Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.
Chapter 5 – Cauldrons and Broomsticks
Lucy's first week at Hogwarts was both incredible and exhausting. Getting used to going to classes was more difficult than Lucy thought it would be. Doing homework was an entirely new concept to her, since she'd never been to school before. She had also never realized how much effort there was that went into performing magic; it wasn't just waving a wand and saying the magic words. There was a lot of theory behind even the simplest spells.
Hogwarts itself was massive. It was very easy to get lost in, and Lucy was thankful that she hadn't been late to class yet. There had been a few close calls, but she was doing much better than Harry or Ron, who had been late to at least three classes throughout the week. No matter how many times Lucy told them that they should try to leave for class earlier, Harry and Ron still hadn't listened to her. Thankfully, the castle had gotten easier for Lucy to navigate as the week had gone on.
Besides Harry and Ron, Lucy had become good friends with Hermione. The boys didn't seem to like her very much, but Lucy didn't care. She had also made friends with one of the other Gryffindor first-year girls, Sally-Anne Perks, and a few of the Hufflepuff students that they shared classes with. At mealtimes, Lucy often sat with the Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordan.
~LJ:TH~
On Friday morning—the last day of the first week of school—Lucy was sitting in the Great Hall with Hermione, Sally-Anne, Fred, and George. Hermione was reading her Potions textbook, and Fred and George were bewitching little bits of sausage to fly around the Gryffindor table.
As Lucy was eating her eggs, Harry and Ron showed up at the table.
"We didn't get lost," Harry announced to Lucy, who pretended to applaud them. "What have we got today?" he asked as he and Ron began to fix themselves breakfast.
"Double Potions with the Slytherins," Ron groaned. "Snape's head of Slytherin house. They say he always favors them—we'll be able to see if it's true."
"Oh, it's true," Fred said in between swallows of toast.
"Wish McGonagall favored us," Harry muttered.
They all glanced around to the high table, where Professor McGonagall was eating breakfast with Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher and Ravenclaw's Head of House.
"Keep on wishing," Lucy sighed.
The mail arrived then. A flock of owls flew by, dropping off packages to their recipients. Lucy smiled and looked around for Thomas. When she couldn't find him, she mentally shrugged. Her parents had sent her a letter a few days ago, so it wasn't a big deal that there was nothing for her that morning.
Next to her, Harry gasped in surprise. Lucy followed his gaze and saw his snowy owl Hedwig flying towards them with a letter in her beak. Harry hadn't gotten any mail all week. As soon as Hedwig dropped the letter, Harry grabbed it and tore the envelope open.
"It's from Hagrid!" Harry said excitedly. "He wants me to come to tea. Ron, Lucy, do you want to come, too?"
Lucy and Ron agreed happily. Ron handed Harry a quill, so Harry could send an answer back to Hagrid.
~LJ:TH~
After breakfast, Lucy walked with Hermione and Sally-Anne down to Potions class, which would take place in a room in the dungeons. It was cold and damp, and Lucy pulled her robes a bit tighter around herself.
The girls were a little early, but there was already a Slytherin boy waiting outside the classroom. He looked up when they walked over. With a jolt, Lucy realized that it was Jeremy Whitlock.
He seemed to recognize Lucy, because he grinned at her. "Hi," he said in a soft voice. "My name's Jeremy. What's yours again?"
"Lucy," Lucy replied.
Jeremy glanced over at Hermione and Sally-Anne expectantly.
"I'm Sally-Anne," Sally-Anne said.
"Nice to meet you," Jeremy said with a nod. Then he looked at Hermione, who failed to introduce herself, so he asked Lucy, "Who's your other friend?"
"Oh, this is Hermione," Lucy introduced her.
Hermione nodded without saying anything, and she looked a bit apprehensive. Lucy wondered if it was because Jeremy was in Slytherin.
Apparently, Jeremy was thinking the same thing, because he said, "You know, I'm not going to bite. Being in Slytherin doesn't automatically make me an ass. I guess I'm just too much like my father," he added quietly, turning away from the girls.
Lucy watched him curiously. "What does that mean?" she asked after a moment.
Jeremy heaved a sigh and then rolled his head against the wall to look at her. He smiled. "Nothing," he replied. "Don't worry about it."
Lucy opened her mouth to say more when a shout of, "Whitlock!" rang out from down the corridor. Lucy saw Malfoy and a few other Slytherin boys coming down the hall.
"Malfoy," Jeremy muttered darkly.
"Old friends?" Lucy whispered to him slyly.
Jeremy smirked humorously. "I'm sure my old man would be thrilled if I started to pal around with that slime ball," he replied in a low voice.
Lucy let out a laugh which earned a grin from Jeremy. Before she could say anything, however, Malfoy had caught up to them.
"Where were you this morning?" Malfoy asked Jeremy, completely ignoring the Gryffindor girls.
Jeremy shrugged impassively.
Malfoy frowned. He glanced over at Lucy and then smirked. "Really, Whitlock?" he scoffed. "She's a Gryffindor. Not worth the time of day."
"Says who?" Jeremy shot back.
"Says anyone who knows anything," Malfoy replied. "You need to watch yourself, Whitlock. Gryffindors are nobodies, and they'll be nobodies when we leave this sorry excuse for a school."
"Look, if you have a problem with me, you can take it up with me," Lucy cut in, annoyed that he was talking about her and her fellow Gryffindors with such disrespect, and Sally-Anne nodded vigorously from beside her.
Malfoy smirked again and muttered, "Whatever."
Nobody said anything else as the rest of their classmates began to show up. Soon enough, Professor Snape came down the stairs and unlocked the classroom door.
"Enter," he commanded in a soft, cold voice.
The Slytherins sauntered inside, followed by the Gryffindors more hesitantly. Jeremy glanced at Lucy, looking conflicted, and he sat at a table with some other Slytherins. Lucy, on the other hand, sat down between Hermione and Sally-Anne. She shot an encouraging smile at Jeremy before getting her book out. Harry and Ron had settled at the table next to Lucy, and when they looked over at her, Lucy stuck her tongue out playfully.
When the class had filed into the room, Snape began with a roll call. When he got to Harry's name, he paused and looked up.
"Ah, yes," he murmured, "Harry Potter. Our new—celebrity."
Some of the Slytherins, including Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle, laughed at this. Lucy glared at the teacher resentfully; it's not like Harry had asked to be famous.
Snape finished up with the roll call and then turned to his class. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he said, still talking very quietly. "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, and even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
There was silence in the room as everyone soaked up this information. Next to Lucy, Hermione was hanging on the edge of her seat. Lucy guessed she wanted to prove that she wasn't a dunderhead, as Snape so eloquently put it.
"Potter!" Snape shouted suddenly, and some Gryffindors flinched at the sudden volume increase of his voice. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air.
"I don't know, sir," Harry replied in a small, confused voice.
Snape sneered. "Tut, tut—fame clearly isn't everything," he said. Ignoring Hermione, he began once more, "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione's arm reached higher up. On the other side of the dungeon, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were shaking with silent laughter. Lucy balled her hands into fists and concentrated on keeping her cool.
"I don't know, sir," Harry repeated. He sounded embarrassed.
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Snape questioned, sounding almost gleeful.
Lucy thought it was unfair to assume that Harry hadn't looked over his books just because he didn't know the answers to two questions.
Snape asked Harry once more, still ignoring Hermione, "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
Hermione jumped out of her seat, stretching her arm as high as it could go. In the back of Lucy's mind, she felt sort of embarrassed by Hermione's behavior, but at present, she was too concerned with the way Snape was treating Harry.
"I don't know," Harry said. "I think Hermione does, though. Why don't you try her?"
A few Gryffindors laughed, including Lucy and Sally-Anne.
"Sit down," Snape snapped at Hermione, fury finally infiltrating his calm demeanor. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
The sounds of quills and parchment being pulled out of bags filled the dungeons, and Lucy scowled.
"A point will be taken from Gryffindor house for your cheek, Potter," Snape added, his voice carrying over the noise.
Next, Snape paired them up and had them make a potion to cure boils. Lucy was partnered up with Hermione, which she was glad for, because Hermione knew exactly what she was doing. Not that Lucy didn't know what she was doing, but she was feeling slightly distracted as she watched, from the corner of her eye, Snape walk around criticizing all of the Gryffindors' work.
Suddenly, Neville's and Seamus's potion was flowing out of their mangled cauldron and onto the stone floor. Lucy and Hermione quickly jumped up onto their stools, watching in horror as Neville began sprouting red boils all over his arms and legs. He had been drenched in his own potion.
"Idiot boy!" Snape yelled. He waved his wand, and the spilled potion was cleared away immediately.
The class began to climb down from their chairs cautiously.
"I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Snape snapped.
Neville made a sound like a dog that had just been kicked.
Snape wheeled around to spit at Seamus, "Take him up to the hospital wing." Then, fast as lightning, he was turning around again, this time to look at Harry and Ron, who were at the next table. "You—Potter—why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."
Lucy's mouth fell open, but, as she made a move to retort, Hermione grabbed her arm and hissed, "No! Leave it, or Gryffindor'll be in even more trouble!" Lucy saw Ron kick Harry under the table, probably telling him the exact same thing.
Then Lucy looked up and saw, across the dungeon, Jeremy frowning. Malfoy, on the other hand, looked like he'd just woken up on Christmas morning.
~LJ:TH~
After another agonizing hour, they were finally leaving the dungeons. Lucy wanted to hang back and see if she could talk to Jeremy again, but Harry and Ron practically pulled her away.
"Come on, Lucy. Let's get some food," Ron grumbled. "Why do you want to stay down here so badly for, anyway?"
"No reason," Lucy replied quickly. "Let's go have lunch."
~LJ:TH~
Just before three o'clock that afternoon, Lucy, Harry, and Ron made their way out of the castle and to Hagrid's hut on the grounds. Harry knocked on the door, and they heard Hagrid behind it saying, "Back, Fang—Back!"
Then Hagrid's head appeared in the doorway. "Hang on," he said to the three first-years. "Back, Fang."
He held the door open wider, motioning for the Gryffindors to come in. They could see now that he was trying to restrain a huge black boarhound.
"Make yerselves at home," Hagrid announced, letting go of the dog once the three students had stepped inside.
Fang bounded forward and started licking Ron's ears.
"This is Ron and Lucy," Harry introduced them.
Lucy waved and then started scratching Fang's ears.
Hagrid was preparing tea. "Another Weasley, eh?" he chuckled at Ron. "I've spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest. And yer Lucy?" he asked, turning to Lucy.
"Yes," she replied, "but you probably don't know my parents. I'm from America."
Hagrid nodded, laying out some cakes on a plate.
Once they were all sitting down and had been served tea and rock cakes, they started chatting about their first lessons. Lucy had coaxed Fang away from Ron by scratching his ears.
Soon, Harry began to describe how Potions went, and Hagrid reassured him that Snape was like that with everyone who wasn't a Slytherin.
"He seemed to really hate me," Harry insisted.
"Rubbish!" Hagrid snorted. "Why should he?"
"You didn't seem him, Hagrid," Lucy said in Harry's defense. "He docked a point from Harry when Neville got his potion wrong… and Harry wasn't even working with Neville!"
Harry nodded, smiling at Lucy gratefully.
"Rubbish," Hagrid repeated dismissively. He turned to Ron. "How's yer brother Charlie? I liked him a lot—great with animals."
Ron started telling Hagrid about Charlie and his work with dragons. Harry looked at Lucy, who shrugged. Then Harry looked down at a newspaper clipping while Lucy rubbed Fang's head.
"Hagrid!" Harry shouted suddenly. "That Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"
Hagrid simply grunted and offered another round of rock cakes.
Lucy frowned and looked down to read the clipping with Harry. "Your birthday is on July thirty-first?" she asked when she read the date of the break-in.
"Yes," Harry answered. "Why?"
"That's my birthday, too," Lucy explained.
Then the two of them went back to reading the newspaper.
Later, as they were walking back up to the castle, Harry seemed lost in thought. Ron, on the other hand, was happily talking about what he was going to have for dinner. Lucy sighed, glad that the first week of classes was over.
~LJ:TH~
At the beginning of the second week, a notice went up in the Gryffindor common room. Flying lessons were starting on Thursday and would be held once a week until Halloween. The notice also stated that the Gryffindors would be grouped together with the Slytherins.
On the morning of the lesson, the Gryffindor first-years were very excited. Lucy herself couldn't wait to get back on a broom, although she felt confident that Fred and George had taught her to fly well enough.
Lucy was sitting with Fred and George in the Great Hall that morning. She had been sitting next to Hermione, until Hermione had pulled out a book called Quidditch Through the Ages. She was now reading it aloud to Neville and a few other first-years. As much as she liked Hermione, Lucy couldn't stand the constant nervous chatter and had moved down next to George. Harry and Ron were sitting across the table from them, and Ron was shooting dark looks down the table at Hermione.
"Would you stop glaring at her?" Lucy hissed across the table.
"It's annoying," Ron complained for probably the tenth time. "Doesn't she ever shut her mouth?"
Lucy picked up a piece of toast and threw it at him. He ducked just in time, and it fell to the floor between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables.
"Hey, Ron, she's right," George said evenly. "Do you even know Hermione that well?"
"Well enough to know that she's a teacher's pet and a know-it-all," Ron retorted, watching Lucy carefully for more thrown food.
"She's probably just nervous," George reasoned.
Ron scowled and looked down at his porridge. Lucy smiled thankfully at George.
Down the table, Hermione stopped talking as owls began to swoop in with the morning mail. Nothing arrived for Lucy, which wasn't surprising, but a few seats over, Neville was brought a small package from a barn owl. Out of the package he pulled a small glass ball.
"It's a Remembrall!" he exclaimed, showing it to everyone nearby. "Gran knows I forget things—this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this, and if it turns red—oh—" The Remembrall had grown quite red indeed. "—you've forgotten something.…"
Neville's face screwed up, thinking about what he may have forgotten, when Malfoy sauntered passed and snatched the Remembrall from him.
"Hand it over, Malfoy!" Harry snarled as he, Ron, and Lucy all jumped up.
George put a cautionary hand on Lucy's arm.
Before anything else could happen, however, Professor McGonagall appeared in a flash, demanding, "What's going on?"
"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor," Neville replied immediately.
Malfoy dropped the Remembrall on the table. "Just looking," he muttered darkly and then left for his own table, Crabbe and Goyle in tow.
~LJ:TH~
That afternoon, the Gryffindor first-years left the castle and headed down onto the grounds for their flying lesson. The Slytherins were already standing by the group of broomsticks.
Lucy saw Jeremy standing at the edge of the group. He looked up and met her gaze. Smiling, he took a few steps away from his fellow Slytherins, and Lucy went over to him.
"Hey," he said simply. He glanced over her shoulder. "Looks like your friends aren't happy that you came over here."
Lucy looked around, as well, and saw that Harry and Ron were glaring in Jeremy's direction. "Yeah, well, it's not their business," she replied, turning back to Jeremy. "So, how have you been this week?"
"I've been all right," he said. "How are you?"
"Pretty good," Lucy answered. "George Weasley told me that the school brooms suck. Some of them vibrate if you go too high, and others pull left all the time."
"I'm not surprised," Jeremy said, gazing over at the group of brooms.
Lucy glanced over them, too, and had to admit that some of them looked like they were in rough shape.
Madam Hooch, their instructor, arrived then and said impatiently, "Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone, stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."
Lucy and Jeremy glanced at each other and giggled before standing next to a pair of brooms. Sally-Anne ended up on Lucy's other side, and Harry and Ron were across from them. Harry caught Lucy's eye. He looked over at Jeremy and back to her again, and she got it; he wanted to know what she was doing talking to him.
"Later," she mouthed to him.
Harry frowned but nodded before peering down to inspect his broom.
"Stick your right hand over your broom," Madam Hooch called out, "and say Up!"
All the first-years stuck their right hands out and shouted, "Up!" Lucy's broom instantly flew into her hand, as did Harry's and Jeremy's. Jeremy nudged Lucy and motioned to Hermione, whose broom was flopping around on the ground instead of flying into her hand. A lot of other students' brooms hadn't moved at all.
"How did you do that?" Sally-Anne asked, sounding cross. "Up! UP!" The broom finally flew into her hand, and Lucy gave her an encouraging smile.
Next, they learned how to mount their broom and hold it properly. Madam Hooch moved between the students, correcting any mistakes that she saw. Harry and Ron smiled at each other when she had to correct Malfoy's grip.
"Now," Madam Hooch barked when she reached the front again, "when I blow my whistle, you'll kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle—three—two—"
All of a sudden, Neville was in the air; he had pushed off too early.
"Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch was shouting.
But Neville kept rising in the air. He was so nervous that he had forgotten what to do. His face paled when he noticed how high he was, and then he slipped sideways off his broom and landed hard onto the grass. Lucy put a hand to her mouth, hoping that he was all right.
Madam Hooch hurried to inspect Neville. "Broken wrist," she said. "Come on, boy—it's all right. Up you get." She helped him to his feet. Then she turned to the rest of the class and said sharply, "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are, or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch. Come on, dear." With that, she led Neville back to the castle.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?" Malfoy laughed as soon as they were out of earshot, and some of the other Slytherins joined in.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Parvati Patil, one of the other Gryffindor first-years, snapped.
"Ooooh, sticking up for Longbottom!" squealed Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."
"Look!" Malfoy interrupted, snatching up something from the ground. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." He held up the Remembrall, and it glittered in the sun.
"Give it here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.
Lucy went to take a step forward, but Jeremy grabbed her arms to hold her back.
Malfoy sent a nasty smile at Harry. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find—how about—up a tree?"
"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but it was no use.
Malfoy jumped onto his broom and kicked off from the ground. He could fly pretty well, Lucy admitted, but someone needed to stop him.
Malfoy flew up until he was as high as a nearby oak tree and called down, "Come and get it, Potter!"
Harry grabbed his broom immediately.
"No!" shouted Hermione. "Madam Hooch told us not to move—you'll get us all into trouble."
Harry ignored her, threw his leg over the broom, and pushed off from the ground.
"Harry!" Lucy shouted. She hoped he knew what he was doing, and she was pleasantly surprised at the amount of control he seemed to have over his broom.
He rose up until he was level with Malfoy. "Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"
The two boys exchanged a few more words which the students on the ground couldn't hear. Lucy felt Jeremy let go of her arms, but she was too fixated on the scene above them to move.
"Catch it if you can, then!" Malfoy shouted as he threw the ball into the air. He took off for the ground again.
Harry, on the other hand, raced after the ball, looking determined to catch it.
Lucy anxiously put a hand to her mouth. "Merlin, I can't watch this," she moaned, her eyes glued to Harry's diving form.
Finally, about a foot from the ground, Harry reached out and snatched the Remembrall from the air. Then he pulled his broom out of the dive and gently rolled onto the grass. The rest of the Gryffindor first-years started cheering and ran over to him.
"HARRY POTTER!" Professor McGonagall was striding towards them, and the Gryffindors all stopped celebrating the moment they saw her. "Never—in all my time at Hogwarts—how dare you—might've broken your neck—"
Sally-Anne cut in, "It wasn't his fault, Professor—"
"Be quiet, Miss Perks," Professor McGonagall interrupted.
Ron started, "But Malfoy—"
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said firmly. "Potter, follow me, now."
Harry quietly followed the professor back up to the castle, and when they were far enough away, Malfoy and his friends broke out into laughter again.
Angered, Lucy pulled her wand out and marched over to Malfoy. "How dare you steal Neville's Remembrall and get Harry into trouble!" she snarled, pointing her wand at his face. "I should hex you, right here, right now!"
Jeremy stepped forward and lowered her arm. "Come on, Lucy. You don't want to get in trouble," he murmured to her.
Malfoy was smirking, but Lucy could see the relief washing over his face.
"I don't care. He deserves it," Lucy replied, still glaring at Malfoy.
"Yeah, probably," Jeremy agreed loudly, and Malfoy scowled at him.
Madam Hooch appeared at that moment, and Lucy quickly stowed her wand away.
"Get back next to your brooms," Madam Hooch snapped. She was looking around the class as they scrambled back to where their brooms were lying in the grass. "Where's Potter?" she asked when everyone was back in their places.
"Professor McGonagall needed him for something," Ron replied quickly.
Madam Hooch nodded in understanding before continuing with the lesson.
Lucy was distracted for the rest of class, though, worried about what was going to happen to Harry. Hopefully he wouldn't get into too much trouble.…
~LJ:TH~
A/N: Sally-Anne Perks is first mentioned in this chapter, and she is actually one of the girls on J.K. Rowling's "original forty" list, which was the list of all the students in Harry's year. In all the photos I've seen of the list, you could never see which house Sally-Anne was in, so I took the liberty of placing her in Gryffindor. In my original stories uploaded here, she wasn't mentioned until book 6. Her friendship with Lucy is something that I've added into all of my stories now, because I wanted her to be important later on, even if she was only mentioned once or twice near the beginning. Besides, it felt silly to introduce a new character into the sixth story who supposedly had spent the last five years sharing a dorm and classes with Lucy but was never mentioned previously.
Also, the books are very vague when it comes to the flying lessons. We only ever see that very first one. I always felt like there would be more than one lesson, so I added the line that they would have flying lessons once a week until Halloween. Maybe Harry was excused from lessons after he was put on the Quidditch team? Who knows.