Chapter Seven

Advanced Potions

Her eyes were on him again. He could feel them. He was really regretting his decision to invite the blonde girl into this class.

He turned and saw only the blue eyes. She was sitting beside Ginny Weasley in the third row. Behind them, Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass were talking, but Snape could see the blond boy's eyes flicker to the redhead before him.

Something was going on here.

"Welcome to your first class of Advanced potions. Each of you have been invited here because you show particular interest in a career in Potions related field. And you show promise in Potions. Now, to start with, we will be making a Polyjuice Potion. I will partner you. These will be your partners for the whole year."

"Greengrass and Patil." Daphne looked over at Padma and shrugged. The two girls secured a table at the rear of the class and started setting up their cauldron.

"Chang and Creevey." Cho gently nudged the smaller boy over to a side table, even as he cast glances back at Ginny. Doubtless he wanted her for partner. Ginny had, however, figured out their professor's plan to put younger students with the older ones. She rested her hand on her chin only to jerk it up in surprise when the next assignment was called.

"Weasley and Malfoy."

She turned in her seat to regard the tall boy's reaction. He had been sitting, feet propped on the table, only two legs of the chair on the floor and contemplating his fingernails with serene indifference. When Snape made the announcement, he lost his balance in the chair and fell on his ass. Ginny gathered her things and moved back with him. Draco made no move to get up, seeing as his position on the floor gave him an excellent view up her skirt. Ginny kicked his side when she passed and he figured she knew he had done that. Still it was worth it to see that she wore dark green underwear.

Snape watched the exchange with amusement.

"Lovegood and..." He scanned the list. How had he missed that? He only had seven students enrolled in the class. That meant Lovegood wouldn't have a partner, unless...

"Lovegood, you're my partner."

Luna beamed.

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"If we add Aconite now it will speed up the potion and we should be done today."

"Aconite in conjunction with Bat lace wing makes the saffron neutral."

"Damn. Can we stabilize it?"

Luna looked at her professor. Did he just swear? She suddenly felt turned on. Damn her mother's obsession with bad boys. She must have passed it on to her daughter.

"If we add Adam and Eve root, it should stabilize it."

Snape looked at the young girl. How did she know this much about potions?

"But it's too late now."

"Hmm, no! If we wait thirty seconds to add the Aconite, the saffron will have done what is required and the aconite won't affect it."

Snape nodded and glanced at the rest of the class. Daphne and Padma were swearing as smoke billowed. They had left it too close to the fire. Colin and Cho were peering intently at their potion. Which was behaving as normal.

Ginny was sitting in Draco's former position, ankles crossed on the table and hands behind her head as Draco frantically tried to fix their potion. Ginny, Snape knew from experience, could fix the potion in ten seconds and have it finished in another three. He caught her eye and saw the slightly malicious glee in it. Ginny was his best student just as Draco was probably his worst. What made Ginny so enjoyable was she actually enjoyed her strength.

He sent a look of mild reprove her way and she rolled her eyes. She set her chair down and stood. She picked up Draco's kit and pulled a small vial of ground unicorn hair out. Unicorn hair was tricky. Too much could destroy the potion beyond repair while too little could do nothing.

Ginny pushed Draco aside and without measuring, poured a bit of the temperamental powder into the bubbling potion. Immediately the potion calmed and Ginny stopped the flames. "Done."

She scooped out a vial and added a hair from her head to it. She held it out to Draco.

"What if it isn't finished?"

"Malfoy, I may hate you, but if I wanted you in incredible pain, I'd just tell my brothers that you looked up my skirt."

Draco blushed. He took the vial and drank it. He winced and shrunk three inches. His hair lengthened into a deep crimson and freckles bloomed over his nose. He stared in horror as breasts grew on his chest.

Ginny was bent double, laughing.

"That's not funny!" Draco said in Ginny's voice, causing Ginny to laugh harder.

(A/N: Ok, guys. For some reason, the alerts and PMs arn't working. I will still update regular, but there will be not replies to your reviews for a bit. Until they fix this.