Chapter 13 – Potions and Prowling

Salazar looked about the Potions classroom where the fourth year students were now gathered for their first lesson with him. They didn't look particularly attentive and there were several students who appeared to be finishing off their lunch. That was one of the problems with Potions. With so much equipment on the desks it was easy to hide all manner of illicit materials behind the cauldrons. Everything from homework for other classes to half eaten pasties could be safely hidden away from the eyes of the teachers. He made a mental note to keep wandering around the desks during the lesson to see what else they had hidden out of sight.

"During the course of the year you will be brewing a wide variety of potions under my tutelage. We will be concentrating this year on learning how to make a number of potions that are used in every day life…potions for cleaning and healing for example. After you've mastered those we will turn to the more unusual and far more complicated potions."

One of the students raised his hand. Salazar sighed, surely not a question already? He waved a hand to indicate the boy to ask whatever it was that was on his mind.

"My dad says standing over a hot cauldron is women's work," the boy said. "So why do the boys have to take this class?"

"Because not all boys will be able to find a wife to do their work for them," Salazar retorted, wondering if the boy had even noticed the glares being directed at him from the female members of the class.

"Will we be learning how to make potato stew?" another voice called out.

"Huh? Who asked that?" Salazar looked about the room for the person who'd spoken. Another hand was raised. "No, we will not be learning how to make stew of any kind. This is a Potions class."

A few small groans were heard and Salazar frowned. "Is there anyone else here who is labouring under the misapprehension that I will be tutoring you in culinary skills?"

The class was silent; not a single hand was raised. Salazar was about to continue with the lesson when he realised that there were a lot of confused faces looking in his direction. "Does anyone else think I'm teaching cooking?" he amended. Eight hands shot into the air.

"Well remove that thought for your minds right now or go and join the house elves in the kitchens. I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige you with some lessons."

No one got up from their seats. It was a pity really as the class was rather large and he had a sneaking suspicion he was short on ingredients for the potion he wished them to make today.

"My dad still says that this is women's work," the boy who'd spoken initially grumbled.

"Your father probably only says that because he's no good at it," Salazar retorted. A few members of the class snickered.

"My father's a great wizard," the boy argued. "He once defeated Merlin in a duel." Several members of the class gasped in awe at this revelation.

"I think you'll find that once he'd imbibed a jug of ale most of your grandmothers could have beaten Merlin in a duel," Salazar informed the class before continuing with the lesson.

"Today we will be brewing sleeping draughts. Yes, what is it now?" Salazar turned impatiently to the girl Rowena had pointed out at lunchtime as being Rosalyn.

"I already know how to make that, can I make something different instead?" asked Rosalyn in a thoroughly bored tone.

"No," Salazar snapped. "If you already know how to make it, I shall expect you to produce a perfect potion and gain full marks in this class. I'm not having everyone working on different potions and confusing me…I mean confusing the rest of the class."

After ten minutes of questions and the giving out of further instructions the class was finally under way. He was pleased to see that Rosalyn did indeed know how to make the sleeping draught, although the boy who thought it was women's work appeared to be struggling.

The lesson was half way through when he heard the sound of a quiet knock on the door.

"Come in," he called from where he was looking into a cauldron that was starting to melt in order to see what had gone wrong. He made a mental note to suggest to Godric that next year the students provide their own equipment rather than the school.

"Er, Professor Slytherin, Sir…" the second year girl stood hovering in the doorway. He couldn't really blame her. The fumes in that part of the room were particularly noxious.

"Yes, what is it?" Salazar asked as he made his way between the desks.

"Er, it's Professor Hufflepuff," she replied. "She's not turned up for our lesson."

"Didn't your lesson start half an hour ago?" Salazar asked.

"It should have done."

"And you've waited until now to come and find another teacher?"

"Well I had to sneak out of the room to find one," the girl replied. Salazar spotted a small tear in the sleeve of her robes and her hair was slightly dishevelled. It seemed like the Charms lesson was not going according to Helga's plan at all.

He was hesitant to leave his own students but if something was seriously wrong then he had no choice. He looked about the room for a student who looked like they might take charge and act responsibly if left alone. After a minute, and when the girl from Charms had started tugging impatiently on his sleeve, he gave up and merely told them to continue working until he returned.

He frowned as he made his way down the corridor. His class had their instructions, all they had to do was read them and follow them…what could possibly go wrong?

He remembered the melted cauldron and the noxious fumes and quickened his pace.

Helga was, as he'd expected, nowhere in sight in the Charms classroom. Nor was she in her office, the staff room or any of the other likely places.

It was some time before he eventually tracked her down outside the door to the Divination classroom.

"You do realise you're supposed to be teaching second year Charms," he said as he approached. "One of your students popped into my class to tell me you hadn't turned up."

"Is that the time already?" Helga asked. "I've been here all morning trying to get Professor Plunkett to open her door. I sent her class to the library hours ago. I hope they're not still there."

"I doubt it. Jocelyn will have sent them to lunch if they didn't go themselves when they noticed the time. Are you sure Plunkett is even in there?"

"Yes, I heard her moving around about an hour ago. I think she's barricaded the door with furniture and spells."

"Perhaps you should leave her there for the moment," Salazar suggested. "Your second years are apparently rioting and I shudder to think what sort of a state my class will be in when I return."

Helga nodded and left the Divination Professor to her own devices. It wasn't like she had any other choice.

"I hereby call this emergency staff meeting to order," Godric said as he hammered on the table. Rowena woke up with a start. She didn't know what had possessed Godric to call a staff meeting at seven o'clock in the morning but she sincerely hoped that it would be the last one of its kind.

"The matter at hand," he continued, "is Professor Plunkett. As you are all aware, she has barricaded herself in her tower and seems to have forgotten that she's supposed to be teaching the students Divination at all."

He turned to glare somewhat at Helga who looked rather harassed as she chewed on the end of her quill.

"Now while we could all cover her lessons for her, I think we are all agreed that we don't really know enough about the subject to ensure our students are proficient in it." He nodded to the group in acknowledgement of their efforts.

Rowena wondered how the others had handled the lessons that they'd been forced to take over for the last two weeks. She had confined the classes to the reading of tea leaves and had managed to waste most of the time brewing the tea.

"Let's face it," Salazar interrupted. "None of us know squat about Divination and nor would we care to. Can't we just scrap the subject now and have done with it?"

"Well that might solve the problem of the lessons," Godric agreed. "But it won't help with getting Professor Plunkett out of the tower."

"Leave the old loon up there," Salazar suggested with a shrug. "It's not like anyone else is clamouring for the quarters."

"We can't just leave her up there," said Helga. "She's our responsibility."

"You hired her, I think that makes her your responsibility," Salazar retorted. "But really, how difficult can it be to get the old bat out of the tower. We're wizards and witches, there's got to be something we can do."

"I don't see you putting forward any suggestions," Helga pointed out. "At least no useful suggestions."

"Well if we all put our minds together, I'm sure we'll come up with something," said Godric hopefully. He beamed around the table. Everyone ducked their heads to avoid his gaze.

The minutes dragged by in silence.

"While we're all here," Salazar finally said. "I've been thinking of a few other things we might like to discuss."

"Yes?" Godric said warily.

"Well firstly there's the issue of expenses. The school has already run through a dozen cauldrons and I think we should consider asking the students to provide their own."

"That couldn't be avoided by having a more proficient teacher?" Ryan Lynch piped up. He'd made it clear that he wanted to teach Potions right from the start and took every opportunity to make sure that Godric was reminded of the fact.

"No it couldn't!" Salazar snapped.

"We'll look into it for next year," suggested Godric, eager to bring the meeting back to the problem at hand.

"There's another matter I wanted to bring up too," Salazar said.

"Yes?" Godric sounded even more wary this time.

"The weekends seem to be a bit problematic," Salazar continued. "All these students running around with too much spare time on their hands. More than half the injuries and accidents dealt with by Madam Gudgeon are occurring during the weekends and I think we might want to consider sending students home on Friday nights to return on Sunday."

Godric frowned. "That seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to. A lot of the students have to travel hundreds of miles to get here and their parents are paying for them to stay here throughout the term."

"I really don't think it's a particularly good idea," Helga agreed. "It'd be far easier to have them stay here and keep a closer eye on what they're up to. Don't you agree Rowena?"

Rowena opened her mouth to confirm her agreement when she felt the slight pressure on her foot. She looked at Salazar who raised his eyebrow meaningfully.

"Ah," Godric said with a knowing smirk. He rummaged about in his papers for a moment before pulling out a sheet of parchment. "Ah, here it is," he finally said as he read down the paper. "You indicated that the staff sleeping arrangements were not a priority for staff meetings. I have taken the time to consider what you said at the last meeting and find myself to be in total agreement on that point."

Helga snickered and whispered "score one to Godric" loudly.

Salazar swore under his breath. "So how about we fit an extra holiday or two into each term. Say one at the start of October and then another in November…"

"No!" Godric said as he hammered on the table once more. "Can we get back to the matter at hand please?"

"What matter's that?" asked a voice from the end of the table. "I'm quite enjoying this debate!"

Everyone turned in shock to see that Professor Plunkett had descended from her tower and was sitting attentively at the end of the table as though she'd always been there.

"Sorry I'm late," she said. "No one told me about the meeting. Just found out about it from Sal a few minutes ago."

Rowena looked at Salazar who looked as confused as everyone else.

"She's a good girl, is Sal," Professor Plunkett continued. "Aren't you girl?"

Everyone leaned forward to see what she was doing as Daisy leaned down to her left.

"Would someone please get that ruddy goat out of the staff room, at once!" Godric ordered as he hammered once more on the table.

"I told you you'd dent the table if you kept doing that," Helga pointed out with a sigh as Godric finally succeeded in breaking his hammer and wearing a groove in the table.

Rowena crept from her quarters as quietly as she could. She felt like an intruder in her own castle as she tiptoed down the stairs.

The sound of whispered voices below startled her and she hid behind a suit of armour. She wondered who was wandering about the castle in the middle of the night, at least besides her.

The voices drew nearer, revealing themselves to belong to a couple of third year girls who were staggering under the weight of piles of pastries and cakes.

"What's going on here?" Rowena asked as she stepped out in front of the students. One of them let out a small scream whilst the other, just as startled, dropped a couple of pastries.

"Midnight feast," the second girl finally said. "The house elves said to come by any time we wanted a snack."

"They did, did they?" Rowena asked. "Perhaps you didn't hear what Professor Gryffindor said on the first day of term though, about staying in your quarters after lights out."

The girls looked at each other guiltily.

"I really should give you a detention for this," Rowena said. "But if you go right back to Ravenclaw Tower now, I'll overlook it just this once."

"But we're in Gryffindor, Professor," the first girl said.

"Oh." Six weeks into term and Rowena was still unsure as to which students belonged to which house when they weren't in their school robes. "Well come along, let's get you back to Gryffindor Tower." She pointed the way and the girls dutifully followed her direction.

"You're not going to tell Professor Gryffindor, are you?" the girls asked once they'd reached the portrait that was guarding the entrance to the tower.

"Well I don't know," Rowena mused, despite the fact that she had no intention of doing so. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain to Godric what she was doing wandering the school at midnight.

"Oh, please Professor," the girls begged.

"Very well," Rowena said. "But I'll have to deduct house points from you both. Ten points from each of you for breaking the rules."

The girls looked so relieved at not having to face Godric they didn't seem to register the loss of the house points.

Rowena saw them safely into the tower before turning back and continuing on her way.

A minute later she was hiding in an empty classroom as Wilbur's Astronomy students filed along the corridor for their midnight class.

"I don't see why we have to study this subject so late at night," one boy complained.

"Because the stars only come out at night, stupid!"

"But what's the point of studying them at all?"

"I want to go back to bed!"

"Quit complaining you two, it's not our fault the staff insist on teaching such pointless subjects. If you have to complain then write to your parents."

"My dad said to quit complaining."

The voices of the dawdling students finally quietened and Rowena emerged from the classroom and hurried down the corridor again.

The sound of giggling from the library caught her ear and she stopped again. More students out of bed?

She cautiously opened the door, hoping to see some more students whom she could deduct some house points from. Godric and Salazar had both got carried away with awarding points and it was actually becoming quite an effort to keep up with them.

"Professor Ravenclaw," Augustus said as he jumped up from his seat. What looked like a book of poetry fell to the floor and a blushing Jocelyn hurried to hide it.

"Erm…carry on…er…right…um…" Rowena backed out the door.

Wondering how that little development had managed to slip past her she hurried on her way.

The next interruption on her journey turned out to be a couple of fighting cats in the Charms classroom. She managed to separate them without too much trouble, getting only a few scratches on her arm for her efforts.

She'd just reached the Entrance Hall when she heard the sound of more giggling students, this time coming from the corridor leading to the kitchen.

She slipped quietly down the stairs, catching sight of the wandering students disappearing into the kitchen. She followed immediately behind them.

"Aren't we feeding you enough here?" she asked as she entered the kitchen. One of the boys dropped the food he'd picked up from the apparent buffet on the table. "Bed now," she ordered. "And five points each from Hufflepuff." She'd have deducted ten each but Helga was the furthest behind in the competition for points already.

A guilty faced house elf peered around the table.

"Go get some sleep," Rowena said as she helped herself to an apple.

Turning round she left the kitchen again, only to find yet another student wandering the corridors. Was no one in bed tonight?

She coughed to let him know she was there.

"Sorry Miss, I must 'ave been sleepwalking," he said innocently. Rowena couldn't help but smile at the audacity.

"Bed!" she ordered, pointing back to the Hufflepuff quarters.

"What's going on?" Helga asked as she stepped out of her rooms at the far end of the corridor.

"I came down for a snack," said Rowena, displaying the apple as proof of her story.

"Sure you did," Helga replied. "Really Rowena, what if there's an emergency in Ravenclaw Tower?"

"If there's any sort of emergency I doubt it'll be in any of the student quarters. Do you have any idea how many of them are wandering around the school at night?"

"Just don't let Godric catch you," Helga said as she turned back to her own quarters.

"I won't tell if you won't," Rowena called back.

Rowena finally reached Salazar's quarters without any further students wandering across her path. She knocked and the door and waited.

And waited.

She knocked again, this time more loudly.

And waited.

Finally she ran out of patience and eased open the door.

"Sal?" she called. A loud snore revealed his presence. "Sal, wake up," she whispered. He didn't stir. She poked him in the shoulder but all he did was turn over with a snort. She shook him a little harder but he didn't rouse.

She was actually starting to get worried when she spotted the contents on the bedside table. She picked up the flask and sniffed at it. It took her a moment to recognise it as a potent sleeping draught.

"And strong enough to knock out a hippogriff," she muttered before taking a swig herself.