slowly at Daphne. "That's what you're having a problem with?"
Daphne's pout turns into a full sulk. "I knew you would say that." Daphne sighs. "I have my 5 best practices for the essay, but how in all of wizardkind am I supposed to make this a 3-foot essay! I barely have afoot!"
Hermione rolls her eyes. "Daphne, you're being dramatic and making this far more complicated than it needs to be." Daphne glares at Hermione, and she continues. "Just expand on what you have. Make every practice that you have, have its own paragraph."
It was Daphne's turn to slow blink, and then she slumps forward, hitting her head softly on the table. "Why didn't I think of that!?" She whines to the floor.
Hermione giggled into her hand. "It's ok Daphne, I have lapses like that all the time when I'm trying to finish an assignment."
Daphne sits back up with a pout and rubs at her sore forehead. "You're just saying that to make me feel better, Hermione."
"Certainly not! It's much more fun for me to see you suffer than to try to reassure you."
Daphne glares at her. "I denounce you as my best friend."
Hermione shook her head. "Nope, sorry you're stuck with me for life."
Daphne sticks her tongue out, and the two girls giggle quietly. They lapse into silence again, Daphne quickly bending over her parchment to get started on fleshing it out, and Hermione decides to take a look out the window. Resting her head on her palm, she lets her mind go quiet, not really focusing on any of her thoughts. She continues this for a little while until her eyes end up focusing on her reflection.
Medusa was killed using her own reflection. Hermione scrunches her nose at the thought. I wonder… Hermione can't help but let a sigh pass through her lips. I still need more information. It's a matter of life and death for muggleborn students, Hermione frowns and looks back down at her completed essay. It seems like an exaggeration, but unfortunately, it's not. How unfortunate. Hermione leans back into her chair and rubs her scalp. Knowing she's making an even worse mess out of her already wild curls, she just doesn't care at the moment. It would really help if I could just figure out what kind of creature this was. Or if someone else knew and was willing to expunge that information on someone else. Hermione stretches her arms and arcs her back. Oh well. I think it's time to get started on another essay. Hermione thinks as she fishes out a brand new piece of parchment. Let's get to work on this polyjuice potion.
The duo continues to work until Madam Pince came over. "It's time for dinner, please pack up and head to the Great Hall." Hermione and Daphne both jump at the voice but nod quickly and begin to pack up. With everything packed, the two girls leave and follow the rest of the student body.
"Have you made a decent dent into your homework Hermione?" Daphne asks as they both avoid the crowd of students.
"Oh yes, I've finished all the ingredient essays Professor Snape wants, and I've finished the essay on Draught of Living Death, and I'm almost finished with my Polyjuice potion essay. So I only have three left. Which as long as I finish the Polyjuice tonight and get started on another, I'll finish tomorrow easily."
Daphne nods. "That's wonderful, I don't know how you do it!"
Hermione shrugs. "I like knowledge. I always have."
Daphne raises a brow. "You're also rather competitive when it comes to it."
Hermione shrugs again. "Some people compete in athletics, I just happen to compete in academics." She pauses for a second. "I also just so happen to prefer it when I'm first in everything."
Daphne giggles, and the two lapse into a casual conversation as they get to the Great Hall and towards the Slytherin table.
Hermione knocks on Professor Snape's door. It's her second lesson of the season, her essays are finished, and she's somewhat content with her knowledge of the ingredients he listed and the potions. She's thought about what potion he might have her make, and she's come to the conclusion it's either going to be the Calming Draught or Felix Felicis, because of the lower difficulty level from the other three.
I hope I'm wrong, though. Hermione thinks as Professor Snape opens the classroom door with just a mere glance at her direction before he turns away and stalks to the front of the classroom. She follows behind him, placing her pack at her usual desk for these lessons. Hermione takes out her essays before being asked and puts them to the side of her, she then proceeds to take out her two potions books, quill set with ink pots and pieces of parchment. With all that taken care of, she then moves to the closet with rows of cauldrons, walking towards the back of the closet, she begins to look at the Copper cauldrons.
When she first began her potion lessons, and she took a Pewter cauldron Professor Snape was so annoyed about it he didn't stop lecturing her about it for 15 minutes. I can't believe I agreed to teach someone who picks a Pewter cauldron for advanced lessons. Was something he continued to mutter for the rest of her lessons. Grabbing the best looking Copper one she can find, she brings it over to her desk and sets it up. With all her preparations done, she sits down and waits for the Professor to address her.
Just as she sits down, the chalkboard to the right of Professor Snape's desk flips over. But it reveals nothing, Hermione frowns somewhat confused. Her attention is then diverted from the chalkboard to her now floating essays that stay suspended in the air for a few seconds before they zoom over to Professor Snape's desk and land in a neat pile in front of him.
The silence continues as he scans the essays. Hermione, beginning to get bored and anxious she opens the Moste Potente Potions book from where she placed a bookmark and continues to read, she's come to one of the more fascinating types of potions, poisons. She's especially fond of the illustrations the author included with all of the potions. It was exciting to see the way some of the potions worked with the body and against it.
Time ticks by, and the only sound that echoes through the classroom is the scratching of Hermione's quill. So she almost jumps when the tone of chalk hitting the blackboard interrupts the stillness. Her honey-colored eyes dart to the board to see what was being written.
Polyjuice Potion
I wonder if it's safe to assume that's the potion I'll be brewing. Hermione thinks as she taps the top of the quill against her parchment, waiting for directions.
"Out of all of your potion essays, the Polyjuice one is the only one that's acceptable. And that's barely." Professor Snape says as he puts down the essays and then moves to the chalkboard. He starts to physically write on the board as he talks. "This is one of the more demanding ones. Requiring you to have a schedule that almost revolves around it's brewing." He pauses his writing on the board and turns his dark gaze to her. "I will not be assisting you in brewing it. You are to brew this all on your own, I will only answer questions I deem to be important or imperative to the potion." He looks back to the chalkboard and resumes writing. "This potion is very volatile, and should anything be dropped into, it will be completely ruined, thus ruining the potion ingredients I'm allowing you to use. Because of this, you will brew it behind my desk. Some of these ingredients are very hard to come by, so you must handle them with care. If you do not, I will end your lessons."
He really likes to threaten my lessons with him. Hermione idly thinks as her eyes follow what he's writing.
"You will be free to come and work on the potion as needed. Clearly, you will be working on step one of the potion."
Stewing the lacewing flies for 21 days. Hermione thinks, as she impatiently waits for Professor Snape to give her some sort of direction.
"Why are you still sitting there? Get started." He says as he finishes writing on the chalkboard and goes behind his desk. He transfigures a workstation for her behind his desk and levitates the Copper cauldron to it. Hermione pops up from her seat and walks over to the potion closet. Quickly locating the lacewing flies and a bottle of distilled water, she grabs both ingredients and heads for her new work station.
Putting the bottles down, she sets the flame to a shallow setting and then walks away from the cauldron to pack up her things to bring them over to her new station.
"You're dismissed when you feel as though you've completed the first step." Professor Snape says as he disappears into his office. Hermione blinks after his form for a minute before shrugging and checking the cauldron, rolling her eyes when she realizes that the cauldron is only halfway heated. Taking a seat, she decides to flip to where the polyjuice potion is located in the advanced potions book to review it.
After reviewing the potion, she studied the cauldron again, satisfied it was significantly heated through she poured the distilled water into the cauldron, and sat back to wait for it to come to a simmer. After waiting for just a few more minutes, it came to a simmer. Hermione watched the bubbles, satisfied once again that it was at a proper simmer she poured 4 measures of the lacewings into the cauldron. With the lacewings added, she packed up all of her materials. Double-checking, she hasn't left anything behind; she checks on her simmering lacewings.
Lowering the heat on the cauldron so that it was barely licking the cauldron, she places a lid over the top of it. Shouldering her pack, she walks to the closed office door. She knocks and, without waiting for an answer, talks through the door.
"Professor, I'm done for the time being. Have a good night." She says, and with that leaves the potion classroom. Blinking in a slight surprise when she sees Zabini and Nott waiting just outside the classroom door.
"Zabini, Nott." She says as she closes the door behind her.
"Oh, thank Merlin, you're done, Granger." Zabini says as he straightens up from his slumped position.
Nott rolls his eyes. "What he means to say, Granger is that Daphne sent us here to make sure you got to the dorms safely."
"Oh." Hermione pauses, still reeling from the surprise. "Well, thank you, both of you. I'm sorry you wasted your evening like this." Hermione decides on and starts to walk towards Slytherin house. Zabini and Nott following and flanking her on either side.
"As long as you continue helping us with our homework, we can call it even." Zabini says.
"Blaise!" Nott frowns at him. "That's a bit rude."
Hermione can't help the giggle at Nott's affronted face. "It's ok Nott, I understand what he means."
Nott frowns as his dark eyes turn towards Hermione. "He still could have said it more graciously."
Zabini rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything.
"Granger, I do have a question if you don't mind." Nott says. Hermione nods her head. "In charms class, you performed the shrinking charm perfectly on your first try. How did you do that?"
Hermione looks towards him and smiles. "Well, it was rather easy. I'm afraid to say. But you see…" Hermione starts, and the trio quickly falls into a conversation about charms.
