Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Points in Potions
Meanwhile, Hermione had been staring at the doors with her jaw clenched, her wand still at her side. Even though the last time she had seen Bellatrix she had died at the hands of Mrs. Weasley, it still didn't change the fact that she hated the witch for torturing her at Malfoy Manor. It worried her slightly that she had been asked those questions. Hermione knew that Bella wasn't completely crazy in this time, since she hadn't been to Azkaban just yet, but it didn't change the fact that she was dangerous. Hermione was sure that there was a reason beyond curiosity about a new student for the interrogation, but didn't know what. And she hated not knowing.
After being shaken out of her thoughts by Sirius, the Gryffindors entered the Great Hall for breakfast and continued to talk about what the Slytherins may have been up to. However, they didn't have much to go on. All they knew was that for some reason Bellatrix was interested in the past of Mya Grey.
Soon Professor McGonagall began to walk down the Gryffindor table, handing out their schedules. When they received theirs, an immediate groan arose from the boys.
"Double Potions first thing Monday mornings with the Slytherins? That's the worst combination to wake up to after a weekend!"
"And Double Defense Against the Dark Arts the same day, also with the Slytherins? What were they thinking? Spending that much time with the snakes will probably lead to their stupid germs rubbing off on me."
"We have double periods of everything every week?"
Hermione scanned her schedule while still half-listening to the talk around her.
Monday
8:00- 9:10- Potions (Slytherin)
9:20- 10:30- Potions (Slytherin)
10:40- 11:50- Free Period
12:00- 1:10- Lunch
1:20- 2:30- Free Period
2:40- 3:50- Defense Against the Dark Arts (Slytherin)
4:00- 5:10- Defense Against the Dark Arts (Slytherin)
5:20- 6:30- Dinner
Tuesday
8:00- 9:10- Arithmancy (All Houses)
9:20- 10:30- Free Period
10:40- 11:50- Charms (Ravenclaw)
12:00- 1:10- Lunch
1:20- 2:30- Transfiguration (Hufflepuff)
2:40- 3:50- Transfiguration (Hufflepuff)
4:00- 5:10- Free Period
5:20- 6:30- Dinner
Wednesday
8:00- 9:10- Free Period
9:20- 10:30- Herbology (Slytherin)
10:40- 11:50- Herbology (Slytherin)
12:00- 1:10- Lunch
1:20- 2:30- Free Period
2:40- 3:50- Ancient Runes (All Houses)
4:00- 5:10- Ancient Runes (All Houses)
5:20- 6:30- Dinner
Thursday
8:00- 9:10- Free Period
9:20- 10:30- Defense Against the Dark Arts (Slytherin)
10:40- 11:50- Potions (Slytherin)
12:00- 1:10- Lunch
1:20- 2:30- Arithmancy (All Houses)
2:40- 3:50- Arithmancy (All Houses)
4:00- 5:10- Free Period
5:20- 6:30- Dinner
Friday
8:00- 9:10- Transfiguration (Hufflepuff)
9:20- 10:30- Free Period
10:40- 11:50- Ancient Runes (All Houses)
12:00- 1:10- Lunch
1:20- 2:30- Herbology (Slytherin)
2:40- 3:50- Charms (Ravenclaw)
4:00- 5:10- Charms (Ravenclaw)
5:20- 6:30- Dinner
Hermione folded up her schedule, satisfied that nothing had been left out.
"Well, at least we have two free periods each day, except Friday." James said with a sigh.
As Lily stood up she said, "I'm going to go back to my dorm and grab the books I need today. You guys coming?"
The other seven students nodded in agreement and got up as well. They then followed Lily to the dorms, continuing to complain about their schedules on the way up to the Tower. When they left the portrait hole, Peter went in the opposite direction. He explained that he hadn't received a good enough score on his Potions O.W.L. to take the N.E.W.T. level class, so he was going to Remedial History of Magic.
While on their way down to the dungeons the boys began a new conversation about Quidditch, claiming that the girls' conversation about the teachers was too boring for them. Lily, Mary, and Alice had taken it upon themselves to describe each professor (in detail) about what they were like, who they favored, and the simple things to do to get on their good sides.
Down in the dungeons, the door to Potions hadn't opened yet, and there were a few Slytherins waiting outside, laughing at something. When the Gryffindors showed up the others just smirked at them and turned away. Hermione's stomach lurched when she saw the three that had questioned her just an hour before were also here. Her group waited a ways away from the others, not wanting to get any closer to the others than they had to.
After a few more minutes of waiting and talk about Slughorn, the boys abruptly stopped their conversation. Sirius nudged James, nodding with his head to something beyond the girls, causing both boys to smirk. Remus just pulled out a book, but Hermione could tell he wasn't reading it from the lack of movement from his eyes.
"Snivellus."
Hermione nearly gasped when she saw her professor-to-be. While his appearance itself would not change much in the upcoming years, his posture was what shocked her the most. The way he held himself was a far cry from the bat-like, proud stance he would use as a teacher. He stared at the floor, slouched over, as if trying to make himself smaller so that he would be less noticeable. It seemed as if Snape was trying to shrink away from everyone he passed by and worked to draw the least amount of attention to himself. He actually reminded her of herself before she had met Harry and Ron. Alone and friendless. As hard as it may seem to believe, especially after the way he would belittle her during class, Hermione felt sorry for him.
"Well, well, well. Look who managed to get his greasy head to class." Sirius sneered.
Like lightning, Snape pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sirius, but Sirius was quicker and disarmed him, catching his wand after it soared through the air.
"Snivellus, you'd think after all this time you would have learned something. Looks like I'm going to have to help make this lesson stick."
Sirius flicked his wand, and suddenly Snape was floating upside-down in the air, his hair red with a gold stripe down the center.
As Sirius continued to taunt and change various body parts and clothing into Gryffindor colors, Hermione noticed that no one made a move to help him, not even Lily. She had turned her back to them, leaning her shoulder against the wall, her face sad. James, although not participating, laughed along with several others and made no move to stop his best friend. Mary and Alice were smiling, but with faces that said that they found the situation funny even if they did not approve. Remus had given up any pretense of reading and simply leaned his back against a wall with closed eyes, as if trying to ignore the scene next to him. The Slytherins were sneering at Snape and telling him that if he was a real Slytherin he would get out of this situation himself.
Hermione was disgusted with everyone.
She whipped out her wand and disarmed Sirius, gaining Snape's and Sirius' wand in the process, causing Snape to fall to the ground gracelessly.
Immediately the entire corridor was silent.
Hermione was trembling in rage her eyes fixed on Sirius' surprised face. All occupants of the hallway had turned to face her when she had cast the spell, including Remus and Lily.
"Who do you think you are? Do you get your kicks by making people feel inferior and humiliating them?"
Sirius rolled his eyes and snorted. "You insult people in general by lumping this ball of grease in with them."
Hermione's eyes flashed and she clenched her jaw. "Why are you picking on him anyways?"
He smirked. "He exists. Do I need any other reason?"
"YES! If you think that it's your job to make others think less of themselves, then you're one of the stupidest people I've ever met, and that's saying something. I don't give a damn if you had an inferiority complex and felt the need to make others feel like you, or if you had a superiority complex and just feel like stomping on those you consider beneath you, or if you were just born an arse and that's who you are. You have no right to humiliate and degrade others just because 'they exist.' "
Everyone's jaws had dropped by the time Hermione had finished her speech, while she had slowly been advancing on Sirius, and ended up with her wand jabbing his chest. Sirius himself seemed so surprised that someone was actually sticking up to him and yelling at him that he was rendered speechless.
Hermione then spun around and stomped over to where Snape was now standing, his hair, face, hands, and robes all red and gold. She waved her wand over him, turning him back to normal, and handed his wand back. Before he could say anything, whether it be an insult or gratitude, the door opened and Slughorn appeared.
"Sorry class! Got a little caught up in reading some letters from old students, and I lost track of the time. Come in, come in, and take a seat."
It seemed the professor was completely oblivious to the situation, either that or he simply ignored it. Snape whipped past Hermione without saying a word, not that she had expected him to. The rest of the class walked into the classroom, leaving only Hermione and Sirius standing in the hallway. She glared at him one last time, threw his wand to the floor at his feet, and walked past him into the classroom, her head held high and ignoring him.
A few seconds later Sirius walked in, taking a seat next to James who was sitting next to Remus in the back. Hermione had sat next to Lily, while Mary and Alice were sitting at the table in front of them, theirs being the first table in the front.
"Ah, Miss Grey! I must say I am excited to see how well you will fare in my classroom."
"Thank you sir."
Then Professor Slughorn gave his customary "Welcome to Potions, this is what we will be doing this year, this is what I expect from you, blah, blah, blah" speech, and Lily turned to Hermione.
"Thank you for stopping that. I know that as Head Girl, or even as just a student, that I should have done it myself, but..." she sighed. "The last time I tried to help Snape, he called me a- a- a mudblood. And we were friends before that, so- I just-"
"It's okay Lily. I understand. Well, not completely, but you don't have to explain yourself to me. I just had to stop Sirius because I can relate to Snape. I'm a muggleborn, and all throughout Primary School I had no friends. I didn't make any friends whatsoever until I came here. I know what it's like to be made fun of and humiliated (especially after the scandal in fourth year with Harry and Krum) and I couldn't stand it."
Hermione was about to say more when Slughorn finally finished his speech and decided to start the class.
"All right." Slughorn said while clapping his fat hands together. "Today we are going to be making an extremely difficult potion, but we won't be completing it. This particular potion takes an entire month to brew, and is illegal to make in completion for underage witches and wizards. I want you to make it so I can see how much you remember and how adept you are at making a potion that you do not know the identity of." After a few hands were raised Slughorn raised his hands, as if to stop their questions, and simply continued with his explanation. "I will not be telling you what this potion is, and it cannot be found in your textbooks. The directions will be on the board, and those will only be the beginning steps. I will not disclose the entirety of the directions, for obvious reasons." He flicked his wand at the chalkboard, and writing immediately appeared. He then clapped his hands together again, and told them all, "Have fun, and get to work!"
James raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"Why are we making this potion if it's illegal?"
"My dear boy, like I said, I want to see how you will do with a challenge such as this. Yes, Miss Grey?"
Hermione lowered her hand. "What if you know what this potion is?"
Slughorn raised his eyebrows in surprise, and the rest of the classroom looked at her in surprise. The professor recollected himself quickly, and smiled at her.
"I would award you seventy-five points if you could identify it, another fifty if you could accurately describe it's appearance in it's completed form, another fifty for a description of the effects, and I'll even throw in twenty-five more if you can tell me some obscure facts."
Many Slytherins smirked. If their Head of House was offering that many points, then this potion must be nearly impossible to identify. They were sure that this newcomer wouldn't win those points in a million years.
Hermione had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. These would be the easiest points she had ever received.
"We will be making the Polyjuice Potion. It's purpose is to turn the drinker into an exact copy of someone else. When finished brewing, it is a brownish-gray in color, similar to mud, very thick, and it tends to bubble sluggishly. After you add the bit of whomever you wish to turn into, the color will change, and it's impossible to know what it will look like without actually adding the hair and observing the change yourself.
"The actual transformation is very painful. You first feel as though your stomach and intestines have started writhing inside of you. Then your skin feels as if it is melting off of your body, and that is when you finally transform. Then the pain stops, quite abruptly, and you have become an exact replica of another person.
"As useful as this potion is for creating imitations of humans, it is not meant for animals. Animals should not ingest it and you should not add part of an animal. If you do, you will effectively become a human sized version of whatever animal it was you used for the potion. The effects do not fade after an hour, and can last for months if not treated properly."
The entire classroom was so quiet that the sound of someone breathing seemed too loud. Professor Slughorn had long since sat down at his desk, his eyes wide, his jaw slack, and his rotund body seemed to droop. The Slytherins looked at her with hate in their eyes, angry that she had gained so many points for their rival house. The Gryffindors were looking at her in awe, ecstatic that they were starting off in the year with such a great lead.
Slughorn cleared his throat and asked in a hoarse voice, "How do you know so much about Polyjuice Potion, Miss Grey?"
As one, the eyes of the students flicked over to their teacher, then back to the girl.
"I read it in a book," Hermione said, not completely lying. While most of that she had learned from personal experience, she had read about it in Moste Potente Potions before both making and drinking the potion.
Slughorn swallowed audibly, a small ripple going down his throat.
"Well- I- that was- I am very impressed, Miss Grey. I think you will fit in nicely to this classroom. Also, I have a little gathering of a few, select, people, and I would be delighted if you joined us. I am planning on having a meeting Friday night, in my office. Do you think you could come, my dear?"
Hermione figured it was better to avoid any confrontation she might have by denying, so she agreed.
"Now that that's in order, I believe I promised you quite a few points. Let's see... seventy-five for identifying it as Polyjuice Potion, fifty for describing it's appearance after brewing, I'll even add another thirty for adding that bit about it's appearance after adding the bit of someone else, fifty for the description of effects, and twenty-five for that bit about animals. And another twenty for the length of time the effects can last, I wasn't aware of that detail... so that will be a total of..."
"Two-hundred and fifty points." Lily whispered.
"Yes, 250 points to Gryffindor. Well done, Miss Grey. Well, now that you all know what it is you're making, go ahead, get to it!"
The class scrambled up to get their ingredients after examining the chalkboard. Hermione didn't even bother looking at it. After brewing it multiple times while on the run in the hunt for Horcruxes, she had the steps of the potion measured in it's entirety.
And so they got to work. At the end of class Slughorn awarded Hermione and Snape twenty points each for getting the farthest out of the rest of the class. Lily would have received twenty as well, except James had sent her a note that hit her elbow at the exact worst time, causing Lily to add the lacewing flies too quickly, requiring her to backtrack a few steps to fix her error. Needless to say, she was not pleased. She didn't even bother reading the note and burned it in the fire underneath her cauldron.
Finally the bell rang, with almost the entire class heaving sighs of relief. They packed up their supplies and the Slytherins left the classroom as quickly as they could, with Slughorn shouting the homework at them over the din, while the Gryffindors stayed behind to interrogate Hermione.
"In one day you got us 250 points, Mya! That's got to be a school record!"
"That was awesome; you even got farther than Snape and Lily! How did you do that?"
"I was watching you, you didn't even look at the board once, not even to look at the list of ingredients! How do you know how to make this potion so well?"
"Have you ever taken it? Because the way you described the effects of the transformation, that sounded like firsthand experience to me!"
"How many times have you made it?"
"You got invited into the Slug Club on your first day! Usually it takes him at least a week to examine new prospects and decide if he likes them or not."
"Are you always this smart?"
"Do you think we can get this many points in our other classes with her?"
"Oy, Grey, come on, fess up!"
"Spill the secrets, we're dying to know!"
"Mya?"
"Grey?"
"Hello?"
Hermione had had enough. "Everybody, calm down! I read it in a book, I know how to make it because I've watched other people make it before, and I don't know how I got farther than Lily and Snape, I just did! I've never taken it, I've never made it before, and I don't know what is going on with the Slug Club. I'd like to think that I'm always this smart, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't use me to win House Points."
She took a deep breath after that and continued. "Now, I have a free period at the moment, and I intend to use it to write that three-foot long essay Slughorn just assigned to us. So if you'll all excuse me..."
"I'll show you where the Library is!" Lily offered.
Hermione smiled at her kindly. "Thanks for that Lily, but I know where the Library is. It's one of the first places I made sure I knew how to get to when I arrived." That was true, since when she was a First Year she had sought it out the second she had a moment to spare. Hermione took a deep breath and smiled again, this time at everyone. "I'll see you guys later."
And then she walked out, leaving the boys gaping, the girls smiling, and all thinking I think I'm going to like Mya Grey.
