A/N; Harry Potter is not mine.
Potions lessons started proper after Slughorn sorted out the problem with Harry and Ron not having any equipment or the required textbook for the course. He stood between four bubbling cauldrons, two on each side. Through observation, Lera could identify all four potions, and she glanced curiously at the molten golden liquid in a small black cauldron. Now, that was interesting.
"Now then," said Slughorn, inflating his already bulging chest so that the buttons on his waistcoat threatened to burst off. "I've prepared for you a few potions to look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kind of thing you ought to be able to make after completing your N.E.W.T.s. You ought to have heard of them, even if you haven't made them yet. Anyone tell me what this one is?"
He gestured at a cauldron nearest to where the Slytherins were sitting, and Hermione's hand immediately shot into the air. Slughorn nodded at her.
"It's Veritserum, a colourless, odourless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth."
"Very good, very good!" Slughorn looked rather pleased.
"How about this?" He indicated the one to the right of him.
"It's Polyjuice Potion, sir. It causes the drinker to take on the appearance of someone else."
"Excellent!" Slughorn flashed her a smile, looking impressed.
"How about this?" Now the one to the left of him. "Perhaps we should let someone else try to answer," he said kindly as Hermione's hand hit the air again. She reluctantly put it down.
"Let's see, ahh… how about our new student? Miss Drae? Do you—"
"It's Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world." she said quietly.
"Indeed! It has a distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen, and is supposed to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them. Do feel free to take a whiff at it after the lesson."
"And now…" he paused dramatically. "Could you tell me what this is, Miss Drae?"
The golden potion splashed about merrily, a few droplets leaped like goldfish above the surface.
"Yes. It's Felix Felicis, more commonly known as liquid luck."
She could feel Hermione's gaze on her. Evidently she had been unable to identify the potion. Everyone else seemed to sit up a little straighter.
Slughorn beamed at her.
"Quite right! Take 20 points for your answers, Miss…" "Granger, Hermione Granger." "…Granger, and Miss Drae."
The class asked several more questions about the golden liquid and Slughorn answered them eagerly.
"And that, is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson."
There was a sudden silence in the room; every bubble and gurgle of the surrounding potions seemed extraordinarily loud.
"Yes, twelve hours of luck in a vial, so do hurry up and get to work. We have a little over an hour left to us, which should be time enough for you to make a decent attempt at the Draught of Living Death, on page ten. The person who does best will win little Felix here. Off you go!"
There was a scraping as everyone quickly pulled their cauldrons towards themselves and stared intently at the instructions in the book. The concentration within the room was almost tangible. Lera felt confident that she would be able to do a good job. Potions were, after all, her forte. She hoped that she would be able to do the best, lord knows she needed a lucky day.
The potion was a colourful affair, shocking given that the end product was a boring black. Soon bluish fumes had filled the room. Her potion had started out a pale green, which had turned into a smooth, blackcurrant-coloured liquid, then a soft lilac, followed by the palest pink. The addition of one extra ingredient turned it an intense navy, and finally it settled at a black. She sat back, happy with the end result, looking around the room with several minutes to spare. To her surprise, she saw that Harry had already taken the potion off the fire, left it to cool, and packed his bag. He couldn't have already been done? Hermione was still frowning over her potion, which remained a stubborn dark grey.
"And time's up!" Slughorn called. "Stop stirring, please."
Everyone sat in their places, tense, as Slughorn moved slowly through the tables, first the Slytherin's, then the Ravenclaw's. He made no comment. At last he reached the Gryffindor table and smiled ruefully at the thick glob of goo at the bottom of Ron's cauldron. He gave an approving nod at Hermione's potion. Then at the same time, he saw both Lera's and Harry's potions, and a look of incredulous delight spread over his face.
"Amazing! Two students in my class, with perfect potions! I've never had more than one student brewing this potion successfully in all my years as a teacher! Good lord, this is excellent!" He seemed about to burst with excitement.
"But wait, there can only be one winner. Harry, I believe you completed your potion first. The bottle of Felix Felicis goes to you, then."
He turned to Lera and smiled kindly at her. "I'm sorry, my dear. Perhaps another time."
Ron was dumbfounded and kept bugging Harry to tell him the 'secret', which he refused to until they were securely ensconced at the Gryffindor table for dinner.
Hermione's face turned stonier with every word Harry uttered.
Lera, on the other hand, was in a better mood when she found out that it was not that Harry was better than her in potions; he just had some help. She thought it would be interesting to look at the tips written in the book some day. She made a mental note to ask Harry for the book. Of course, when Hermione was not around, judging from the look on her face.
Lera felt awkward as they walked back to the Gryffindor common room, for the three of them were walking along in tense silence and any attempt to break the ice would most probably not be welcomed.
Things did not get better for the rest of the week. Harry insisted on following the instructions in the book during his potions lessons and Ron stood firmly on his side. Hermione was strongly against it and though Harry offered to let her use the book, she was resolutely ploughing on with what she called the 'official' instructions, but became increasingly bad-tempered as they yielded poorer results than the Prince's.
She could not understand what the huge fuss was about the book. So far, she had not been required to take sides but she was afraid that one day that would change. She didn't think that there was anything wrong with using the book but did not want to contradict her newfound best friend. Thus she tactfully made herself scarce each time they raised the issue, which was actually quite easy now that her workload from the many courses she took was increasing.
Soon it was Friday night and she was lying sprawled on the rug in front of the fireplace, lost in a book on uncommon jinxes when Hermione said, "Lera, don't you have Astronomy now?"
She gasped. The clock hanging above the fireplace told her that she had five minutes to get to the Astronomy Tower before lessons started at eight. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten the time; she had been looking forward to the Astronomy lesson all week long! She grabbed the bag that lay next to her and rushed off, shouting a 'thanks' to Hermione as she crawled through the portrait hole.
It was fortunate that she knew the way and did not waste any time looking for the classroom as she barely got there in time, panting from the run. The front rows of seats were all occupied so she quickly slipped into a seat at the back of the class. Just seconds after, a Professor walked into the class, introducing herself as Professor Sinistra.
The class was made up of mostly Ravenclaws, with two Hufflepuffs and her as the only Gryffindor. She noted with interest that there were no Slytherins in the class. Correction, make that one, she thought as Malfoy walked in, with a "Sorry, Professor Sinistra. I was just talking to Professor Snape."
"No matter, Mr Malfoy. Take a seat."
Lera glanced around the classroom and saw that the only empty seat was next to her. She frowned. This did not bode well. Malfoy was walking towards her, having arrived at the same conclusion. She kept her eyes to the front, completely ignoring him as he pulled out the chair and sat down.
"Take out your books and turn to page 55, today we'll be starting to learn about Saturn's rings."
It seemed directed at her and Malfoy; everyone else already had their books in front of them, flipped open to the correct page.
She rummaged in her bag and with a sinking heart, realised that she had forgotten to pack her Advanced Astronomy book into her bag. She sighed. Beside her, Malfoy had his book out in front of him but asking him to share his book with her would be the last thing she would do. She'd rather spend the lesson without one.
"Here, you can use mine," a book was pushed in front of her.
"Don't you need to use it?" She looked at Malfoy, too shocked to remember not to be nice.
He shrugged. "I've just read up on the topic. I can still remember most of it."
"But—" she was about to protest further but was stopped by a sharp voice.
"Miss Drae, Mr Malfoy, do try to pay attention."
She turned pink as the Ravenclaws fixed disapproving glares on them. She immediately stared down at the book, not wanting to meet their eyes. There were some annotations neatly squeezed along the columns of the pages, written in an elegant, slanted script. She found herself admiring the elegant handwriting before forcefully pushing the thoughts out of her head. These are Malfoy's words!
The lesson was interesting and she soon forgot that she was sitting beside the one person she hated in the whole school, as well as the little conversation that had taken place with Malfoy. That was until Professor Sinistra announced,
"For the practical aspect of N.E.W.T. level Astronomy, you would have to complete a project in pairs, which would be due in three months time. For this project, you would have the privilege of using a very special telescope to study the skies. There is, unfortunately, only one telescope available and as such, each pair would be allocated a different timeslot to use the telescope. As for the pairs, to make it easier, let's just say you work with the person you're sitting next to now."
It took a while before it finally hit her, and when it did, her eyes grew wide. She had to work with Malfoy on this project. They had to spend time with each other, alone. She felt Malfoy's eyes on her but she resolutely stared straight ahead. When Professor Sinistra dismissed them for class, she left his book on the table, quickly swung her bag onto her shoulder and walked out of the door without a backward glance.