It was safe to say that charms was a total disaster. Hardly anybody had managed to get the hang of the Locomotion charm. The few that had - Rose, James, Sirius and Cassie - had hardly any control over it, and cushions had been whizzing across the classroom like missiles, knocking over desks, chairs and Professor Flitwick, who had gone off the idea of doing any more higher level charms in the near future. When it was my turn to practice, our cushion shuffled feebly along the floor at two millimetres an hour. Milly was slightly better at it than me, managing to get the cushion off the floor and moving at a reasonable speed. The only problem was, it moved jerkily and unpredictably, knocking people over if they weren't paying attention to their feet. Me and Milly ended up rolling on the floor, clutching our sides when Cassie managed to make our cushion to do several lighting speed circuits of the classroom on her command, only to have it collide with her when she wasn't paying attention. Milly said that the cushion thought that Cassie was showing off too much, and she ought to be taken down a peg or two. We emerged from the classroom, me and Milly still in hysterics, and Cassie red in the face with her platinum blonde hair sticking up all over the place.
"If you ever mention that to anyone, ever..." She threatened, trying go fix her hair on the way to potions.
"Don't worry, Cass," I said, wiping my eyes,"Your secret is safe with us." Milly nodded.
"It had better be." She growled as we entered the classroom. I took my place next to Sirius (not willingly, of course - Professor Ashworth was the one teacher in Hogwarts who insisted on a seating plan - Yet another reason I didn't like him), while Cassie smugly took her seat beside Milly, who smiled slightly apologetically at me. I grimaced back, while Sirius, who was watching our silent conversation, gasped.
"Evans! What was that look for!"
I decided that the best way was to feign innocence. "What look?" I asked, carefully arranging my features into what I hoped was the picture of innocence. Unfortunately, it seemed my innocence facade needed a little work, as Sirius snorted.
"Don't you try and act all innocent on me, Sapphie-gem!"
I inwardly winced at the ridiculous nickname, but luckily he didn't notice, and continued.
"I saw that look to Silly-Billy-Milly!" Milly turned round annoyed, having heard her Sirius special nickname, and narrowed her eyes. I shrugged, and she turned back around.
"You don't like sitting next to me! I am hurt, gemstone! You, um, grev-... grive-...er, gravy-"
"I think the word that you are flailing around for is grievously, Sirius." We both turned around to see Alex grinning at us from the row behind, and I rolled my eyes. Sirius, on the other hand, clapped and shouted excitedly in my ear.
"That's it, Alex! Evans, you grievously wounded me!"
"Sirius! That was right in my ear, you dunderhead!"
"Aww, but you don't mind, do you, Sapphie-gem? You love hearing my angels voice! It makes up for you not having one!"
"Black, you are such an a-"
"Ooh, are we resorting to last names now, Evans?"
"Yes we are!"
"And why, may I ask, is that?"
"Because, you are being a p-"
But at that moment, professor Ashworth strode in, ending our shouting match. I didn't particularly want to lose fifty points from Gryffindor in the first month of school. I think I would find myself decidedly unpopular with the rest of the Gryffindors.
"Alright, settle down." Professor Ashworth said, smiling around at us, baring his yellowing teeth. The class fidgeted uneasily, and I caught Cassie's eye, who silently confirmed my suspicions.
"Today we will be brewing the dizziness draught." The whole class groaned. The dizziness draught was an extremely complex potion, involving lots of precise stirring, and you had to add the ingredients or turn up the heat at exactly the right time. Ashworth's smile widened.
"The instructions-" he flicked his wand. "Are on the board." They appeared there. "You will find any extra ingredients needed-" he flicked his wand again. "In the store cupboard." Said cupboard opened. If it was possible, his smile widened even more. "You may begin."
I sighed, and read the first line of the instructions on the board.
1. Half fill your cauldron with diluted swooping evil venom, and leave to simmer on a low heat. Add powdered root of Asphodel. Stir seven clockwise, two anticlockwise, four clockwise. It should turn a pale cerulean.
Another annoying trait of Professor Ashworth was that he seemed to find it entertaining to use complex colours that some people have never heard of to describe how our potions are supposed to look. Luckily, I had seen this colour just this morning, my Mum having sent me a new scarf, after I complained about my old one being holey. She said in her letter that came with it that the scarf was not just blue, but cerulean, and would match my eyes perfectly. I had rolled my eyes at this. I mean, blue was blue. But still, it came in handy. And it was a rather nice scarf.
I was jolted out of my thoughts when Sirius poked me in the ribs.
"Eeeeeek!" I squealed, squirming away. Sirius frowned, eyebrows raised, and I could tell that he thought something was wrong with me.
"I'm ticklish under there!" I defended myself, crossing my arms and making sure to cover up my ticklish areas. Sirius rolled his eyes, which greatly annoyed me.
"Why did you feel the need to prod me, anyway?"
"I was going to ask you, before you so rudely interrupted me with your piggy squeals, what does the colour Ker-oo-leen look like?"
I stared at him blankly for a few seconds before realising what he meant.
"Oh! Cerulean!"
"Well, whatever that colour is in the first line of the instructions."
"Cerulean." I confirmed. He looked at me expectantly.
"Its a sort slightly cyan-blue."
He raised an eyebrow. "And cyan is..."
"A bluey-turquoise." I explained.
"Right, so ceru-leen-"
"Cerulean."
"Yeah, that, is a bluey-turquoise-blue?"
"Correct."
"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" He whined, letting his head fall onto the desk. "Ow." He muttered, rubbing it. I snorted, before getting up to collect the diluted swooping evil venom - I already had powdered root of Asphodel, as it was in my potion kit.
"Here." Said a voice from beside me. I turned to see Milly, holding three jars of the diluted swooping evil venom. She handed one to me.
"Thanks." I said, gratefully, eying the not-so-orderly queue, where people were pushing and shoving each other to get the venom. Milly just smiled, and made her way back to her and Cassie's desk. I went back to mine to find Sirius frowning at his potion, which was a pale pink rather than cerulean, and was bubbly ominously. I groaned.
"Sirius, what's that your holding?"
"Powdered root of Asphodel." He said showing me.
"No it's not! That's dried foxglove petal!"
"Oh!"
I turned back to my still empty cauldron, leaving Sirius to figure out how to save his potion. I followed the instructions, and carefully stirred my potion seven clockwise, two anticlockwise, four clockwise. To my delight, it turned a pleasant pale blue, or cerulean as Ashworth described it. I continued painstakingly following the instructions, until with five minutes to go, I read the last line:
Pour in two drops of infusion of wormwood, and stir three clockwise, eleven anticlockwise. Leave on a high heat for two minutes, then turn the heat off. Stir vigorously until the potion turns a bright indigo. Steam should be turquoise, and once the potion settles it should have a glassy surface.
I reached for my glass phial containing infusion of wormwood, and realised that I was running low. Making a mental note to ask my Mum to get some more from Diagon alley, I poured in two drops of it, just as the instructions said. Once the cork was firmly back in, I stored the potion: three clockwise, eleven anticlockwise, then turned up the heat. I watched the potion bubble and boil as I counted in my head. 1, 2, 3...
I turned to the side to see Sirius struggling with his potion.
18, 19, 20...
I noted with satisfaction that, unlike my potion, which was a pinky-purple, his was a bright, sulfuric yellow.
1 minute, 1 minute and 1, 1 minute and 2...
A sizzling noise led me to, once again, glance over at Sirius's potion, which was now giving off the foul smell of rotten eggs, and grimaced, but continued watching my own.
1 minute 29, 1 minute 30, 1 minute 31...
I smirked as Sirius' potion started spitting, and he desperately tried to rescue it. I almost felt sorry for him. I would have, if he hadn't jeered and mocked my efforts on certain other potions before, having before him the perfect example of what the book described.
1 minute 49, 1 minute 50...
Ten seconds to go, and I took pity on him, deciding to help him once I'd finished mine.
1 minute 57, 1 minute 58, 1 minute 59-
BOOM.
I screamed, along with several others, as Sirius' potion exploded, splattering all over me. It was thick and lumpy, sticking to my face and robes like ancient super glue, and I was dismayed to find that it hadn't lost its acrid smell of rotten eggs.
"Silence!" Shouted professor Ashworth over the screeches of the class. "Miss Evans, Mr Black, go to Madam Pomphrey. Mr Potter and Miss Malfoy, kindly escort them there."
"Yes sir." Said James and Cassie, and I saw with annoyance that they both wore similar expressions of trying very hard not to laugh.
"Come on, Saph." Cassie chuckled, taking my arm and helping me to the door, careful not to touch any of the yellow gloop which was Sirius' potion. She then grimaced. "Merlin, that reeks!"
"I would know. It's right beneath my nose!" I grumbled. She got the message.
"Right, let's get you to the hospital wing, and fast! The quicker you get that stuff of you, the better!" Not waiting for James or Sirius, Cassie frogmarched me from the room, ignoring the sniggers of our classmates.