Here is the next chapter. For future reference Tom Senior is Tom Riddle and Tom Junior is Harry Potter. Please read and review thanks, love Angel x
After breakfast it was time for their first Herbology lesson. Hermione had been stunned something had happened to Goyle but it never entered her head that he had taken the potion intended for Harry. She had assumed he was merely stupid and had eaten something which didn't agree with him. Sometimes she just wasn't very bright at all. They walked down to the greenhouses with someone talking to her so she couldn't crowd Tom for now. Once they entered the classroom they went to sit down but were stopped.
"Welcome to Herbology. I am Professor Sprout now don't take a seat yet as I will be giving assigned seating in a moment. If you have any questions in my class raise your hand and I will get to you shortly. If you know the answer to a question I ask raise your hand. Anyone who knows an answer and shouts it out before the other person has the chance to answer will get an immediate ten point loss and a detention with me for lack of self-control. You have been warned!" she said seriously glaring at everyone but lingering on Hermione a fraction longer than necessary. Hermione was put sitting next to Neville and was really annoyed by it. Tom was sat next to Susan Bones and felt great he was getting to meet new people.
Hermione had been practicing wandless magic so she could be the best in the whole school but it hadn't been as easy as she thought it would have and was very disappointed about it. The only thing she was actually capable of mastering was the levitation charm which in her own opinion was pretty useless. What was she going do levitate her damn teachers and then drop them? No that wouldn't work and wouldn't get her closer to Tom. She would sit with Neville but she would make sure they were beside Tom on one of hid sides or if not directly behind him so she monitor his work and progress constantly. She glanced around to see all of the Slytherin members glaring at her none more so then Goyle. What was his problem? She looked at Tom to see he looked entirely uninterested in whatever was going on. She surmised on her own that he clearly had no idea what it was about. Although he elected to look that way he most certainly knew what it was about.
"Now then get settled! There we are very good. Now what most people will not tell you is that you cannot hope to be good at Potions if you are not first good at Herbology. Even Professor Snape agrees with me here. If you do not understand why certain plants and ingredients are the way they are and are harvested or grown in the way that they are you will likely fail his class. Now if you will open your books on the first page you will find a special test we will be doing for this lesson. It is an eyesight test as you need to have the best vision for Herbology so you don't accidentally put something wrong into your pot when planting or cut something wrong. Safety first" she said walking up and down the room. She stopped at the desk of Crabbe and Goyle curiously. Their own fathers had been shocking in school. Would they be shocking too? She idly wondered.
"Ok let's start here then. Mr Crabbe you cast this spell on Mr Goyle and vice versa. Remember if nothing happens that is ok too as not everyone can cast this spell!" she instructed stunned entirely as it went off without a hitch to the general shock of the Slytherin members.
"Well done boys and you leave me no choice but to award twenty points to Slytherin. I don't think I need to tell you how your fathers faired in school now do I? It is a relief that you are already miles better. Well done gentlemen you should be very proud indeed. I will speak with Professor Snape about this later on today!" she enthused as they both stood there huge smiles on their faces the pride beaming from them. Draco seemed momentarily stunned making Tom snicker as Hermione glared at the back of his head. She didn't know why he was laughing but whatever it was, was certainly not funny. Classrooms were most certainly not the places to be laughing.
"Ok Mr Potter you're up. Please try the spell. No that's not right. As you can all see Mr Potter got it wrong but who can tell me why?" she asked as he blushed. He'd tried really hard to get it right and therein lay the problem. He had forced his wand too much and the magic couldn't come out of the tense wand. Hermione rolled her eyes and raised her hand impatiently. When no one else raised their hands she had no choice but to call on Hermione even though she didn't like it.
"Yes Miss Granger?" she said pointing at Hermione who smiled deeply at being addressed.
"Well he's probably not smart enough to get that spell. I imagine it would be very difficult for someone not used to our world. Having said that though it's alright as he can learn how to do magic better!" she said condescendingly with a smile as she about just refrained from reaching over and patting him on the head as she said it.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for being a smart arse. When I asked for an answer I expected to hear something intelligent. I've heard you can be smart but I must have been misinformed. What a shame. Actually what he did wrong is he overpowered his spell and so his wand was under stress and couldn't perform well. Try again Mr Potter but relax yourself this time and don't be so tense. Like this watch me!" she said as he looked at her demonstrating the spell easily. He took a deep breath rolling his shoulder and wrist a few times before casting it again perfectly.
"Well done Mr Potter. Take three points for Slytherin for learning well in class. Now for today we shall be studying some knotgrass. We're going to be taking some sample snippets of it and taking them back to our desks for analysis. One by one I'll call you to the front of the room to cut your snippet but to do that we need to learn the diffindo or cutting charm. Miss Granger do you need something?" she asked as Hermione was wildly waving her hand around.
"I just wanted to inform you that I don't need to learn it as I already know it!" she sneered proudly.
"Very well then sit there and be quiet while the rest of us learn it. Who knows you may find you learn something by observing others. Mr Potter please go first so we can get you out of the way. I'd rather you go first instead of everyone looking at you later on!" she said thinking of him and he really appreciated it. He could go first and then relax while watching everyone else do it after him. She taught them all how to say the spell and the wand movements and chuckled when Tom went to take his go cutting the entire plant up instead of just a section of it whilst blushing his head off.
"Well done Mr Potter. Just be careful in future to not add too much power to your spells. Otherwise you did a great job and you may take another three points to Slytherin!" she said with a smile. He smiled back at her. He found Herbology relaxing and enjoyed it despite Hermione attempting to answer every question and jumping up and down in her seat impatiently as though the teacher could ever possibly miss her. Eventually she was standing and waving her hands around as Pomona charmed her chair to move away from behind her a small ways so when she went to sit down again she fell on her bottom. She acted however like she'd not seen a thing. It was done to teach her a lesson to calm down and it had worked as Hermione had assumed in her excitement to get attention she'd inadvertently thrown her chair away from her behind her. She'd vowed to remain sitting but still wave her hands around to get attention. She knew all of the answers and her face was bright red from the concentration it took to not shout them out at every turn. Everyone was so stupid. They were all so far behind her in every level Tom Potter the most but she'd get him there by hook or by crook.
In his office Severus watched as the stunned Weasley twins entered his office. "You may wonder why I've called you here and no you haven't done anything wrong but we do need to talk. You are both exceptionally intelligent people. The potions you craft are in short amazing. Please note I rarely ever say this to anyone but in your case it's true. In my youth I knew people like you only they weren't as smart and were very cruel as they used their pranking items to harm others and saw nothing wrong with it. I don't wish for you to become bullies but I have a proposition for you!" he said as they looked entirely too stunned for words.
"Yes sir, thank you sir. We didn't expect this as you can probably see. Please continue!" they said in unison as he rolled his eyes.
"I wish to help you learn how to craft more potions to use in a joke shop when you're older into which I will put some investment money. I can see there is a business for things like that and I wish to capitalise on it. I know since first year you've both wanted to do that as it was what you both told me if you remember. You'd have made fine Slytherins and despite the views of your mother it's not an insult. Your grandmother Cedrella Weasley was a Slytherin member and from what I hear she was a formidable one too. Try to work on getting those in your house to not display so openly their emotions. You manage it and so should they. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are good at this when the time for this calls but Gryffindors are bad at it just all the time. Think about it!" he said as they gasped loudly.
"We don't need to sir. We of course accept. We've always said our mum was stupid when it comes to Slytherin. Not all Slytherins are evil people with no feelings; they just hide it better than others can. We never share our emotions with others unless we want to so most of the time people don't know what it is we're feeling inside. If we don't prank people anymore sir won't they suspect something funny is up?" they asked as he sighed.
"I never said to stop I just said not to do anything dangerous. Like colour changing hair, skin and clothing is cool. Making them into animals for a while is also cool and entertaining. Anything which you think I would not approve of you are not to do. We will discuss this further at a later date because I have an idea for some potions you could make which are similar to things which are currently popular in the muggle world. I know what your father does too so he may be interested. You may go now as I need to get ready for my next lesson!" he said waving his hand and dismissing the stunned Gryffindors who were silent all day. He'd given them a parchment stating which pranks were ok and he'd even written on it that at times he may ask them to prank someone and they must do it without question such as a member of staff or an irritating student. They loved this side to their potions master they'd not seen before. It was a great morning.