After making my way to the compartment, I noticed I was not the only one who had been invited. At first, my excitement deflated a bit, but I thought that was only reasonable to expect that he would wish to meet other students. From the compartment's window, I could recognize a few people. Ginny Weasley sat on one of the seats, looking a bit bemused. I didn't think that she was great at potions, but as she was neither in my House or my year, it would have been understandable if I had not known.
I finally got the courage to put my hand on the door knob and enter.
"You must be Miss Hammond?" the man who I assumed was Professor Slughorn asked. I took a moment to take all of him in before nodding. He was a large man, and older than I had expected as well. His head bald head was shiny. He had a dark blue cloak on, and wore a three piece suit that was the oddest color of purple, with bright red pinstripes. The man screamed of eccentricity.
"Yes," I said, extending my arm to shake his hand. I felt like I may have been late, considering there were only two empty seats in his compartment.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, his hand shake was firm. "I've heard only fantastic things about your skills in potions from you professors."
I tried to quickly think of something humble to say, but just smiled when I couldn't think on the spot. Thinking on the spot was not my strong spot, which was probably why I wasn't good at things like Defense Against the Dark Arts or Charms. I liked Potions because it forced me to use my brain and make decisions on a time line I had control over. "That's very nice," I said, and felt awkwardly. The other few people who sat in the compartment, eating finger sandwiches, were all watching me.
I took an empty seat next to Ginny Weasley, because I didn't wish to sit next to any of the boys from Slytherin.
"You know everyone, I presume?" he asked.
I nodded, quickly, even though that was probably a lie. I quickly glanced around the room and everyone looked vaguely familiar, so it would be okay. I played with a loose thread on the bottom hem of my skirt out of nervousness. "We were just discussing last June's occurrence at the Ministry, which these three were right in the middle of-" he waved his hand, and I took another glance at who he was pointing out. Other than Ginny Weasley, it was Neville Longbottom, and Harry Potter.
Of course he was here. Everyone loved "the Chosen One" and apparently Professor Slughorn wasn't any different. He wasn't really good at Potions, but by judging from my peers, I could see that it didn't really matter if they were good.
"It really wasn't that big of a deal," Harry said, trying to slink into his seat. It made me feel better than he didn't really want to be there put on a pedestal like always.
"I had the fortune of teaching both of your parents, Katherine," he said.
"Oh?" I asked.
"Your mother grew to be a fantastic Naturalist," he told me. "During her years in school, she could always be found in the greenhouses. Always had a surplus of fantastic potions ingredients while she was here. Your father... I remember a very unfortunate incident with him in my N.E.W.T.S. Level class... I don't think he came to class for a week- took him that long to regrow all the hair on his head. I heard that your mother was working on a book when she died. How tragic her death was!"
I didn't like to talk about her death very much. It was sad, but luckily I had been too young to actually remember it. Dad hated talking about it, so I didn't know a lot about her death, or really all that much about her. I had grown up without a mother figure and I knew it was something that affected me a lot. I certainly didn't consider Vera motherly to me at all. "It was," I said, remembering that I was surrounded by my peers and a professor it would do well to impress.
"But I am sure she would be proud of you. And your father, of course, now Head of the Department of Magical Transportation!"
I just nodded. Dad was very successful at the Ministry. He had started at a low position and worked his way up. I had to talk about him a few more minutes before Slughorn moved on to someone else's influential relatives that he had taught.
It got boring quickly. I was really disappointed that this man seemed so obsessed with the rich, famous, and influential, when I had thought that he was genuinely interested in my talent. It felt like I would be locked in the compartment forever, suffering a miserable diet of finger sandwiches and having to hear about someone's uncle. I wanted to rejoin Adam in our compartment, surely he was done with his duties by now, but I couldn't find a polite way to get out of there.
Finally, after what felt like forever, he let us go. I knew we were nearly in Hogsmeade by now, but I didn't care, I wanted out. He had left us all with an invitation to drop by "whenever." I had a feeling that for most of those who had been there, "whenever" meant never.
When I was able to get back to Compartment Q, I could see that Adam looked a bit cross. He was playing Exploding Snap with Geoff, which was one of his favorite past times, but I could tell that he was angry.
"I'm so sorry," I told him, sliding the compartment door shut behind me.
"Where have you been?" he asked.
"I'm sorry," I repeated. "I got invited to meet the new Potions professor while you were both gone, I couldn't pass it up."
"Hmph," he said. I hated when he was like this, but it was so rare and he had so many other great qualities. I knew he was only being like this because he missed me and wanted to spend time with me and hadn't known where I had disappeared to, so he had probably worried.
"I'm sorry," I said, for the third time. I sat down next to him, and wrapped my arms around him. I knew this would help melt his anger away.
He won the game, and then they put the cards away. Geoff went to change, giving us a few moments alone. "I overreacted," Adam told me.
"Don't worry about it," I told him, grabbing his hand. "I know you were just worried about me."
He nodded, and leaned in to kiss me. We embraced until Geoff got back, and by then we were pulling in to Hogsmeade. I was glad he had shed his bad mood, because I was excited to be back to school.
We road in a carriage from Hogsmeade to the castle, and joined the Feast.
~.~
Of course, the feast was delicious. There was plenty of food, and I left there feeling as though I had eaten enough for a week. And there were quite a few new Hufflepuffs, which was exciting.
It was great to see everyone. Even though I didn't have many close friends, after not seeing my classmates for a few months, I was happy to catch up with them. Hannah Abbott had gotten a new kitten, and we spent some time playing with him by the fire in the Common Room after dinner.
Adam had gone off for a meeting for Quidditch. He was Captain of the Hufflepuffs, and a really great Seeker. While he had started as a Chaser, he had moved to fill in as a Seeker when Cedric had died a few years ago. He was a really great Seeker. There was even some talk of Hufflepuff having a chance at the Cup this year, which made me so proud of him.
"Did you have a nice summer, Hannah?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I did," she said. "I worked at The Leaky Cauldron for most of it, so I made a lot of money. And my family went on vacation to the sea side for a week, which was lots of fun."
I smiled. I did like Hannah. She was definitely shy, but when she got talking she was very nice. Once Adam got back, I hung out with him again, before turning in early. Classes would start tomorrow, and a good night's sleep would serve me well.
At breakfast the next morning, we received our schedules. Professor Sprout seemed pleased to hand me mine and told me she looked forward to having me in her Herbology class. I had received Outstanding grades on my Potions, Herbology, and Muggle Studies O.W.L.s.
My schedule included Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology before lunch, and Transfiguration and Muggle Studies after lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had a long Potions class before lunch. Astronomy met on Friday nights, once a week, which gave me Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off. This seemed like the perfect schedule. On Tuesdays, my free time aligned with Adam's free time, which made me really happy. Overall, it seemed like it was going to be a good year.
Classes started the next day, and there was no delay in assigning us homework. I was in N.E.W.T. Level classes now, which seemed to be considerably harder. A few of my classes were for things I did not really need- namely, Transfiguration and Muggle Studies. They would not help me in a year when I went to find an Apothecary to work for. I had discussed with my father the idea of going into Potions research, either with St. Mungo's Hospital or the Department of Mysteries. I knew he strongly wanted me to work for the Ministry like he did, but I wasn't sure that was the direction for me. It was too secretive. I did not like the idea of having a job that consumed my life in the way. Running an Apothecary seemed like something I would enjoy a lot more.
But I had another year to dwell on my future before I had to make a solid decision, thankfully.
I had been a student of all of my teachers before, though Snape was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. That was an interesting change, I thought. He seemed like he would be a good teacher. I didn't like his personality, but I didn't hate him with the same ferocity of most of my classmates. I did, however, hate the amount of homework we left class with, so I spent that night in the library, trying to get work done, and looking forward to tomorrow's Potions lesson.
Even though Slughorn had disappointed me on the train, I still held hope for his classes. After all, he had been the Potions teacher here before, and Dumbledore wouldn't have brought him back if he wasn't a good teacher.
Tuesday morning, I was pleased to find my class was nice and small. I knew there would only be about ten people in the class. The dungeon felt familiar to me, and I was happy to see cauldrons at every table, already churning with a potion. Four Slytherins were sitting at one table, and four Ravenclaws were at another. I decided to take a seat at the empty table, and began to set up my scales and book.
I was overwhelmed with the scent of the potion at our table. Immediately, I recognized it as Amortentia, which smelled like what was attractive to us. To me, it smelled like the clean, crispness of Adam's soap, the lemongrass stuffed satchels my grandmother gave me that made my trunk smell nice, and the smell of earth after a thunderstorm. It was easy to succumb to the effects of the potion. My head felt light, and my hands, closest to the steam from the potion, began to tingle.
Hermione Granger walked in, and took a seat next to me. I had never really had a conversation with her before, despite being in some of the same classes. She nodded at me as she began to set up her things. I watched as the effects of Amortentia hit her: her eyes became glassy and she stopped setting up. It took her a moment to clear her mind. She pulled at her collar, trying to recover.
"Amortentia," I whispered to her, pointing to the cauldron.
She looked at me, a little startled. "Oh, good," she said. "I thought I was going a bit mad."
Slughorn started class a few minutes later, and began with a discussion of the potions that were at our tables.
He was interrupted, however, by Harry Potter and his friend, Ron Weasley, coming in to class late. "I'm sorry, sir," he said. "There was some confusion with the scheduling. Professor McGonagall wanted me to give you this."
Slughorn took a moment to read the note from McGonagall and nodded. "No problems, then, Harry, m'boy, you two go grab what you need from the store cupboard and get seated. We're discussing Amortentia."
The clanked around in the storage cupboard for a few minutes before finally taking their seat at our table. Hermione continued to educate the class on the potions we had in front of us today.
"Amortentia smells different to all of us, because it smells like what we are attracted to. It should make us feel infatuated, but it's a very superficial infatuation."
Slughorn seemed impressed by Hermione's knowledge, which redeemed him in my eyes. He was not looking for purely people with connections. He awarded her twenty points after she identified the potions.
"And this, our last potion today, is Felix Felicis." he said, waving a hand in front of the cauldron. The liquid inside of it was golden and beautiful. I had never seen this potion before, but it excited me. It was liquid luck.
"Liquid luck!" I said.
"Miss Hammond, I take it you know what this does?" Slughorn asked.
"It makes you... lucky." I told him.
"Ten points to Hufflepuff," he said. I beamed, feeling successful. "Although it's a difficult potion to brew, it has a great effect. Anything you attempt while under its effect will succeed, at least while you've got it in your system."
"So why don't people take it all the time?" one of the Slytherin boys asked.
"Adverse side effects," Slughorn replied, "mainly recklessness. And it's toxic in large doses. But in the right amount and context, it can be a wonderful experience. And one of you will get to experience it."
There was a change in the air of the classroom. Suddenly, we all cared. We wanted this potion. He held up a tiny bottle of it. "Twelve hours of luck for whoever brews the best Draught of Living Death. We're got about two hours left in this lesson, which should be enough time for you to make good progress. I'm not expecting perfection, merely good effort. You may begin."
We all scrambled to collect our ingredients and get it going. There was a definite sense of competition in the classroom. It was a really difficult potion, though, especially considering I hadn't brewed anything more complicated than a simple pain relieving potion since June.
Hermione struggled with it more than I did, which gave me hope. Before we had begun, I had considered her my biggest competition, but she was very frustrated and her potion had begun to turn a very awful, dark color, not unlike tar.
I tried to do the best I could, and in the end, I had a frothy pale concoction. Hermione's was hopeless, and Ron was swearing constantly at his potion, as if that might revive it. I was nervous as Slughorn made his way around the classroom, peering in to our cauldrons. The wide array of scents and colors of the potions surprised me, but I guess it was a good indicator of just how tough the potion had been to make. There were so many ways to go wrong.
Slughorn had given my potion a long glance, and nodded approvingly. I thought that I had secured the bottle of Felix Felicis, when he got to Harry Potter's cauldron.
"Most definitely the winner!" Slughorn cried.
I was taken by surprise. I did not expect Harry to win. I had been too focused on my potion to pay attention to him, as I had immediately written him off as a non-competitor. But after glancing in his cauldron, his potion was definitely the best. I took a deep sigh and swallowed my resentment. He had honestly brewed the better potion; I couldn't fault him for that.
I sighed and collected my things. I may not have won today, but that was all right, really. It was a challenging class that would reward me eventually. I just wanted eventually to start soon.
Author's Note: Wow! You guys blew me away with all the response on the last chapter. Keep it up! Here's chapter two, chapter three should be up soon :) Thanks to potter-reading-coastie for being an awesome beta :) Please let me know what you think!