Allyna jerked awake out of a nightmare when her alarm rang out. What a terrifying dream, she thought. It had been filled with darkness, a small, comfortable-looking home that had been partially destroyed, and the frantic wailing of a baby. She shivered as she remembered. She moaned as she tried to move and her body felt sore, slow and sluggish. She honestly wanted nothing more than to crawl back under the blankets and sleep some more, but she knew she had classes. She smiled when she remembered she had Potions again.
She dressed quickly in the slightly chilled air of the room. The muggle jeans were warm enough, but she transfigured one of the shirts into a soft, warm Slytherin green sweater which set off her hair and eyes. She slid the charmed necklace Dumbledore had given her under the shirt, hiding it from prying eyes. She pulled on clean socks and slid her feet into warm, calf-height moccasins that her grandmother had made for her. They were very warm and soft and allowed her to walk almost silently. She smiled as she thought of her mother's mother.
Descended from a line of Native American shamans, Allyna's grandmother Elisha had married a Wizard named Thomas Benedict. Elisha Benedict, after her husband had died, had often spent days or weeks at a time retreating to nature. Allyna's mother had been only too happy to allow Allyna to spend time with Elisha learning about the magic of Elisha's people. Elisha had often taken Allyna into the woods with her, showing her the healing powers of the roots, stems, and leaves of plants and fungi. It was what had sparked the first stirrings of an interest in Potions in Allyna.
Allyna pulled her hair back into a soft bun, securing it with a few bobby pins. She pulled on her new school robes that Dumbledore had sent. They were soft and warm, which Allyna was very glad for, as the castle had quite a few drafts in the hallways. She gathered her books and walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Just as she was sitting, alone like it seemed she always was, Dumbledore stood and looked out over the students.
"Good morning. It is my distinct pleasure to announce that before you all leave for the holidays, all fourth through seventh years will be invited to a Yule Masquerade Ball. There will be an extra Hogsmeade trip this weekend so that you may purchase all that you need. As always, a dress code will be in effect. Anything that is inappropriate or too suggestive and you will be asked to return to your dorm room with points taken from your House. That is all, enjoy your breakfast." the Headmaster said as he took his place at the Professors' Table.
The entire room erupted in a fury of voices and whispers. Allyna snuck a glance at the high table. She had to hide a grin when she saw that all the other teachers had smiles on their faces and in their eyes. Professor Snape, however, looked absolutely disgusted. Allyna supposed he was not much into holiday parties at all, let alone an entire ball in it's honor. She found herself wondering if he could dance, with the way he could move with a blade, and shook her head to clear that thought.
She took a couple slices of toast and buttered them, as a platter appeared in front of her piled high with bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs. She pulled a few sausages onto her plate with scoop of eggs and began to eat. She ate quickly but neatly, eager to get to class. She saw that she was not the only one. Hermione, too had finished and was looking annoyed at Ron and Harry as they dawdled over breakfast. Allyna gathered her things and walked towards the Gryffindor table, causing many a whisper and strange look.
She sat on the bench next to Hermione. The girl smiled at her in a friendly way, though Harry and Ron looked at her a little warily. "Good morning, Hermione. Harry, Ron. Hermione, I was wondering what you thought of Professor Sprout's essay assignment on common kitchen herbs and their uses in the wizarding world?" Allyna asked, smiling back at Hermione.
The boys both groaned, but Hermione and Allyna talked quietly about the assignment. She agreed with Hermione that common herbs such as basil, lavender, and even mint were often overlooked for the fact that the wizarding world had much stronger variants, but variants that did not have the subtlety that the common ones did. Allyna caught a glance at her magicked wrist-watch and gasped, it was almost time for class. "See you in Herbology, Hermione!" Allyna said as she picked up her books and hurried away.
She was moving so swiftly in fact, that she didn't look where she was going and ran into someone in the hallway so hard that it knocked her back onto her behind. She hit the floor hard with a loud "oof!" From her spot on the ground she slowly looked up, following a line of solid black robes up to the face of her very annoyed Potions professor. He growled, she would have sworn it. "Do watch where you are going, Miss Wilson!" he said sharply. As she stood, he flicked his wand, gathering her books, parchment and quills and handing them to her.
She blushed deeper red at his words. "Yes, professor. Thank you, sir," she said softly as she walked a bit more slowly to her first class. She didn't realize that his eyes followed her until she was out of sight. Severus swept away in a flurry of black robes to his own classroom to begin dealing with dunderheads who couldn't follow simple instructions.
Allyna stepped into the herbology classroom. Since she'd come so late in the term, she shared classes with a variety of other years for classes that had been too full of seventh years already, today was a fifth year class. She smiled when she saw Hermione sitting next to a young boy and was quite happy when Professor Sprout assigned Allyna to sit with them. Hermione introduced her to the boy, "Allyna, this is Neville Longbottom. He's absolutely brilliant at Herbology," Hermione stated as a fact, which made Neville blush.
Allyna smiled at him and the young man's blush traveled all the way to his ears. "I'm sure I'll be calling on you for help then, Neville. Herbology, as much as I love growing plants, is not my strong suit." Neville gulped nervously and nodded, he'd be beyond happy to help the lovely girl before him, if he could trust himself to speak.
"H...happy to h...help!" he squeaked, causing Allyna to give him a real smile that made his heart thump harder in his chest. He'd never had anyone look at him with such kindness and expectation at the same time. And not the kind of expectation that meant he'd failed once again. While they were bent over their work, Allyna heard Neville whisper to Hermione, "Are you sure she's a Slytherin?" Allyna tried to hide her smile, and bent further over her work, her quill scratching across the parchment.
As the class ended, Allyna was only too happy to find that Hermione and Neville were also in the Potions class she had next. She noticed that Neville looked flustered and worried. "What's wrong, Neville?" she asked quietly, so that Hermione, who'd been joined by Harry and Ron (who'd given her a rather mean look), could not overhear. Neville looked at the older girl, waiting for her to laugh at him as he explained. "I'm gods-awful at Potions. Professor Snape terrifies me," he admitted with fear of her laughing in her eyes.
Much to his surprise, Allyna didn't laugh. He watched her from the corner of his eye, a small frowning marring a face he thought was far too lovely to be frowning. As they entered the classroom, Allyna took a seat beside Neville. She hadn't been surprised, after his admission, that everyone besides her and Hermione had stayed as far away from him as possible. Professor Snape entered, with his usual slamming of the doors and walked to the front of the class. Immediately, words began to form on the board and Allyna took careful notes.
"Today we'll be brewing something even you shouldn't be able to destroy, Longbottom. We will be creating Flora Rememdium, " he snarled at the young man who was sitting beside Allyna. He noticed that Allyna frowned when he'd hurled the comment at Neville. Had the girl made yet another friend outside of Slytherin. He noticed how Longbottom seemed to be watching Allyna's every move. Dear gods, the boy was infatuated, this would not make his potion-making any better. In fact, Severus felt that it was quite certain that Longbottom's grade would be dipping several notches. Not that it could get much lower. He admitted that he sometimes felt sorry for the boy when he was actually trying, and sometimes gave him a begrudging passing grade for at least attempting the potion.
"Begin!" he shouted and the students hurried to the supply cupboard to gather the items they needed. Allyna waited in the back for the others to finish before gathering her own. She stood at the table beside Neville, Hermione and another student opposite them. He watched as Hermione began hissing in Neville's ear when she thought Severus wasn't looking. "Miss Granger, I suggest you pay attention to your own potion and leave Mr. Longbottom to his," he snarled again. Hermione nodded, looking worriedly at Neville.
"Neville, wait," Allyna ordered. Surprised, Neville looked up. "I want to show you something, so that you don't have to worry about your potion exploding, all right?" Allyna asked. Eyes widened in surprise that Allyna wanted to help him, he nodded. "Securitae Detonus!" Allyna said softly, pointing her wand at Neville's cauldron. Neville goggled at the bubble that now surrounded his cauldron, it's colors shifting and swirling.
"Neville, why do you like plants?" Allyna asked, softly, as she began to crush the pine needles with the flat of her blade. Neville watched her and followed her movements with his own needles and knife. Allyna smiled to herself, when he wasn't so worried about the cauldron exploding and when his attention was on plants, his nerves diminished a bit and he seemed quite capable.
"Because they're amazing, you know? They have so many different properties, magical and mundane. Certain herbs can be brewed to into a tea to calm the nerves or when hacked to bits, they release a deadly toxin." Allyna let Neville wax on poetically about plants for a short while, as he copied her movements. The only time he looked slightly more stressed than usual was when he would add them to the cauldron. He would step back as if waiting for it to bubble out of control and explode. He was quite amazed when it didn't.
"Neville, do you realize how closely Herbology and Potions are linked?" Allyna asked, a question that brought a slight frown to his face. How was his most beloved Herbology and his abhorred Potions linked?
Allyna smiled and explained, "A good Potions master relies on a master of Herbology to find the very best of ingredients. Look at these pine needles we've used. Most pines have small, thin, practically useless needles. You'd need far too many of them to be useful in a potion like this. But a master of Herbology can feed and foster his pines to grow needles that are thick, fat and perfect for brewing potions. And think of the potions a true Potions master like Professor Snape can brew for Professor Sprout? Just think of the one we're working on today, a plant cure to help plants that become withered or blighted."
Neville seemed to think it over and as he did, a smile brightened his face. "You're right!" he said softly and began to take more and more initiative as his potion turned the correct shade of purple and wafted the scent of freshly-mown grass through the room. Allyna's potion had come out correctly as well and she poured off a small phial of it and placed it on Professor Snape's desk. "Well done, Miss Wilson," he said, and Allyna had the distinct impression he wasn't speaking of just her turned-in potion. His eyes seemed to appraise her as she returned to her desk. After a few more minutes, filled with groans and sighs from the others as they turned in potions that looked weak or, in Ron's case, a lot like water from the sink, and Severus dismissed them. Allyna was the last to leave, calling out, "Goodbye, Professor!"
Severus watched her go, feeling the gloom wrap around him once more as she left the classroom. "Until later," he thought, looking forward to her next lesson with the blades. He wondered how miserable she would be after two hours of trying to move with the blades instead of just trying to hold it steady. He felt his lips move in a strange rictus of a grin that would have frightened his students as he thought, "Mad enough to spit fire."