Elysian Potter: The Forgotten Queen.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor d I own the original idea for this story. All rights for the characters go to the magnificent J. K. Rowling and the original idea belongs to CharmedMilliE-Karry Master.

Elysian's Theme Song: You Should See Me In A Crown, Billie Ellis

Chapter Four: The Potions Master

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to Heir Malfoy and Heiress Greengrass."

"With the auburn-hair?"

"Did you see her face?"

"Did you hear her name?"

Whispering was all Elysian could hear when she and Daphne entered the common room that morning. People stared at her, like she was a freak, then turned away the moment she caught their gaze. It seemed people had finally gotten over the shock of discovering their 'saviour' had a sister and were now wondering why such a paragon of Gryffindor was in Slytherin. They sent her suspicious and accusing looks, trying to see if she would suddenly crack and say she had tricked the sorting hat on order to spy on for her family. It irked her.

"You can't really blame them for staring," said Draco when Elysian glared at one of the on-lookers. "You are a Potter, after all."

"Draco does have a point," said Daphne quietly.

"I understand their fear but how can I prove to them that I'm not secretly here for my –" she shivered, "brother?"

"A vow would do," said Daphne.

"A vow?" Elysian gaped. "Oh my Merlin… I can' t believe I'm having to do this." Elysian stood up on the table, gaining the attention of every Slytherin in the room as well as Professor Snape who had just entered. "Listen up! I've been reliably informed that everyone in this common room currently believes that I am a lion in snakes scales and I am about to dispel this unpleasant rumour!

I, Elysian Lillian Potter, do hereby swear upon my magic and my life that I am in Slytherin purely because it is where I belong and not because I coerced the hat or an in league with the Headmaster, so mote it be."

Everyone stared at her in shock at the power behind the vow. Elysian smirked and waved her wand, casting a silent Lumos, and enjoyed seeing everyone's acceptance as the light came out.

"Happy?"

The common room nodded in agreement and soon returned to their normal activities.

"An excellent demonstration of solving a problem without the help of others," said Professor Snape, gliding into the centre of the room just as Elysian hopped off the table.

Everyone's eyes were immediately set upon the Professor as his black eyes glided over everyone's faces. He stopped for a moment at Elysian, Draco and Daphne before continuing and opening his mouth to speak, saying, "this is the way all Slytherins should handle their problems within the house. Inside the common room."

No one spoke.

"Now, since I am here… Heiress Potter, I shall see you first."

He then turned, his cape billowing behind him, and walked out with Elysian trotting along behind him. She would never admit it, but she was slightly afraid of the Potions Master in front of her: she had been told the stories of what the Marauders used to do to Professor Snape and immediately realised that she was likely to be tared with the same brush her parents were. He could either end up ruining every plan she had ever constructed or become her greatest ally in the events to come.

Professor Snape led her up a set of stairs and into a very dark office with only the bare essentials inside. He motioned for her to take a seat before taking one himself and giving her a look that she swore made it so he could see into her soul. Neither of them spoke for several minutes and Elysian couldn't stop fidgeting from nerves.

"Heiress Elysian Potter," he spat her last name with such venom that she visibly recoiled, "welcome to the snakes pit. I understand that you've already had trouble with your fellow snake and I am… glad… you took the action you did. Now, remain still."

Elysian did as instructed and remained completely still as Professor Snape pulled out his wand and waved it over her. She visibly swallowed as his face contorted in confusion.

"Is everything alright?" she asked softly.

"How often have you been to a healer?" the question was very random but Elysian answered anyway.

"Once… when I was a baby."

"Before or after the events of Halloween?"

"Before."

"And never again afterwards?" he continued prodding.

"Yes… Li-mum," she forced, "and Ja-dad took great care of me."

His eyes narrowed and Elysian knew she had been caught. She couldn't allow him to take her away from them yet, it would ruin everything! He seemed to sense it was something she didn't want to speak to him about and spoke no more. Instead he pulled open the draw of his desk and pulled out four potions which Elysian immediately recognised as nutrition potions.

"Take these every day for the next four days and then return to me for more," he ordered.

"Yes sir," Elysian agreed grabbing one of the potions and drinking it under his watchful gaze. "Is that all?"

"For now, Heiress Potter," said Professor Snape. Then his voice softened. "You can come to me whenever you need me. I take care of my snakes."

"Thank you, sir."

Getting up, Elysian left the room as quickly as she could as the next person went inside. She was soon found by Daphne and Draco and the three dived into a deep discussion about their classes and what they hoped they would be taking. Draco could tell something that his godfather had said had shaken Elysian and silently swore he would find out: she was his sister in all but blood and he would protect her like she did him.

"Come on," said Daphne with a tense smile, "the prefects are leading us to breakfast."

Silently, the three friends made their way towards the Great Hall. Elysian was constantly glancing around, memorising the castle and all of its hallways for later. Most of Slytherin were crowded around them and the elder years were being very careful not to allow any of their fellow students to wander off. Crabe and Goyle were trotting behind Draco, like usual, and were getting easily confused by all the twists and turns the Slytherins had to take in order to get out of the dungeons and to the Great Hall.

When they arrived they were greeted with mostly silence: only three people per house were currently in the Great Hall and it was then that the Slytherins realised how early they had all awoken.

"Get used to it," said a second-year girl next to Draco. "We get up this early every morning."

"Well you know what they say, no rest for the wicked," said a fourth-year with a smirk.

"Well our house colour is green," said Elysian as she settled down into her seat beside Draco and Daphne. "And wicked always wins."

The remainder of breakfast was eaten in silence until the pride of Gryffindors, gaggle of Ravenclaws and den of Hufflepuffs came barging into the Great Hall, yelling and cheering like idiots. Elysian, with a quick nod to her friends, stood up and moved towards the Hufflepuff table, more specifically the small timid boy she had become friends with years ago.

"Merry meet Elysian," the timid boy said.

"Merry meet Neville," said Elysian, out of the corner of her eye she watched all of the Slytherins relax. "How s Hufflepuff?"

"Amazing," said Neville, brightening happily, "I love it."

"Good, I'm glad."

"How's Slytherin?"

"Exactly what I needed," she smiled.

"Not unexpected," said Neville smiling at her.

The other Hufflepuffs, upon seeing the lake of aggression in their interaction, soon warmed up to Elysian and invited her to sit with them in order to speak to Neville fully. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot soon began questioning her on her life and on her brother, questions she skilfully dodged. Neville soon shut those questions down and Elysian returned to the Slytherin table just as Professor Snape handed out the time tables. He sent her a calculating look before continuing on and allowing Elysian to rush back over to Neville in order to compare timetables.

~EP~

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending, it was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in portraits kept going to visit each other and Elysian was sure the suits of armour could walk.

Slytherin second-years led their younger house-mates around to each of their classes for the first few weeks. It meant that they were never late to class or lost. It also meant that they wouldn't be bothered by Peeves the poltergeist, a prankster ghost who enjoyed causing misery to others as long as the Bloody Baron wasn't anywhere near him. Peeves never really bothered Elysian, however, he would prank all of her other friends but would always make sure Elysian wasn't in the firing line. The others assumed it was because of her slight connection with him that she had made on her first day of class…

Elysian had been admiring one of the portraits of some snakes when Peeves had laughed his way down the corridor towards her. He had stopped almost immediately upon finding her and she could see the calculating look in his eyes. A feral grin slipped onto his face but Elysian stopped it with a single word… a word he had never heard when addressing him.

"Hello," said Elysian.

"Hello…"

"I thought you didn't like it down here," Elysian continued, "you're afraid of the Bloody Baron after all."

Peeves remained silent.

"Are you alright?" asked Elysian, deciding to test her luck. "You don't seem to be your normal self."

The sound of the Bloody Baron's chains filled the corridor and Peeves immediately disappeared, leaving Elysian alone when the House ghost appeared to lead her back to her house. She didn't say anything as the Baron floated beside her and only mentioned it to her friends when they asked where she had been…

Professor Flitwick had been the first teacher the Slytherins had met on their first day of classes. The charms teacher was a tiny, little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first lesson he took the register, and when he reached Elysian's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.

Elysian almost fell asleep several times during History of Magic: Professor Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. Draco and Daphne had actually fallen asleep during the class but no one seemed to notice, or care, as many were trying their hardest not to do the same. Deciding to do something with the time she was wasting, Elysian grabbed her Transfiguration book and Potions book and began going over the topics she had written on the parchment she hid in the front page. Greg and Vincent, who were sitting behind her, ended up joining her in her revision session and even questioned her on certain topics when they needed help.

Professor McGonagall was very different. Elysian had been right in assuming she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they had sat down in her first class.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she changed her desk into a boar and back again. They, excluding Elysian who had heard from Neville about her previous class, were all impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realised they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After making a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Elysian and Padma Patil had made a difference in their matches; Professor McGonagall had shown the class how Padma's had changed first before being shocked to see Elysian's completed needle.

Herbology was taught by a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout. She taught them how to care for strange plants and fungi as well as what they were used for.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons near the entrance to the common room. It was colder there than up in the main castle and would have been very creepy even without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the register, and stopped at Harry's name.

"Ah yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new – celebrity."

Draco, Vincent and Greg snickered behind their hands as Harry's chest puffed out and he pulled his best… charming… smile. Elysian shook her head at the sound of girls swooning over him and turned her attention to her Head of House as he finished the register.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barley more than a whisper, but they caught every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … I can teach you how to bottle fame brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually teach."

More silence followed as both Hermione and Elysian looked ready to jump into action.

"Potters!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air. Harry's face morphed into an expression of confusion causing Elysian to smirk.

"I don't know, sir," said Harry.

"Tut, tut – fame isn't everything."

Snape turned to Elysian as Harry sent her a slight glare, silently telling her not to show him up.

"A powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death, sir," she answered flawlessly and with her perfected air of innocence.

"Correct, miss Potter. Ten points to Slytherin."

Harry's glare intensified but was quickly whipped away when Snape turned his attention back on her twin brother.

"Let's try again. Potters, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Thought you wouldn't open before coming, eh, Potter?"

Snape turned to look at Elysian who just smiled an innocent smile and spoke, "a bezoar can be found in the stomach of a goat or in the potions cupboard."

"Correct again, Miss Potter," said Snape, "at least one Potter made an effort for this class."

"What is the difference, Mr Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"I don't know," Harry seethed. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"

A few people laughed at this. Elysian and Draco shared a knowing look before turning back to look at Professor Snape as he turned his gaze upon her.

"They're the same plant, sir, with a different name as they were discovered in different areas by different cultures. They also go by a more common name of aconite as it is part of that category of poisons."

"Correct again, Miss Potter," said Snape, his anger seemingly dimming. "Well? Why aren't you writing this down?"

The following minutes were filled with quills on parchment as students rushed to jot down the notes Elysian had been stating. Harry continued to glare at Elysian from his seat but she didn't seem to mind as she simply smiled at him kindly before helping Greg and Vincent make neater notes. Professor Snape hovered near her for a few minutes but then strode back to the centre of the classroom and began putting them into pairs.

Daphne and Elysian were ecstatic to be working together and immediately sprung into action. The two girls worked seamlessly with each other, double checking the other's work just encase something happened or to review what had been done and to what standard. At the end of the lesson they had finished the potion in record time and to the high example Snape had expected from his Slytherins.

"Ten points to Slytherin, each," Snape nodded, looking at their potion. "It seems you've inherited your mother's ability with potions."

Elysian flinched at the mention of her mother, which didn't go unnoticed by Snape, but accepted the praise non-the-less. Harry was practically snarling at her and Ronald wasn't coping much better as he had only managed to destroy a cauldron instead of making an actual potion they could use. Snape took particular joy in embarrassing the red-head and that only succeeded in enraging him more.

Draco and Theo took the lead in making sure the Slytherins got out of the dungeons quickly. Arriving in the Slytherin common room, Elysian slipped up to her dorm and grinned as Ares rubbed his head against her leg before pulling out a leather-bound diary that she had ordered him to hide. Gently, she picked it up and pet her panther before pulling open the book.

"Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's findings. A person who practises this art is known as a Legilimens. Muggles might call this "mind-reading," but practitioners disdain the term as naive. The opposite of Legilimency is Occlumency, which is used to shield one's mind from the invasion and influence of a Legilimens.

Some magical creatures, such as Wampus cats, can also perform Legilimency.[1]"

Suddenly, Daphne burst into Elysian's dorm and slammed a newspaper down on her dark wood vanity that said next to the door. Immediately, Elysian slammed the book closed and handed it back to Ares before gliding over to Daphne and looking at what had the girl so shocked.

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST

Investigations continue into the break in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.

Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.

"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.

"Why would anyone break into Gringotts?" asked Daphne, more to herself than anyone else. "It's suicide."

"They're either desperate or delusional," said Elysian and something suddenly sparked in her mind.

The third-floor corridor, the break-in and Dumbledore's visit to Potter Manor were all connected. Dumbledore must have set up a test for Harry in order to continuously make him seem like the hero again. A spark ignited within Elysian and a smirk curled its way onto her face, already planning the myriad of ways to make this work in her favour. Perhaps this could further her cause for usurpation of the Potter line? Perfect.

End Chapter Four: The Potions Master.