To Dye or Not to Dye

"Good morning, everyone," greeted Professor Slughorn as he maneuvered his large belly behind his clustered desk at the front of the classroom. He clasped his hands in front of his bulging stomach, and surveyed his students. "You will be preparing a potion for me today, and I will be grading you to see if you meet the NEWT level standards, because Merlin knows some of you barely scarped by on your OWL's."

Everyone turned their heads to look at Peter Pettigrew who attempted to slink down in his seat but only managed to topple his stool over.

"You will each be preparing me the Forgetfulness Potion on page 235. You have one hour and thirty minutes starting ... now."

Remus Lupin took out his battered Potion book and placed it in front of it. He almost rubbed his hands in glee when noticing how simple the potion was. Maybe Slughorn forgot that they were a NEWT level class and not in second year. Nevertheless, Remus quickly got his ingredients from the back and carried it to his table that he was sharing with Peter. Poor Pettigrew looked lost as he tried to focus.

"Wormtail, the book is backwards." Remus supplied after watching his friend try to decipher the words.

"Ah … thanks, Moony!"

Remus rolled his eyes, smiling. Cracking his knuckles, he got to work.

One hour later, Remus looked over his book, double checking he put the ingredients in right order and stirred in the right direction. Let your potion rest for fifteen minutes. If brewed correctly,the colour should be sapphire and emitting a pearly vapour.

Remus looked inside his cauldron and bit back a scream. His potion was dark green and murky and bubbles were boiling rather nosily on the surface. What the hell? Remus glanced over to see how Peter was progressing. Peter's potion was a dark teal and a thick vapour was coming out. It wasn't perfect, but much better than Remus'.

How can this be? He thought feverishly, almost ripping out his hair. I triple checked everything … I made sure to stir gently … I – I added three slugs instead of the desired four –

Peter glanced over from his wild stirring, and whistled low. "Whoa, Moony, I didn't know you can swear like that. Wait until I tell the others!"

Remus growled at him, baring his teeth and Peter quickly went back to his potion. He felt a pang of guilt immediately after. It wasn't Wormtail's fault Remus overlooked the ingredients.

"Ten minutes left, children!" Professor Slughorn called out giddily.

Remus suddenly got an idea. He took out his wand and conjured up a small vial of blue food colouring. Since his potion wasn't the colour it ought've been, he was going to have to make it appear as if it was.

Pouring the vial's contents in, Remus stepped closer to admire his work. The potion was quickly turning sapphire but the bubbles were starting to rapidly increase.

"Lupus, m'boy!" said Slughorn, hobbling over towards him. The Potions Master was always forgetting Remus' name, but he didn't have time to correct him now because his potion was starting to overflow. "Let me see – "

BOOM!

Remus' cauldron exploded into a million pieces, the potion itself splattering around the classroom and covering Remus from head to toe. Professor Slughorn managed to avoid the accident, but slipped on the spill, dragging Peter to the ground with him who yanked his cauldron full of Forgetfulness potion down in surprise, drenching them both.

"Professor," Remus wiped the thick liquid away from his eyes as he tried to calm his nerves. He had a feeling he wasn't going to get an O. "Professor Slughorn, are you all right?"

"Professor Slughorn?" he blinked confusedly. "Who is that?"