Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 6
We had only been in class for a day and a half, but we were starting to get used to the building and its strange layout. We quickly discovered that most of the staircases in the building would move without warning and we had to give ourselves extra time to make sure they didn't make us late to class because we had to take another route. Even if we did get lost in the giant castle, we found that some of the ghosts and paintings would generally help us along the way if we needed it. For the most part, we tried to stick in groups so that we could help each other find our way from class to class throughout the day.
"Okay, so we have Potions next," I said as I read off the schedule to Harry and Ron as we walked through the hallways.
"Great," muttered Ron. "I heard that Snape makes that class awful."
When we arrived in the dungeons where Potions class took place, I saw that we shared this class with the first year Slytherin class. This included Draco Malfoy and his group of snarky friends who perked up when he saw us walking into the classroom. Trying to ignore them muttering to themselves, obviously about us, We weren't the first people to class, so most of the seats were taken. Since there were only two people for each of tables, I took my seat next to Neville Longbottom as Harry and Ron took the seats in front of us.
"Oh, look!" Draco spoke up as I sat down. "Longbottom's got himself a girlfriend."
Draco's friends started laughing as Neville's face went red and he avoided eye contact with me.
"Jealous, Draco?" I shot back.
The Gryffindor students in the class started laughing as Draco's face began to match Neville's embarrassment. Clearly I hit a nerve.
"Yeah, right," Draco muttered as he sat back down next to his friends.
The laughing and chatter in the room quickly died when the door in the back suddenly burst open. From the door came Professor Severus Snape, wearing all black as usual, and not wasting a single moment of his teaching time as he immediately began speaking as he passed by the rows on his way to the front of the room.
"I see that you all found your way to Potions class today," Snape said. "This course, unlike others, will not require you all to use your wands and wave them around in a ridiculous fashion to accomplish our goals. You will instead view this class as one that teaches you the art of potion making in a way that may make you believe that it is not even really magic. This class should not be difficult for students who are competent in the slightest, though most students seem to fail regardless."
Everyone in the classroom was silent, and we were all staring at Snape and listening to his every word. Professor Snape gazed around the room at everyone, but his eyes seemed to linger in my direction for a moment. When he caught my eye, I thought I noticed a sudden flinch in his face before he eyed my brother.
"I see we have the Potters this year," he muttered. "Our new...celebrities? How charming. I hope the two of you don't expect the star treatment in this classroom that you get everywhere else."
"No, we don't - " Harry started.
"Tell me, Mr. Potter," he interrupted. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
I thought back to the Potions book that I looked over during the summer. Since this was the only textbook that seemed to really catch my attention, I thought I might know the answer, but stopped myself from talking as Harry struggled in front of me because I wasn't sure whether or not I was right, and Hermione Granger's hand shot in the hair.
"I'm not sure…" Harry said nervously.
"Interesting…" Snape said. "How about this: where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione's hand shot up again, and Harry started moving around in his chair uncomfortably. Knowing how little Harry looked at his potions book, I seriously doubted that he would know the answer to any question that Snape had to ask. I, on the other hand, knew that a bezoar was a stone that was taken from the stomach of a goat that could be used to save people from poisons. I remembered reading about it when Dudley was crying to his mother about another one of his toys breaking outside of our room at Privet Drive.
"Don't know that one either," Snape said. "This one should be easier: what's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
Hermione's hand was now waving frantically in the air, but Snape was clearly ignoring her. I wish she would stop, because it was clear that Snape was doing this to antagonize Harry for some unknown reason. He wasn't going to call on anyone else.
"Seems like fame isn't everything," Snape said slowly.
With this remark, some of the Slytherin students started laughing. I wondered if he did this in every class. Maybe he was doing this because he was the head of Slytherin house and had it out against Gryffindor House. The Weasley twins told us the day before that Snape was very serious about Slytherin pride and his deep hatred for Gryffindor, their greatest rival.
"Ms. Potter!" Snape said suddenly without looking at me. "Perhaps you know the difference between monshood and wolfsbane?"
"Er…" I started and noticed several eyes shift in my direction. "Aren't they different names for the same thing?"
Snape suddenly stopped pacing the floor and turned to face me with a surprised look on his face. Everyone in the class remained silent as if they were preparing themselves for him to tell me that I was wrong, but I knew that I was not.
"That is...correct," Snape said with a curious look. "If you know that much, then perhaps you might know what you get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
The whole class looked from both Snape to me without making a single sound. Even Draco Malfoy seemed to be hanging on to every word and moment of this conversation.
"Powdered root of asphodel...to an infusion of wormwood," I repeated as I thought back to the book. "I think that was...is it Draught of Living Death?"
"Right…" he nodded as he slowly walked over to his desk. "Draught of Living Death…well, at least one of you seems to have the decency to open up a book."
After that remark, Professor Snape continued on by telling us to get into pairs so that we could work on some basic potions for the rest of the class. While we started reading off the instructions that Snape put up on the board, I noticed that there were whispers around the room as people started to look in my direction. Trying to ignore them, I placed a cauldron in between Neville and I so we could get started on our work. Once Snape turned around, everyone grew silent again and we were instructed to gather supplies for a cure for boils.
"How did you know all of that?" Neville asked once we got our potion boiling.
"The instructions are right there," I said as I pointed to the board.
"No, not for the potion," Neville said. "The questions that Snape asked - I had never even heard of some of that stuff."
Hearing our conversation, Harry and Ron turned around to join in. Both of them looked just as baffled as Neville about the entire situation.
"That was incredible," Ron said. "Did you see his face? He wanted you to get one wrong so badly."
"I just remembered reading it from the summer," I shrugged. "I thought it was interesting, and it was a lot better than having to listen to Dudley's complaining."
"I wish you would have told me some of that before we got in here," Harry muttered. "He made me look like I didn't know anything."
"To be fair, most of us in here didn't know it," Ron said.
Just as he said that, Professor Snape glared over at the boys in front of us and walked over to see what we were all doing.
"Potter and Weasley," Snape said. "Keep your eyes on your own work - five points from Gryffindor. Ms. Potter and Longbottom - what are you doing?"
"Our potion is brewing," I said. "We just have about 15 minutes left to wait."
Looking like he wanted to catch me doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing in his class, he stepped over and looked into the cauldron that sat in between Neville and me. Seeing that it was the right color, he looked between both of us.
"Have you let him do any of the work?" Snape asked without meeting my eye. "Longbottom, what has your contribution been?"
Neville's face went red and he looked over to me as if I had all the answers.
"He crushed the snake fangs," I told him. "We've both been working, sir."
"Well...keep working and don't let it boil over," he said as he walked over to look at Draco Malfoy's cauldron.
After he left, Neville let out a long breath that he seemed to have been holding in since Professor Snape stepped over and addressed him directly. We weren't addressed again until the end of class where we all held our completed potions for Snape's evaluation on whether or not we were competent or not before we were allowed to leave the class. Luckily, Neville's and my potion was good enough to not get a bad remark from Snape and we were allowed to leave the room. We both waited outside for Harry and Ron to join us before we all started walking toward the Great Hall for dinner. However, we didn't get that far before I was tapped on the shoulder by someone behind me.
"I'm glad that I'm not the only Gryffindor that read over my textbooks," Hermione said to me as she started walking next to all of us. "I was raising my hand for every single question he asked, but he refused to call on me."
"I didn't read all of my textbooks," I admitted. "I was just really interested in the potions textbook."
"Well, at least you read something," she said. "Now we can both try to get points for Gryffindor in our classes."
Without saying anything else, Hermione ended our conversation as she turned away to go somewhere else before she joined everyone else for dinner. We were about to sit down on one end of the table when Ron's twin brothers waved us down and told us to join them. We walked over there and didn't even sit down when George spoke up.
"Emily, what is this that I heard you told off Snape in your first class with him?" George asked.
"I heard that you called him a greasy-headed git that needs to try using some soap," Fred commented.
"What are you two talking about?" I asked looking from one to the other as I grabbed for some mashed potatoes to add to my plate.
"Don't tell me it isn't true," Fred said with a look of despair.
"None of it," I said. "Who did you hear that from?"
"Some first years," George said and turned to his brother. "You owe me 2 Sickles."
Fred rolled his eyes and dug two coins out of his pocket and tossed them over to George who now had a huge smile on his face as he looked at his winnings. I was about to ask why they even bothered to bet on something like this, but figured that it wasn't worth it. They seemed like the kind of people who tried to make fun out of almost anything.
"So what really happened?" George asked as he tucked his winnings into his pocket.
"All I did was answer some of his questions right," I told them.
"You should have seen his face though!" Ron said from the other side of Harry, who was sitting next to me. "He was shocked! He hardly even spoke for the rest of the class."
"Wow," Fred said. "You might deserve some kind of medal of honor."
I wasn't sure why this was so impressive that I managed to make Snape go quiet for a class period, but we didn't talk any more about it when we noticed Snape walking through the doors into the Great Hall. I guess that I just needed to prepare myself to deal with the fact that he was now going to have higher expectations of me in the class, which could turn out either really good or really bad. He just wanted to look for an excuse to belittle anyone in the Gryffindor House, and I was going to have to make it difficult for him.
Thank you for reading!