Chapter 13 – The Secret Laboratory
"This sucks," Jack fumed as he and Phenix were hanging out alone in their bedroom. "I can't believe we both haven't got dates for the ball."
"Well at least we'll be going alone together," Phenix said, trying to put a positive spin on the dire situation.
"As long as people don't think we've come together. No offence, you're my best friend and all but I'll never find a girlfriend if everyone thinks I'm gay too," Jack noted and Phenix took no offence as not every guy would stick by their best friend after they had come out as gay but Jack had always been there for him.
"Come on lets go or we'll be late for potions," Phenix noted as he looked at the time.
"Great an afternoon with Snape. Depress me even more why don't you," remarked Jack as he reluctantly slid off his bed and got his things together before they left for their lesson.
When they got to the classroom they found Professor Snape sullen faced and scowling as he so often was. He was sat at his desk watching everyone arrive with a look of disdain as if he wished to be anywhere else but teaching students. Phenix often wondered why he had become a teacher when he seemed to hate children so much.
"Morris sit down and Turner put those Gobstones away. Don't even think about playing with them in my classroom," Professor Snape commanded as he stood up and walked to the front of the class, seemingly in a grumpier mood than he usually was.
"Today Miss Nightingale will be leading your lesson," Snape announced and it was obvious from how everyone's face lit up and the murmuring of joy that everyone was pleased about this and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Snape. "Don't think that means you can mess about this lesson because I will be watching you all closely," he said as he scanned his cold black eyes around the room.
Miss Nightingale, who today was dressed in dark green robes that seemed to have a floral motif on, stepped to the front of the class.
"Thank you Professor," she said a little nervous and Snape reluctantly moved off to the side of the classroom. "Good afternoon class. Today I would like to teach you how to brew a very interesting concoction that is known as an Elixir to Induce Euphoria."
Snape seemed to roll his eyes as Miss Nightingale announced this and there were some in the class who wondered if she was deliberately teaching them this potion to spite Snape as a way of getting back at him for his obvious hostile attitude towards her being in his class. Though no one was complaining. Lately Snape had been teaching them how to make a lot of antidotes to poisons and cures for various illnesses like dragon fever and troll pox. And though these were useful they weren't very fun.
Miss Nightingale went through the recipe for the elixir before the students, in pairs, began preparing their ingredients and brewing their potions.
Phenix and Jack had added peppermint and shrivelfig to their cauldron and were now stirring it and waiting for it to turn blue before they added the next ingredients.
Miss Nightingale seemed pleased with everyone's progress and she walked round inspecting people's work and giving words of encouragement. However Snape was also walking between desks trying to find any fault where he could.
"Moon and Lightfoot that's the wrong shade of blue. You haven't added enough shrivelfig," he sniped as he glared at their cauldron before moving on to berate another pair of students.
Miss Nightingale came over to Phenix and Jack and inspected their potion too.
"That looks a perfect shade of blue to me. Keep up the good work," she said in a hushed tone so Snape didn't overhear her.
"I wish she could take all our Potions lessons," Jack commented after she had moved on to the next desk and Phenix thought everyone in the class would probably agree.
They continued with the next lot of ingredients with the mixture changing colour numerous times. It was now a pink colour and they were letting it simmer until it turned orange and then they could add the last ingredient.
"Just wormwood left to add," Jack said after checking the textbook. "I haven't got any of that, have you?"
"No you'll have to get some from the shelf," Phenix said as he kept a close eye on the simmering potion in their cauldron.
"I'll come with you. We need some too," said Tonks who was working opposite the boys with Amelia and were also waiting for their mixture to turn orange.
Jack and Tonks headed off to collect the last ingredient and Amelia took the opportunity to have a word with Phenix.
"Phenix I wanted to speak to you about the ball. You don't mind that I'm going with Aidan? Cos I know we said we could go together if neither of us couldn't find dates," she said looking a little guilty.
"Don't be silly. Of course it's fine. I don't mind so much going on my own but it's more Jack I feel sorry for. It would have been nice if he could have found someone to go with. I don't suppose you know any girls who are still looking?" Phenix asked, hoping there would be someone left without a date even though he had been asking around for days.
"No sorry. Every girl I know has got a date already," Amelia replied.
"No worries," Phenix said, stirring his potion with a disappointed look on his face.
"But I might have an idea. Meet me in the girls' bathroom on the second floor after class," Amelia said just as Jack and Tonks were returning and she quickly went back to checking her simmering potion.
Once the last ingredient was added Phenix and Jack's potion turned a bright yellow colour, which Miss Nightingale said was the colour it should be to show it was brewed right. In fact everyone in the class had potions of that colour, which seemed to annoy Snape. Phenix wasn't sure if it was because the professor liked it when people screwed up because he could have a go at them or if it was because it had showed him up as a teacher due to the fact Miss Nightingale had managed to get the whole class to produce a perfect potion, something that rarely happened in Snape's classes.
Miss Nightingale was pleased with everyone's work and let each student take a vial of the elixir with them to use when they were feeling down. Phenix certainly preferred having her teach the Potions lessons. Snape very rarely gave out praise and also complained and handed out lots of detentions and took away house points whenever he could. During the lesson Phenix had managed to spill some of his potion mixture on the desk and it had left a rather nasty stain. Miss Nightingale had said not to worry but had Snape seen it he would have been in trouble.
"I think someone needs to give some of this to Snape," Jack joked as they were clearing away their utensils and he could see Snape sat surly faced at his desk, no doubt annoyed at how successful Miss Nightingale's lesson had been.
After the class Phenix made an excuse to Jack that he needed to grab a book from the library and told him to head back to the common room without him. As soon as Jack was out of sight he headed quickly for the stairs and up to the second floor.
Phenix made his way along the corridor and wondered why everyone always insisted on meeting him in bathrooms. Charlie had arranged their chess practice in the prefects' bathroom and now Amelia wanted to meet him in the girls' one.
When he got to the door he stopped and looked up and down the corridor, feeling rather nervous about hanging around outside a girls' bathroom. Once he was sure there was no one about he pressed his ear to the door and listened and thought he could hear two people talking. Not sure what he was meant to do he knocked twice before stepping back.
The door was flung open and before he could say anything, Amelia was dragging him inside.
"Amelia I don't think I should be in here," Phenix protested, trying not to fall over as she yanked him in and closed the door behind them.
"It's OK. No one uses this bathroom."
It was clear to Phenix why. The bathroom had seen better days. It was rather gloomy, the mirror was cracked, the sink had chips out of it, the paint on the cubicle doors were flaking and scratched and one door was even hanging off its hinges. It really wasn't an inviting place even just to go to the toilet in.
"So why did you bring me here?" Phenix asked, rather confused as he looked around and checked that there was no one else there. "And who were you talking to?"
"This is where I like to come to work because I know I won't be disturbed," Amelia replied.
"Work?"
"Yes to make my potions. Snape only teaches us a fraction of the ones in the textbooks so I like to come here and make more and experiment," Amelia said looking pleased with herself.
As Phenix stepped further into the bathroom he could see behind the door that was ajar on the first cubicle there was a cauldron that was simmering over a fire. As he moved to the next cubicle he could see steam rising above the door. When he pushed it open there was another cauldron bubbling away and he was sure he would find more potions brewing behind the other doors. It looked like Amelia had her own private potion lab going on in that bathroom.
"You've been doing all this by yourself?" Phenix asked, slightly taken aback by the scene.
"Yes. Well Myrtle keeps me company but she can't exactly help," Amelia said as she went to tend to a cauldron in one of the cubicles.
"Who's Myrtle?" Phenix asked.
As if on cue something rose up out of the far cubicle high up in the air and came swooping down in front of Phenix.
"I'm Myrtle!" the blueish white spectre shouted at him angrily.
"Take no notice of her. She's harmless really," Amelia called out from the cubicle.
"What's a boy doing in my bathroom?!" Myrtle continued to rant as she flew in circles above Phenix.
"Oh Myrtle do stop moaning," Amelia said as she came out and walked over to Phenix. "You're always complaining that no one but me comes in here and that you'd like some more company so meet Phenix Moon. He's in my house."
"Well I guess he can stay for a bit then," Myrtle seemed to say in a huff before she flew down beside Amelia and whispered in her ear, "he is kind of cute."
Phenix had managed to hear this and started to go red as Myrtle flew back up into the air, now seemingly in a slightly happier mood.
"Come on this is what I wanted to show you," Amelia said, grabbing Phenix by the arm and dragging him over to one of the cubicles.
Inside there was a cauldron that was boiling away. Amelia grabbed a ladle and spooned a small amount of a liquid that looked perfectly clear into a vial she had taken from her pocket and then held it up to Phenix.
"What is that?" Phenix asked staring at it.
"This is Draught of Attraction," Amelia said with a self-assured smile on her face.
"What's it for?"
"If someone drinks a couple drops of this then they will find themselves attracting a lot of attention. Now whether it's female or male attention depends on the last ingredient. Here hold this," Amelia said, passing the vial to Phenix as she went off and started rummaging through a wooden box in the bathroom and Phenix could hear various glass bottles clinking together.
"What's that?" Phenix asked as she came back with a small bottle with what looked like black powder in it.
"It's black pepper. You add pepper to attract females or salt to attract males," Amelia replied holding up the bottle.
"So what is the potion for?" Phenix asked as Amelia added a pinch of pepper to the vial and the liquid instantly turned purple.
"It's for Jack," she said, inserting a stopper into the top of the vial.
"Wait, what?" a surprised Phenix asked.
"For Jack. You said he was down about not getting a date. Well at least this way he'll get a bit of female attention at the ball," Amelia noted.
"I don't think he'll take it. I doubt he'll want to attract girls just because he's drunk a potion," Phenix said, thinking that he certainly wouldn't like to know a guy only liked him because of a potion.
"That's why you don't tell him about it. Just slip a few drops in his drink. Best to do it before the ball starts as it takes a couple of hours before it takes effect," Amelia replied seemingly having no reservations with what she was suggesting Phenix should do.
"Doesn't this seem wrong to you?" Phenix asked with his conscience weighing down on him.
"Where's the harm? All that will happen is a few girls will notice him, some will talk to him and Jack will be feeling good about himself and he'll probably get over the fact he didn't have a date and end up having a good time," said Amelia, trying to convince Phenix that her plan was for Jack's own good. "The potion will wear off after an hour."
"I guess you're right. I want him to have a good time but right now I think he'd probably spend the whole ball feeling down seeing everyone else with a date," Phenix said thinking like Amelia did have a point. "So what if I put more drops in his drink? Will it last longer?"
"No it will make the attraction stronger so only use a couple of drops. If you want I can make you another vial and add some salt in if you want yourself some male attention?"
"I'm good thanks. I'll just take this one for Jack," Phenix hastily replied, still unsure if he would use it or not. If he did use it and Jack found out he was not sure how he would react. Jack might not thank him for doing it and he didn't want to risk his friendship with him.
After asking Amelia about some of the other potions she was brewing and getting some unwanted attention from Myrtle who seemed to have taken a shine to him, Phenix managed to escape the bathroom with the Draught of Attraction in his pocket and still an uneasy feeling about whether he should use it on his friend or not.
But when it came to the day of the ball Jack had seemed to be in a rather dejected mood. He hadn't come down for breakfast saying he didn't have an appetite. He'd avoided hanging out in the common room all day and as the evening approached he had told Phenix he wasn't feeling too well so might just skip the ball and have an early night.
It was only when Phenix said that he had to go or he'd be all on his own at the ball that Jack changed his mind and said he'd still come to keep his friend company. And now Phenix was determined to make sure Jack had a good time.
They headed down for an early dinner at five o'clock with the ball starting a couple of hours later. Amelia had said the potion took a couple of hours before it kicked in so Phenix had the vial in his pocket. Now he just had to slip it in to Jack's drink without him noticing.
The hall was quiet as quite a few students seemed to be skipping dinner to instead start getting ready early. Phenix was pleased as this worked to his advantage having less witnesses around and he took a seat at the end of the table where no one else was sitting.
"Gus and Zain are up there. Shall we go sit with them?" Jack asked as he looked further down the table.
"No here is fine," Phenix said, staying firmly in his seat and wanting less people around him so he could slip Jack the potion without being seen.
Jack sat down and suddenly food and a jug of drink began to appear on the table and Jack started to dish himself up a plate of pasta and meatballs.
"Do you want a drink?" Phenix said having just poured himself a cup of pumpkin juice.
Jack nodded and Phenix pulled an empty cup towards him then retrieved the vial from his pocket. Under the table he took the stopper out and using the jug he was holding in his other hand to mask the bottle, he brought it up and started pouring the pumpkin juice as he carefully tipped a couple of drops of the Draught of Attraction into it.
"Moon!" Professor Snape called out as he approached Phenix from behind and made him jump and he dropped the whole vial of the potion in Jack's cup.
"Yes sir?" Phenix said rather nervously as he turned around to face the professor.
"I've just seen what you've done," Snape sneered back at him.
Suddenly Phenix felt sick. Snape had obviously seen him putting the potion in Jack's drink and now Jack would find out and would be mad at him and probably refuse to go to the ball so now he'd ruined both of their nights.
"I can explain sir," Phenix said anxiously, knowing he was in trouble now no matter what excuse he could come up with.
"There's no need to explain how incompetent you are," Snape said in a dry tone but with a smirk, seemingly taking pleasure in insulting a student. "I'm taking five points from Hufflepuff for your carelessness and hopefully in future you'll take more care not to spill your potion over my desks and ruin them."
Snape immediately turned and headed off, leaving Phenix to breathe a sigh of relief. As Jack was watching the professor head over to the teacher's table Phenix quickly plucked the now empty vial from Jack's drink.
"He's in a good mood as usual. I wonder if he'll manage a smile at the ball?" Jack joked and grabbed the drink that Phenix had just poured for him and took a big gulp before his friend could say anything.
Phenix watched on helplessly as Jack continued to drink the tainted pumpkin juice. He was relieved he had done it without being seen, but it hadn't exactly gone to plan. He just wondered how strong the attraction would be now that Jack was drinking the whole bottle of the potion.
As he placed the empty bottle back in his pocket he suddenly had another idea.