Chapter 8
A Very Confusing First Day
The next morning I woke up to someone shaking me.
"She awake? Is she awake? She's going to be late!" a girl's voice said.
"Five more minutes, Pansy." I mumbled, instinctually going to slam on a nonexistent alarm clock to shut it off.
"Hannah!" Willow's voice said as I was shaken some more. "Wake up!"
I groaned, growled and threw the blanket off of my head "Hi, Willow…who the Skinner are you?" I asked Willow's friend.
She had dark skin and brown hair and eyes, and she was already wearing her robes.
"I'm Katherine Felwaters." she said proudly "Pleased to meet you." she said. "I wanted to talk to you last night, but…" she giggled "your boyfriend hurried up so fast I never got to say so much as hello."
"Well, hello." I said brightly as I shut the bathroom door.
…
After getting changed into my uniform and making sure my hair was just right (I decided to go au natural that day.) I walked downstairs with Willow and Katherine (who was more like a wallflower in my dorm, she hadn't said a word since she introduced herself) where Draco was waiting for me.
"No makeup this morning, Princess?" Draco asked, smirking as he leaned against the mantle like he had been doing for six years as he waited for me.
"No. I chose to embrace my God-given tomboy nature." I said, rolling my eyes "Sorry to disappoint."
Draco shook his head "Hannah, Hannah, Hannah…" he tutted "you are obviously the most insecure girl in this school, if you think that you're not beautiful without makeup."
I blushed "And this is showing insecurity how?" I asked.
"It shows your insecurity because you think that without makeup, that I wouldn't comment on how you look." Draco said, taking a step towards me "You're beautiful, with or without makeup."
"AWWWWEEEE!" Katherine and Willow said together.
"Why must you always know the right charming thing to say?" I asked, turning bright pink.
"I learned to be a Romeo at my father's knee. Believe it or not…" Draco said, swinging me into a dip like when we were in Madam Malkin's "and you may call me crazy, but he can be an ideal romantic." he explained before kissing me.
"Death Eater romance…I like it." I giggled.
Draco went stone faced and pulled me up. "Shouldn't we be getting to the Great Hall?" he asked.
I creased my eyebrows together "Yeah…Great Hall." I said as Draco and I walked out of the common room, hand in hand. Katherine and Willow following us.
I was confused…it seemed that every time that I mentioned the Death Eaters, Draco would become all serious…but, the million Galleon question was…why?
Suddenly I felt someone tapping my shoulder and Draco drew his wand "Who's there?" he demanded before lowering his wand. "Oh…Potter." he sneered.
"Malfoy." Harry said, taking my other hand "I need to talk to my sister…alone." he said, wrenching me from Draco with a dirty look and taking me to the Great Hall.
"What's going on, Harry?" I demanded as Harry swung me into the wall outside the Great Hall.
"What's Malfoy doing?" Harry asked, looking me in the eyes.
"What do you mean?" I asked, creasing my eyebrows together.
"Last night, did Malfoy do anything big?" Harry asked again, taking a firm grip on my arm.
"All he did was check my dorm for Death Eaters, Harry." I said, shaking my head.
"Checking…your dorm…for Death Eaters?" Harry asked, letting my arm go.
I nodded "Did I stutter?" I asked.
Harry shook his head and let me go. "This is odd…he obviously wouldn't be checking for his own kind…unless he's trying to make sure that they were in the dorm…" Harry muttered to himself before looking back at me "I want you to stay away from him." Harry said.
"Harry, what's the problem?" I asked, slightly shocked and taken aback. Harry had issues with me and Draco being together, hell, I'd be lying if I said he was cool with it…but Harry never tried to stop me from being with him.
"Don't ask questions." Harry snapped, turning to me "I forbid you to see Draco Malfoy again." he ordered.
"But Harry, you know I love him!" I snapped back.
"I'm doing this for your own good, Hannah. He's dangerous." Harry explained "He's going to get you killed!"
"Harry, you're sounding so much like Ivy when we were in Diagon Alley!" I said "Draco. Is. Not. Trying. To. Kill. Me!" I said, enunciating every syllable.
"I still don't want him near you." Harry said.
"Why!?" I shouted, getting annoyed.
"BECAUSE I SAID SO!" Harry shouted flatly.
"WHO DIED AND MADE YOU THE BOSS OF ME?!" I shouted back.
"SIRIUS!" Harry added "HE WOULDN'T WANT THAT GIT NEAR YOU IF HE KNEW WHAT DANGER BEING WITH HIM IS PUTTING YOU IN!"
"YOU'RE SUCH A PRAT!" I screamed, putting my hands on my hips "You can't stop me from dating Draco, he's not out to murder me!"
"I never said that!" Harry said "I said he's going to get you killed!" "SAME DAMN THING!" I shouted, walking off "Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to talk to Draco."
"No you're not." Harry said, grabbing my arm and steering me towards the Gryffindor Table.
"Harry!" I said, wrenching my arm out of his grip, only to make him grab it again. "You're not making any bloody sense!"
"In time, you'll see I'm making perfect sense." Harry said flatly, swinging me into a seat next to a smirking Ivy and an angry Hermione.
"Banned her from seeing Malfoy? Nice!" Ivy cheered, patting Harry on the back.
"Really, Harry, you have no proof of this, so let Hannah live her life!" Mione snapped.
"Thank you!" I said, hugging Mione "Let's all listen to Hermione!"
"Let's not!" Ivy said, glaring at me "Harry's right, Malfoy's going to get you killed eventually!"
I scoffed as I reluctantly tucked into a Belgian Waffle with strawberries "Again, I have yet to be presented with proof!" I snapped, refusing to say anything more until McGonagall came around with timetables.
I was so angry. How could Harry forbid me from talking to Draco, even he had to admit that we made the perfect duo! Hell, Draco and I even knew before we started going out, even in first year in the Forbidden Forest:
…
Flashback
It was just after Draco and I booked it and Draco gave me hell for trying to get us killed by the thing that was drinking the unicorn's blood.
I shoved my hands in my pockets to warm them up, which provoked a remark from Draco.
"Why are your hands in your pockets?" he asked, turning to me as we walked.
I shrugged "Doing this keeps my hands warm." I said simply.
"Your hands are cold?" Draco asked.
I shrugged "A bit." I said, turning pink from a sudden wind gust.
Draco took one of my hands out of my pockets as my eyes widened, shocked.
"What the Skinner are you doing?" I asked, unsure of whether I liked it or not.
"If you pay attention," Draco sighed "I'll warm up your hands.
I honestly didn't know whether to blush or to roll my eyes until I was hit in the face with something.
A pair of black leather gloves.
"They're mine and I want them back." Draco said playfully
I smirked "You're such a flirt." I teased as I put on the gloves, that miraculously stayed on, despite the fact that they were too big.
"Your hands are tiny." Draco pointed out.
"Shut up!" I said, rolling my eyes "I know that. I'm the runt, sue me."
Draco smirked "Girls…they're so touchy." he muttered.
I smirked and decided to play a joke on Draco for that remark. I drew a deep breath, turned around and screamed "DRACO!"
Draco drew his wand quickly and whipped around "What?" he asked before tripping on a tree root and doing a face plant.
I burst out laughing "I can't believe you fell for that!" I squealed.
"You're such a bitch sometimes!" Draco snapped as I helped him up.
I grinned "I learned from the best, you prat." I teased.
"Weasley lover!" Draco sneered.
"Spoiled imp!" I snapped back smoothly.
"Potter runt!"
"Troll bogey!"
"Witch wart!"
"Hippogriff crap!"
"Giant brain!"
"Mermaid face!"
"Potter brat!"
"You suck at comebacks!" I said finally, bursting out laughing "I already called you a spoiled imp, imp and brat are the same thing!
"No way! I rule at comebacks!" Draco said "But I've never encountered a person who matches my level. Normally, with Blaise, after I say something witty, he shuts up."
Draco and I smirked at each other, which preceeded an awkward silence, which Draco killed.
"Hey, Han?" Draco asked me.
"Hmm?" I asked as I stopped walking and looked at him.
"We make a pretty good team, don't we?" Draco asked.
I giggled "Yeah, the comeback Queen Hannah Potter, and the spoiled imp Draco Malfoy."
"Stop calling me an imp! I don't even know what it means!" Draco snapped as we started walking again.
"An imp is a mischievous child and -" I started before I heard a nearby tree branch snap and a guttural growl.
"LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Draco and I shouted together before booking it, Draco grabbing my gloved hand...and taking the glove off.
…
"EARTH TO HANNAH!" Harry shouted into my ear as he stood up "McGonagall wants to talk to you about your N.E.W.T. classes." he said before walking out.
I swallowed and turned to Professor McGonagall, who had my timetable in her hand.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, all fine." McGonagall said, smiling suddenly "I must say I was very pleased with your mark, Ms Potter, very pleased. Potions, of course. I had heard that Ms Drosie had taken your textbook, from what Ms Duff's told me."
"I know, I guess I can't continue with Potions." I said, crestfallen that I wouldn't become an Auror.
"Please, Professor Slughorn shall loan you a book until you write to Flourish and Blott's." McGonagall said, smiling as she went over the rest of my lessons. "Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, excellent. Here you are, Ms Potter. I shall see you in Transfiguration." McGonagall said, handing me my timetable and hurrying off.
I smirked and read my timetable. I had Divination first, followed by a free period and Potions with Draco.
I sighed and walked off to Divination, making sure that I'd set up in Potions as close to Draco as I possibly could.
…
Divination was a nightmare. Trelawney had said that our homework was to do a month's worth of self predictions based on our dreams!
My free period I spent in the common room, thinking of why Harry would forbid me from seeing Draco anymore…it just didn't make sense!
"Hannah…" Draco's voice said behind me.
I gulped "Draco…" I said quietly.
"What'd Potter say to you this morning?" Draco asked, sitting next to me as I revised my Divination notes from the previous period.
I sighed "He said…he said I had…I had to stay away from you." I said finally, hanging my head in shame "Apparently, he thinks you're going to get me killed."
Draco tensed. "He's somewhat right." he said quietly.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Hannah, I'm not good enough for you." Draco said. "My family…well, not my mother…Father and Aunt Bellatrix…they're everything you're not."
"What do you mean?" I asked again, becoming increasingly confused.
"They're siding with the Dark Lord…and you're related to the Chosen One." Draco said dryly, standing up and walking towards the fire. "It was star-crossed from the start…I should have known it was only a matter of time before I threw you into mortal jeopardy."
"Draco, you're confusing me, stop." I pleaded, not knowing what he was talking about.
"This," Draco said finally, gesturing to me than to him "this whole thing with the love affair and everything…it was doomed from the start. We're star-crossed. I mean, look at us. I'm a Malfoy, you're a Potter, I'm blond you're a raven…I'm bad and you're good."
I stood up "Draco, stop this." I said walking over to him and putting my hands on my hips. "You're not making any sense."
Draco sighed "If only you knew…then it'd make perfect sense." he said before kissing me "I have to go. I'll see you in Defence." he said before walking off.
"Draco!" I called back to him "What are you talking about!?"
"You'll understand in time!" Draco called back to me before shutting the door.
I groaned and shoved my Divination things in my dorm.
"What did he mean when he said 'You'll understand in time'?" I asked myself repeatedly as I got ready for my next class.
…
After free period, I went up to the Defence Against the Dark Arts room and sat with Draco (evoking angry glares from Harry and Ron, and concerned looks from Ivy and Hermione.)
The classroom looked different, bathed in candlelight with posters of contorted body parts, witches in pain and other unpleasant things. I sat down in the back corner (Surprisingly, seeing as I was a nerd who liked to sit in the front row.)
"I have not asked you to take out your books." Snape said as he waltzed into the classroom like he owned the place (Well, he somewhat did.), making Hermione tuck away her copy of Confronting the Faceless back in her bag and tucking it under her chair.
"You've had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe?" Snape asked no one in particular.
I nodded as Harry glared at him silently (But his mind sure wasn't silent. He was thinking:
You believe…like you haven't watched them all come and go, Snape…hoping you'd be next. Hannah GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HEAD!
I huffed and turned my attention back to Snape, who started with a lecture.
"The Dark Arts…" he started, striding behind the teachers desk and waving a hand "are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many headed monster, which, whenever a neck is severed, sprouts a head fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed…mutating…indestructible."
I gulped. It was surely one thing to talk about the Dark Arts as respectable as an enemy…but surely it was another, to speak of them, as Snape was, like Draco would talk to me, with a loving caress in his voice?
"Therefore, your defences must be as inventive and flexible as the Arts you seek to undo. These…" Snape said, walking towards the picture "give a graphic representation to those who suffer, for example, the Cruciatus Curse," Snape explained, gesturing to a poster of a witch who was clearly screaming in pain (I hid in Draco's chest. I knew all too well what that poor witch had gone through…Draco's father, aunt and Viktor Krum had all used it against me.) "feel the Dementor's Kiss," Snape gestured to a picture of a wizard that was slumped and staring blank eyed. "and provoke the aggression of an Inferius." he gestured to a picture of a bloody mass on the ground.
"It's definite then, that he's using them?" Sheila Alexander asked, a high squeak in her voice as her New Zealand Firescale consoled her nerves.
"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past. Which means you would be wise to assume he will use them again now. Now then…" Snape said, turning to the board and writing Non-Verbal Spells on the board. "I believe you are all complete novices in Non-Verbal Spells. What is the advantage of a non-verbal spell?" Snape asked the room at large.
Hermione's, Ivy's, and my own hand shot into the air, me narrowly missing hitting Draco in the jaw.
Snape smirked, completely ignoring Mione and Ivy "Ms Potter?" he asked.
I smirked and cleared my throat as I stood up straighter to say my answer "Your opponent won't know what you're going to do to them, so it gives you an advantage." I said proudly.
"Excellent, take ten points to Slytherin." Snape said proudly to me before turning to the class again as Draco wrapped an arm around me.
"I've got the smart one." he said in a singsong voice.
"I've got the good-looking one." I said, mirroring his singsong voice as I kissed his nose.
"You will now divide, into pairs. One partner shall attempt to jinx or hex their opponent without speaking, and the opponent will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on."
Draco seized my arm before Ivy could even get out of her seat. "Han, you, me, partners. Let's do this." Draco said as he stood me up, me drawing my wand.
Draco drew his as I turned on my heel and walked over next to my brother.
"What, Malfoy? Not going to jinx my sister when her back is turned?" Harry demanded.
"Don't start, Harry." I said coldly, still angry over his accusations at breakfast. "Go ahead, Draco. You can start." I added warmly, nodding to Draco.
Draco swallowed and I read his mind as he thought the spell.
Expelliarmous!
I smirked.
Protego! I thought in retaliation.
The jinx bounced off my Shield Charm and repelled onto Draco, knocking his wand out of my hand. "Is that the best you've got, Draco?" I asked, giggling "You can be a little more rough, I'm not going to break, you know." I giggled.
"You were reading my mind!" Draco accused, picking up his wand as I smirked.
"Maybe I was…maybe I wasn't." I said nonchalantly, pointing my wand at him and reading his mind again.
Protego.
I smirked and waited my sweet time to let Draco look at me and take off the Charm.
I smiled, but inside I narrowed my eyes.
Sucker…Avarte Ascendare! I thought, making Draco levitate, then fall back down.
"HEY!" he shouted, making me smile.
"One rule to learn with me…" I said, tucking my wand away "When it comes to magic, I don't screw ass around." I said as Snape came up to me.
"Excellent, Ms Potter. Take another twenty points to Slytherin." Snape said.
Ivy snarled "Hey! Hermione repelled Neville's jinx without a single word not two minutes ago and you completely ignored her!" she snapped.
"Duff, I highly advise you remain as silent as your spells. Weasley, you're not doing it properly. Allow me." Snape said, pushing Ron out of the way and drawing his wand, pointing it at Harry.
Suddenly, Harry yelled "PROTEGO!" at the top of his lungs, knocking Snape off balance.
"Did you understand that we were practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?" Snape asked Harry as he stood back up.
"Yes." Harry said flatly.
"Yes, sir." Snape corrected.
"There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor."
I gasped "Harry James Potter!" I said.
"Detention." Snape snarled "Saturday night, my office. I don't take cheek from anyone, Potter, not even the Chosen One."
…
After Lunch and another free period, I went down into the Potions classroom and hid behind Goyle and Blaise to avoid Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ivy.
Slughorn opened the dungeon door "Come in, come in!" he said warmly to us all, more particularly Harry, Blaise and I. "Sit down! Scales, please, and your copies of Advanced Potion Making."
"Um, sir?" I said, raising my hand "I don't have a book. A Gryffindor student nicked it." I said honestly.
"Ah, yes, Professor McGonagall did mention…never fear, you're not alone in the boat. Your brother and his friend need books. There's some in the stores you may use until you write Flourish and Blott's."
"I'll set up for you." Draco said, taking my cauldron and heading to a table near the front of the room.
"Thanks." I said, smiling to my boyfriend as I went to the cupboard and opened it. "Uh oh…" I said, gaping.
There was only two books left.
Ron and Harry fought for one, which Ron turned out to be the victor in that fight, leaving me and Harry to squabble over the last book.
"One book…two twins…" Harry said, stroking his chin.
"Yes…we need to find a way to make this idea…" I said, before becoming sneaky and pointing out a window "Hey, look, a dragon!"
Harry shot around and I grabbed the book, heading back to the Slytherin table before Harry grabbed the book in my arms.
"Hannah…sis…" Harry said through his teeth as he smiled "You didn't let me come up with an idea on how I can get my book without you feeling bad."
"Harry…bro…" I said, wrenching the book towards me, talking through my teeth "I need this book more than you do. I'm the one that would have gotten in if Snape was still Potions' Master." I said.
"Rub your 'O' in some more, why don't you?" Harry said, not smiling anymore and wrenching the book towards him.
"You mean like the 'O's I got in Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, Defence, Divination as well as Potions?" I asked, wrenching the book back towards me. "On top of me being a Prefect and Quidditch Captain?"
"Rub the prefect thing in some more, I don't think my face is clean, yet." Harry snapped, wrenching the book back towards me.
"I'd love to, but I'd much rather practice my better Quidditch skills on my better broomstick." I snapped back.
"Oh, why don't you take that notion and shove it up your ass?!" Harry demanded "You Malfoy loving perfectionist!"
"Fame mongering louse!" I shouted back as Harry and I wrenched the book back and forth between us.
"Diehard conservative Slytherin badass!"
"Idiot Gryffindor Goody-Goody!"
"Uptight, bossy, asinine wench!"
"IQ of a troll having, bigheaded, paranoid, stubborn jackass!"
"At least I wasn't turned into a ferret." Harry sneered.
I gasped "You leave that instant out of this! It wasn't my fault!" I snapped.
It's a long story...for another time. Anyways:
"You Chaser wannabe!"
"Evil try hard Ferret Queen!"
Suddenly the book was taken from the both of us.
"Look what you did!" Harry shouted at me.
"Me? You're the one that started it!" I shouted back as I was handed the book back by Professor Slughorn. "See? I get it!"
"You both get it." Slughorn said brightly, handing a copy to Harry "I duplicated it. Now, take your seats."
Harry and I glared at each other and returned to our respective seats (Every house was sitting together, well, Ernie Macmillan was sitting with the Gryffindors, well, then he was the only Hufflepuff there, so...) where Draco and Blaise patted me on the back.
"Nice insults!" Blaise said. "I'm not going to forget the 'IQ of a troll having, bigheaded, paranoid, stubborn jackass' one anytime soon." he added, laughing "Nice work, Oreo."
"Hey! That's my pet name for her, get your own!" Draco snapped, kissing my temple "Nice insults, Hannah. And if it's any consolation, you made a very cute ferret in fourth year. All black and mysterious...I liked it. Who d'you think changed you back?"
"Uh, you, remember?" I asked before facing the front. "And never say I never defend you." I added finally.
"Now that that interesting turn of events is done and in the books," Slughorn started as Harry and I gave each other a very dirty look. "I've prepared some Potions just for show…" Slughorn started, gesturing to the cauldrons on all of the desks.
"Who can tell me what this one is?" Slughorn asked, pointing towards the cauldron on my table, with clear Potion boiling inside it. My hand shot up, but Hermione got called.
"It's Veritaserum. A colourless, odourless Potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth." Hermione said rapidly.
"Excellent. Who can tell me this one? Very widely known, mentioned in a few Ministry pamphlets and…yes?" Slughorn said, calling on Ivy.
"It's Polyjuice Potion." Ivy said "You drink it and you become someone else."
"Excellent." Slughorn said brightly to Ivy "And this one…who can…ah, Ms Potter, do you know?" Slughorn said, turning to me, as my hand was straight up in the air.
"Yes, sir. What you're addressing currently is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world!" I said excitedly.
"Excellent. I'll take it you knew from the mother of pearl sheen?" Slughorn asked me, beckoning for me to go in front of the cauldron by Hermione and Ivy's table.
"Yes, sir. And the steam rising in characteristic spirals…and I read it was supposed to smell differently according to what attracts us."
"Would you mind, just as an example, telling the class what you smell?" Slughorn asked me.
I nodded, gulping as I took a deep breath from my nose "I smell roses and…spearmint…a forest after it rained…a clean hockey jersey and…uh…" I blushed. I didn't know what the final thing I smelt was. All I knew was that it smelt aristocratic…expensive. A musky cologne, among other exotic things.
Slughorn waved me off "Thank you. Ten points to Gryffindor and Slytherin, ladies." he said before going on a rave about how Amortentia was the most dangerous potion in the room, with the ingestion creating a powerful infatuation, or obsession in the drinker.
"And now, it's time for us to start work." Slughorn said, smiling before Ernie Macmillan (Who had before the lesson began called the members of the previous term's DA "us old DA lags." LAME!) put his hand up.
"Sir, you haven't told us about that one." he said, pointing to a cauldron with golden drops of Potion leaping from it.
"Ah, yes…that's a tricky little Potion called Felix Felices. Ah," he said, turning to Hermione "I'll take it you know what Felix Felices does, Ms…er…?"
"Granger, sir." Hermione said, blushing.
"Granger, then. Do you know what Felix Felices does?" Slughorn asked Hermione again, a smile on his face.
"It's liquid luck. It makes you lucky." Hermione said excitedly.
"Exactly, another five points to Gryffindor. And this, is what I'll be offering as a prize for the day. One small bottle of Felix Felices, enough for twelve hours luck. But, this potion has been banned in examinations, elections and sporting events. So the winner is to use it on an ordinary day. And they will watch how that ordinary day becomes…extraordinary.
Now, how are you to win my fabulous prize? Turn to page ten in your textbooks and make a decent attempt of the Draught of Living Death. The best potion will walk away with little Felix here! Off you go!"
There was a loud scraping of chairs as everyone brought out their cauldron and scales. I took out the kit that I bought for Potions ingredients and found I still needed one thing. A Sopophorus Bean.
I got to the student stores and got two Sopophorus Beans for me and Draco, handing him one.
"Thanks." Draco said simply before opening his book, me following suite.
"Skinner, Fanelli and Faksa!" I hissed under my breath.
The previous owner had written all over my book!
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" I swore as I deciphered ingredients and followed instructions.
After another ten minutes of my potion brewing, I swore.
The previous owner had crossed out an entire line of directions and wrote in new ones!
"Skinner, Fanelli and Faksa!" I said, looking into Draco's book and noting that the Sopophorus Bean needed to be cut.
"Sir, I think you knew my grandfather, Abaraxes Malfoy?" Draco asked Slughorn, breaking my concentration and making me give the blond the worst possible look.
"Ah, yes, I was sorry to hear that he died. Dragon pox at his age…wasn't a surprise." Slughorn said, walking away.
I tried to cut the bean…but my dagger (though highly useful.) wasn't working!
I groaned and put my head on the table…and that's when I saw it.
The old owner's instructions…they made perfect sense!
Crush with flat side of silver dagger, releases juices better than cutting.
I smiled "Thank Skinner." I said before taking my dagger and a cutting board before squeezing the tiny shrivelled up bean between the two and gasping at all the juice that ran into the cauldron, turning my Potion from the deep purple it was, to the exact shade of lilac the book said was ideal!
"Nice!" I said, clenching a fist as Draco gaped.
"How the shit did you do that?" he asked.
I shrugged "Found an alternate way to release the juice." I said simply, reading the next line of the instructions.
They said to stir counter clockwise until the Potion was as clear as water, but there was an alternate direction.
Stir once clockwise after every seventh counter clockwise stir.
I raised my eyebrows and frowned slightly. Could the old owner be right again?
I stirred seven times counter-clockwise, paused, held my breath and stirred once clockwise. The effect was immediate. My Potion was as pink as I got when I blushed!
"Holy Skinner!" I said, nearly falling backwards in shock as Draco gazed quickly into my cauldron.
"The fuck did you do that?" Draco asked.
"Add a clockwise stir." I muttered, continuing to stir.
"No way, that could be wrong!" Draco said, returning to his potion for the rest of the time allotted.
"Time's…up!" Slughorn said, looking at his watch "Stop stirring, please!" he said as he started forward towards the Ravenclaw table.
He gave every potion a stir or a sniff until he came up to Draco's and my table and nodded to Draco's potion and jumped at the sight of mine.
"My Lord!" Slughorn said to me "This is a clear contender for the Felix! Excellent job, Hannah, I say one drop could kill us all! It's clear you were given your mother's knack! A dab hand at Potions, Lily was! Well, there must be another one, possibly equal to yours out there…" Slughorn said, patrolling around again.
Draco glared at me "How the shit did you get yours along so far?"
I shrugged "I don't know. I guess I'm just your little Potions genius." I said as Slughorn shouted.
"OHO! We have a tie for the Felix! Excellent work, Harry!"
"Harry!?" I shouted, shocked.
"HARRY!?" Draco shouted, angered.
"Yes, Harry! Excellent work! You and your sister seem to have inherited your mother's skills. Well, I'd better bottle another twelve hours' luck for Hannah now." Slughorn said, putting some of the golden potion into a flask for me.
"There you are, twins. Twelve hours worth of Felix Felices. And use it well!" Slughorn said, handing me the just filled flask as the bell rang.
"Oh, class dismissed!" Slughorn said.
I beamed. I had Care of Magical Creatures that period. But, I wanted to ask for a favour from Slughorn like I asked all my previous teachers beforehand.
"You go on." I said to Draco "I want to ask Professor Slughorn something." I explained.
Draco nodded and walked out with Blaise.
"Erm…Professor?" I asked shyly "Could I ask you a question?"
"Absolutely, dear girl, ask away!" Slughorn said happily.
I shrugged "As people probably no doubt know in this school now, I'm…I'm sort of a nerd." I admitted.
"Yes…and?" Slughorn asked.
"I was wondering…could I maybe…do a little extra credit?" I asked.
Slughorn seemed delighted "Excellent, excellent! Of course you may! Do you have a project in mind?"
I shook my head. "No, I just really wanted to get a very good grade in Potions so I can improve my chances on becoming an Auror."
Slughorn nodded "Ah, yes. I see. Well, why not take some of a Potion in this room. Besides Felix, of course, I'm using him as prizes for my other classes. Why not take a Potion I've brewed…test it on someone that normally has the potion's effects, and explain the reactions. Say, give Veritaserum to a normally honest person."
I nodded "Yeah! I like the idea, sir. But…would it be all right, if I…used Amortentia on someone who's already in love?" I asked.
Slughorn looked at me seriously "Now, I will agree to it…however, you must keep this…" he handed me a vial of clear liquid to me "with you at all times. It's an antidote to the potion in case it goes wrong. Do you have a person in mind to be your guinea pig?" Slughorn asked.
I smirked and tucked the Felix Felices into my pocket with my antidote "Yes, sir. I think I do." I said innocently "Could I come back for the potion? I really can't afford to be late to Care of Magical Creatures." I explained.
"Oh, no problem, dear girl, I'll walk with you. I'm on planning time, anyway." Slughorn said as he walked to the door and opened it "Ladies first."
"Thank you." I said, walking out the door.
