"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," Snape said in a quiet voice. "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…" His voice trailed off into the silence of the classroom, every student hanging on his every word. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death."
Snape cast his gaze about the classroom, as if ensuring the complete and utter attention of each student was on him. Finally, he locked eyes with Harry. "Mr. Potter. What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Harry thought for a moment, thinking back to when he read the first few chapters of his Potions textbook while living at the Leaky Cauldron. "The Draught of Living Death, I believe, sir. A powerful sleeping potion," he finally answered confidently.
Snape's left eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch. "Indeed. Five points to Slytherin. Weasley," he said as he shifted his gaze to the other side of the classroom, "where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"Erm… a potion cabinet?" Ron responded weakly, adding "sir" as an afterthought.
Snape's lips twitched downwards, clearly not pleased with his disrespectful answer. "I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to have touched your book before coming to this classroom, Mr. Weasley. Five points from Gryffindor. A bezoar is a stone that can be found in the stomach of a goat." By now, Snape had circled back around to his desk, and he glanced briefly down at a sheet of paper on his desk before returning his gaze to the class. "What is the difference, Ms. Patil, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
An Indian girl who looked exactly like the one Hermione had been speaking to earlier in the morning replied, "I believe they are the same plant, sir," in a nervous voice.
Snape nodded in approval. "That is correct, it is also known as aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" Several of the Gryffindor students rushed to do just that, while all of the Slytherins (excluding Crabbe and Goyle) had already done so.
"Your assignment before all future Potions classes will be to read one section of the appendix of Magical Drafts and Potions. These will outline how various reagents will interact with each other, and how different actions you take during the brewing process will affect your potion. If you keep up with the readings, you should have no trouble with the assignment for that day. Your potion for today, the Boil Cure potion, has no complex reactions and so should be simple as long as you follow the directions, which are now on the board," Snape said as he waved his wand in a wide sweep behind him. A list of steps appeared on the chalkboard behind him.
Harry turned to Blaise. "How about you go grab the ingredients, and I'll get the cauldron set up?" Harry half instructed, half asked. Blaise nodded, and moved to the ingredient cabinet. Harry, meanwhile, set up a small pile of tinder in the small compartment of the table underneath where the cauldron was settled. Poking it with his wand a few times, it caught fire, and then flared up into a merrily burning flame, even though it had no discernable fuel source. Harry twisted a small knob and adjusted the flame so it was large and red, lapping around the entire base of the cauldron.
Blaise returned with an armful of ingredients, and placed them carefully on the bench, neatly separated and placed in the order they would be added to the cauldron. Harry nodded in appreciation, and raised his hand for Snape as instructed on the board. Conveniently, he was already at the table behind them with Daphne and Tracey, and after a cursory glance at their ingredients, he pointed his wand into the cauldron. Water spewed out until the cauldron was about half full, then stopped abruptly.
Harry murmured "Thank you, sir," to Snape, who simply turned and went to Draco's table to do the same thing. "Alright, so we start by letting the water come to a boil, then we add 10 grams of dried nettles. Do you want to start weighing them and I'll get the snake fangs ready?"
The four Slytherins sat down at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall for lunch just before noon. After Potions had been Herbology, which was mind-numbingly boring in Harry's opinion, though it had just been the first class to be fair.
Harry's and Blaise's first Potions class had gone well, as far as Harry could tell. The potion had the lime green sheen that was described in the book, and had taken almost exactly as long to make as it was supposed to. There had been a commotion partway through the class when the cauldron Ron and another Gryffindor named Finnegan had been working on melted, drenching the two boys in a dark green mess. Angry red boils had sprung up on all of their exposed skin, and Snape had been forced to send them to the hospital wing.
After turning in a vial of their potion, Snape had waved them from the classroom. Daphne and Tracey had finished shortly thereafter, and the four had walked to their next class, Herbology, on the grounds together. They had entered greenhouse one at Professor Sprout's behest, then been treated to a rather long safety speech, then proceeded to trim the leaves of a Shrivelfig plant. There had been no magic involved, and while it was an important plant for potions, it was rather dull to work with.
"What a morning!" Blaise remarked. "First we got to cure boils, then cut some leaves. It doesn't get any better than that!"
Daphne gave Blaise an annoyed glare. "I think we all know that Monday mornings are going to suck."
Tracey was practically bouncing in her seat. "But we have Charms next! This is so exciting, I can't wait to see what we're learning first."
"Well, if we're going based on the book," Harry answered, "we'll start with the Levitation Charm. Sounds pretty straight-forward, but I guess we'll see."
"Alright, everyone, repeat after me," said Flitwick from his stack of books in the center of the classroom. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" repeated the class dutifully.
"Wonderful! Now remember, swish and flick! Off you go!" Flitwick said as he hopped off the stack. "Now, you may begin practicing, but just remember to be careful of where you point your wand. Raise your hand if you have any questions." Harry and his three friends were seated along the wall on the right side of the semicircular classroom. At Flitwick's say so, they all began attempting the spell.
Harry, eager to try some magic again, grasped his wand and performed the exact motions that Flitwick had demonstrated. After he was confident in his motions, he flicked his wand directly at the feather before him and firmly said, "Wingardium Leviosa." He felt his magic respond, being pulled from his arm, up through his hand, and into his wand. Once there, it was twisted before being expelled towards the feather. Just as on the train, though, the magic then projected a short distance from his wand before coming to a stop, then snapped back to his hand. Harry frowned. If this trend continued, he would end up severely hindered in practically all of his classes.
Trying again, this time Harry finished the flicking motion right next to the feather. This time, his magic managed to make it the whole way to the feather, and swirled around it. The feather immediately shot upwards, breaking its connection with his wand as it rose. After the connection broke, it rose softly for a few more seconds, before stopping and descending slowly. Harry could sense that the magic imbued in the feather was expended at a constant rate until none remained, ceasing the effects of the spell. Rather like a battery, after the connection broke it drained until none remained. Coming out of his thoughts, Harry looked around to see Blaise staring at him in surprise.
"What?" Harry asked.
"That was… fast," Blaise commented sarcastically.
"He said to get started, didn't he?" Harry asked, worried he had started too early.
"Yeah, he did, but it's literally only been, like, a minute. Most people barely have their wands out," replied Blaise. "I only got a chance to try once, and mine only twitched."
"What are you talking about, Blaise? It's not that bad," Tracey's voice came from the other side of Blaise. Blaise turned, and his jaw dropped when he saw Tracey's feather floating gently about five feet above the desk. She slowly guided it in a small circle by moving her wand, then slowly brought it back down to the desk before her.
"How on Earth did you do that?" Blaise asked, his normal composure entirely gone.
"Why don't you give it a try?" Tracey said. "Maybe I could give you a pointer or two."
"Okay, here goes… Wingardium Leviosa!" Blaise said, flicking his wand to the side, then back at the feather. Instead of levitating, it simply twitched upwards briefly, then fell back.
"Your first motion is a flick, not a swish," Tracey pointed out. "You want a softer motion first, then the second flick is quicker."
"Like this?" Blaise asked, demonstrating once more. Tracey simply nodded. Blaise repeated the motion, incanting "Wingardium Leviosa," as he did. This time, the feather smoothly lifted from the table and followed the motion of his wand. Blaise grinned in victory as he guided the feather around the area, then back to the desk. "Magic is awesome."
Author's Note: Finally, getting to some magic! I'll most likely explain the first of each class in some detail (excluding Herbology and History), then probably skip forward a week or so to get the story moving a little bit. I'm looking forward to getting into more detail about how magic works, too, though unfortunately I feel like a lot of my plans can't really pan out until we get to the upper level classes. Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Thanks again to everyone following and reviewing!