Chapter 18: Water Breathing Potion
Brixton woke early and headed to the Great Hall. She was dressed in a black button-up shirt and dark jeans. The top half of her hair was pulled back in a clip to help tame her usual wild curls. Even though it was summer, she wanted to look professional and modest. She had been told by Headmistress McGonagall that things were a little different during the summer. What she saw when she entered the grand room reflected that. All of the long House tables were covered with white cloth and the room was very quiet without all of the students. She nervously made her way to the High Table that was covered in food, as usual. The only people at the table were McGonagall and Snape.
Once she made her way to the table, Brixton paused and looked at her former professors nervously. McGonagall was the first to speak, "C'mon, dear. You are officially one of us. There is nothing to be shy about. Join us for breakfast." McGonagall was seated at her usual spot in the center of the table and Snape was to her left. Brixton chose to take the seat to Snape's left. McGonagall smiled and said, "It's funny that you chose that seat. That will actually be your place every day when the school year starts. We are creatures of habit, but we sometimes mix it up depending on which professors are here during the summer on any given day."
Brixton smiled, "I know the summer has just begun, but I am so looking forward to the start of term. Where will Neville be seated?"
McGonagall smiled back and said, "To the left of you. I made the arrangements myself knowing that you would want to be seated near your friend. I assume that you two will have a much better time chatting together than separated."
"Thank you," responded Brixton, "that was very kind and thoughtful of you."
McGonagall grinned and nodded before turning to eat the pastry sitting on the plate in front of her. Brixton looked over the table and decided on a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast as she filled her plate. Severus turned to her and said, "It's nice to have you join us, Professor."
Brixton felt heat rush to her cheeks and scolded herself for being so easily affected by the man's words. She replied, "I thought you were going to be gone for a few days."
"I am leaving just after breakfast. You will find that I have already emptied my office and personal quarters so that you may move into them as soon as possible. Your personal belongings will be moved to your new room for you today. As far as furniture goes, you can get with Dobby and tell him what you want in your office and the House Elves will take care of it. I have already moved my things to the Defense office and quarters," he replied.
"Oh, wonderful! Do you know if Professor Flitwick will be here any this summer? He and I have talked about window charms that can allow light into the dungeons and depict any scenery that I wish. I hope to have windows that show the Black Lake and the area of the Forbidden Forest where my favorite thestrals stay," she said excitedly.
"Professor Flitwick will return two weeks before start of term so you will have plenty of time to work on that with him," laughed Severus, "It had never occurred to me to add window charms to my classroom or office. That is actually a rather brilliant idea."
"Thank you," she smiled.
Severus' face got very serious all of a sudden as he said, "Now, do be careful with your experimentations over the next few days. You know how delicate and sometimes volatile certain ingredients can be. You are now the Potions Mistress and you have all the experience you need, but I still must urge you to use good judgement."
McGonagall perked up at this, "Oh, what are you trying to create, Professor Winchester? I have heard of the success of your blood clotting potion from Madame Pomfrey."
Brixton answered, "Please, call me Brixton when there are no students around. I don't really want to share my ideas until I know if they are going to be successful or not. I will say that I am going to be working on three different potions. Two of them I have been thinking about for years now, and the third has just come to me in the past few weeks. I hope that my brewing experience and knowledge of ingredients will pay off."
"I'm sure that they will, Brixton," McGonagall replied, "Severus tells me that you are the best potioneer that he has ever seen and that you are very capable. The fact that you were able to brew such an effective blood clotting potion that saved many lives while you were still a student is an exceptional accomplishment in itself."
Brixton blushed and replied, "Thank you for the kind words. I will be happy to share the results of my experiments if they are successful."
Shortly after, Brixton excused herself from the table and headed to the dungeons to begin her work. She walked into the Potions classroom feeling hopeful and excited. She noticed that the desk she had been using all year was gone and that Professor Snape's old desk was empty. All of the Slytherin banners and décor had already been changed to a Ravenclaw theme. She smiled at the thoughtfulness of that and just knew that that had been Severus' doing.
She didn't even bother looking at her new office or sleeping quarters. She figured she would get to that at the end of the day. Her hands were practically itching to get started. She decided that since it was the summer she would work in the openness of the classroom instead of the small brewing room. Brixton gathered a brass cauldron and all the utensils she would need for her potion. Pulling a notebook out of her bag, she turned it to the right page. She then went to the store room and gathered her five ingredients. Because there were no rare or exceptionally expensive ingredients she decided to make a full batch of her desired potion. She hoped that her confidence would aid her in her endeavor.
Brixton lit the flame beneath the cauldron and immediately added the herbaria. She used her stirring rod to stir rapidly and watched for the change of color. When the potion was blue she stopped stirring. As she worked she made detailed notes of every step, measurement, and color change of the potion. While she allowed it to simmer she diced her bursting mushroom and added it to the mixture when it had turned blue. She stirred some more and when the potion was a dark grey she added the boomslang skin. While that was simmering she used a mortar and pestle to crush the bat spleen. Just as the potion turned green she added the bat spleen. She stirred rapidly counter-clockwise until the potion turned yellow and then she stirred clockwise until it was back to a bluish hue. At this point she quickly diced the gillyweed and added it to her concoction. It was then that she shut the flame off and allowed it to cool.
After the potion had cooled she took a vial and measured out a sample and put the rest into three large glass mason jars. She labeled them "Water Breathing Potion" and set them on a shelf near her desk. She hoped that her calculations were correct and that she would be able to share her findings with the wizarding community. She wanted to share her potion with Luna the most, as she knew that such a potion would enable her friend to look for aquatic magical creatures in a way that would otherwise be impossible.
After cleaning up her mess, Brixton headed to the hospital tower and made her way to the prefect's bathroom. She looked at the opulent bathroom with excitement. The massive bathtub would allow her to safely test her potion. There was no way she was stepping foot in the Black Lake, especially not alone. As the bathtub filled with water and bubbles, Brixton undressed and sat her clothes on a nearby marble bench.
She took a deep breath, checked the time on her watch, and then downed the vial of her Water Breathing Potion. The potion went down smooth and she did not experience any choking or gasping she had expected from watching Harry ingest gillyweed during the Triwizard Tournament. It took a few seconds, but then Brixton could feel her body changing. Her hands went up to feel the gills opening up on her neck. She looked down to see that her fingers and toes were growing webbing between them. She quickly plunged into the water and was happy to find that she could breathe perfectly fine under the water.
Brixton swam around the small pool sized tub for the longest time. When she finally began to tire she settled at the bottom of the tub. She sat there with her head leaning against the side of the tub. With nothing else to do, Brixton allowed her mind to wander. She thought of many things. She didn't know how much time had passed, but she knew it was much longer than the hour that ingesting gillyweed alone would allow a person to breath under water. She thought of the implications of how much could be accomplished with such a potion.
Before long, her thoughts drifted to the raven headed man who had so thoroughly captivated her heart. She thought of how he had ravished her with kisses just a week ago. She knew that he had been trying to show her just how much he desired her and found her beautiful regardless of her scars. Her vanity and pride made her still hate the scars, but he had managed to dull the pain that the scars had caused her.
She wondered how their date was going to go and what Hogsmead was like. Brixton was thrilled at how Severus wanted to take her out in public. That made it feel like a proper relationship rather than stolen kisses and naughty moments shared in the secrecy of the dungeons. She hoped that he wanted an actual relationship as much as she did. The idea of that had her heart pounding.
After some time, she began to think of her friends and their own endeavors after Hogwarts. While she had never had much interest in sports, she hoped that Ginny would be successful as Chaser for the Hollyhead Harpies. It sounded like such a glamourous job and she knew that Ginny was meant to play Quidditch. She was a natural.
It was Ron and Harry that she thought of next, worried about their careers as Aurors. Even though Voldemort was dead and the most notorious Death Eaters either dead or imprisoned, there were still a lot of dark witches and wizards out there that would seek to do any Auror harm. She knew that Harry was a particularly skilled duelist, but she worried about Ron. He had always seemed to want to be in the spotlight, but she worried he might not have what it took to hunt down those who seek the darkness. Despite her doubts, she reminded herself of the fact that Ron had more than proven himself during the Battle and during the search for Horcruxes. After the Battle he had really kind of stepped into a new light and shaken off most of his inferiority issues. Brixton tried to tell herself that he would do just fine as an Auror.
Finally, she thought of Neville and how happy she was that her close friend was going to be joining her soon as Professor of Herbology. While she had done well in Herbology herself, she knew that Neville had an almost encyclopedic mind when it came to magical plants. She looked forward to collaborating with him on future potions that she might be able to create with his help. A strong wave of hope washed over her as she remembered another new potion she was hoping to create over the next few days. It would be a difficult potion, but if it was as successful as she thought it might just change Neville's life forever.
Before long, Brixton was so relaxed at the bottom of the tub that she drifted off to sleep. After some time her eyes flew open and she began gasping for air, only to find that it was only water that poured into her lungs. She stood up and flung herself out of the tub to lie on the cold floor of the bathroom. She sputtered and coughed up water for several minutes before she was finally able to catch her breath. As soon as she recovered she stood and grabbed her watch off of the marble bench.
"EIGHT HOURS!" she exclaimed with joy. It was much more time than she had anticipated and the implications of how useful this potion would be for the wizarding community were not lost on her. She quickly dressed and hurried off to her new quarters in the dungeons. She knew she had to write a letter to Luna immediately and she was going to send several vials of her potion for Luna and her father to try out while they were in Australia. She was practically bubbling with excitement and could not wait to share her results with her best friend.
Author's note: Finally a potion of my own making! Most of the recipes to the potions I have used in this story I have used Harry Potter Wiki for references. This time it was one of my own creation just using the site for information on various ingredients. It was very fun and there are two more potions that Brixton will create while Mister Tall Dark and Brooding is away. As always, happy reading!