Chapter 14 – A Monster in the Dungeon

The following week's Potions class where they would be finally finishing the Remembering Potion couldn't come soon enough as far as James was concerned. But at least he hadn't heard anything about anyone being attacked or going missing so he took comfort in the fact that the boy, whoever he was, was still safe.

James headed to class keener than he had ever been for a Potions lesson and was hoping that the potion would be as effective as Professor Slughorn had described it to be.

"Ok class. It's the final stage of your Remembering Potions today. All you will need to do is add two drops of mermaid tears and one spoonful of dragon saliva and bring to the boil once more and they will be ready to test," a gleeful sounding Slughorn said as he addressed the class.

James added the last ingredients and patiently watched the cauldron boil.

"What colour does the textbook say it should be?" James asked, not taking his eyes off the cauldron.

"Er… it says a periwinkle blue. Whatever that is," Noah said after consulting the book.

James carefully used a ladle to get a better look at the potion. "Well it's definitely blue," he said inspecting the liquid. "Fingers crossed."

To test the potions efficiency Professor Slughorn had devised a simple test. He had presented each pair of students with a tray of objects and gave them thirty seconds to memorise what was on the tray. Then after covering the tray they had listed as many of the objects as they could remember. Now he was to repeat the process with different objects this time and before they looked at the tray they would take a dose of their Remembering potion and see how much better they did at recalling the objects.

James had a long wait to see how well they had brewed their potion as Slughorn was going round each pair in turn and had whispered to James as he walked around the classroom that he was 'saving the best till last'. James knew very well that his and Noah's potion probably wasn't going to be the best in the class but Slughorn still had a very biased view about James' proficiency at potion making.

As Professor Slughorn went around the class most of the students had improved on their score the second time around, however, most hadn't improved by that much, thus meaning their potions hadn't been brewed adequately. In fact the only pair, unsurprisingly, who had a vast improvement were Polly and her partner Madeline who had managed to remember all thirty objects after taking the potion.

"A perfectly brewed potion, well done girls," Slughorn congratulated them. "Feel free to take a vial of it with you. Only one vial each mind you or I'll have the other teachers complaining if you dish it out to all your friends and suddenly everyone starts getting perfect marks on their exams," he said with a little chuckle and a snort of laughter.

There was one more pair of students before it was James and Noah's turn to test their potion and the penultimate pair had somehow managed to remember less items after taking the potion. James was not feeling confident.

"And finally Mr Potter and Mr… er… Thomas," a beaming Slughorn said with his eyes not looking away from James. "Before you managed to remember…." He said as he consulted his notes, "… twelve items between you. Let's see how you do this time. Each take one tablespoon of your potion."

James and Noah picked up their spoons, hoped for the best and swallowed their potion in one. It had a slight tangy taste and left the back of their throats feeling cold before they got a rather spicey after taste.

"Ready?" Slughorn asked with his wand in his hand.

James nodded and Slughorn waved his wand at their desk. A piece of cloth flew off from the tray of objects in front of them whilst a sand timer turned itself up and the sand began to trickle through quickly.

James' attention was fully focused on the tray as he took in all the objects one by one as his eyes scanned across them all. The thirty seconds flew by and suddenly the cloth was back over the tray as James still said the names of the objects in his head to try to remember them.

"Now I will go between each of you in turn and you will name one object that was on the tray until you can name no more," Slughorn explained. "Potter first."

"A green vial," James said confidently and then Slughorn turned his gaze to Noah.

"A silver spoon," Noah said.

"A small pair of scissors," James added.

"A folded piece of parchment," said Noah.

"An apple," James said next and they continued to list their items but after each object was said it was getting increasingly harder.

"A vial," Noah said after what seemed like a long pause as he had thought to himself.

"We've had that already I'm afraid," Slughorn replied. "Potter?"

"Some Belladonna leaves?" James said trying to visualise the tray in his mind.

"Close, they were Solanum leaves but I'll accept that," Professor Slughorn noted before turning back to Noah.

"A ring?"

"Good. Potter?" Slughorn said turning back to James.

"Er…" James said as he went over everything in his head. He wasn't sure how many they had identified now but he was struggling to think of anything that hadn't been said before. "A… quill?"

"Bad luck Potter. No quill I'm afraid. Mr Thomas?" Slughorn said but Noah was out of items as well and despite Slughorn giving them both longer than he had anyone else to see if they could think of any more, eventually he called an end to their test.

"Now let me see," Slughorn said as he counted up how many ticks next to items he had on the piece of parchment he held." I make that sixteen items. Good effort boys," he said but looked slightly disappointed as he gave James a consolatory pat on the shoulder as he walked past him but it was no comfort to James.

"That's the end of the lesson. Pack up your things and next week we will be starting on a cure for hiccups," Slughorn announced.

As James packed up his things his mood was obviously not good as he threw his utensils into his now empty cauldron.

"I'm sorry James," Noah said sympathetically. "I thought we had that potion nailed."

"It's OK Noah it's not your fault," James replied as Slughorn once again returned to their desk.

"Bad luck today Potter. Maybe next time don't work with Thomas. He's obviously holding you back," Slughorn said with no concern for the fact that Noah was standing right next to James and heard every word. "I'll see you at my supper party on Friday night. Seven o'clock. Don't be late," he said before bounding off and James caught sight of Polly out the corner of his eye who had clearly heard Slughorn's invitation to him and was scowling at him, upset that he had been invited once again and she hadn't despite being the best potioneer in their year.

"Can you believe him?" a gobsmacked Noah said as he watched Slughorn leave the classroom.

"Don't worry I think it's probably me holding you back," James replied feeling dejected and now feeling at a loss about what to do next about his visions in his dreams.

"Well there goes that idea," James said as he threw his bag down on his bed as he entered his dormitory and Noah, who was reading a book on his bed, looked up, whilst Noah's frog hopped about beside him.

"Is this still about the Remembering potion?" Noah asked.

"Yeah I just asked Madeline if I could buy the vial of it Slughorn let her keep but she's sold it already."

"Already? She only got it this morning," Noah replied as he put his book down on his bedside table.

"Apparently some fifth year gave her a box of jelly beans, a pack of treacle fudge, four bars of chocolate and a Never-Ending lolly for it. He wants it ready to help him with his OWLs in the summer," James said and dived onto his bed.

"Well you could always ask Polly for hers?" Noah suggested.

"I'm the last person she'd give it to," James moaned before letting out a frustrated scream into his pillow.

"I thought you two were friends now after you sorted out the whole business about the statue attack?"

"No we've just gone back to being amicably rude to each other," James half joked.

"Well you did save her life. Maybe you should remind her of that?" Noah pointed out.

"I doubt she sees it like that. She'd just argue if I hadn't come along she would have thought of a spell to disarm the knight herself despite the fact she was cowering, scared in the cubicle when I arrived," James moaned.

"Well there's no harm in asking her is there?" Noah suggested.

"And give her the satisfaction of lording it over me that she has something I want. She hates that I'm Slughorn's favourite student. She'd never hand the potion over to me. Maybe I don't need the potion anyway. From my last dream I remember that room was somewhere in the dungeon. If I go back down there it might trigger some memory and I might be able to find the room I was in."

"If there is even a room. Have you thought it could have just been a simple dream and doesn't mean anything?" Noah suggested as James rolled over onto his back and looked up at the canopy of his bed. "Plus if you're caught snooping around the dungeons you'll get into trouble."

James thought it was worth the risk. He had to find out what his dream meant.

That Friday evening, dressed in a smart shirt and tie and polished shoes, James made his way to Professor Slughorn's supper club. And though James didn't think it was possible, the food had been even more delicious than last time. The meal included roast chicken and honey glazed ham, creamy mash potato, roasted pumpkin, buttered veg and a 'never ending' bowl of ice cream that continued to refill itself with various flavour of ice cream until the guest was full. However the conversation had not improved since last time and all Slughorn wanted to do was talk about James' father, and how he had supposedly singled handily guided Harry Potter to greatness.

"You know it was I who helped Harry to figure out the secret to defeating… the Dark Lord," Slughorn said, hesitating on speaking his name and deciding against saying Voldemort due to a long since broken Taboo curse on saying it.

Though James knew the truth. Yes Professor Slughorn had helped his father to find out the secret to Voldemort's immortality but only because it was Slughorn who had told a sixteen year old Tom Riddle about it in the first place. James was also surprised about Slughorn's change in attitude. When Horcruxes had been mentioned before the professor had acted very differently and almost in shame he had asked everyone to leave. Now the topic was being discussed on his terms he was taking pride in the part he had played all those years ago.

After dessert Slughorn waved his wands and a drinks tray came floating around.

"Anyone for a digestif? he asked.

James had had enough of the evening's hospitality and wanted out of there before Slughorn started another conversation about his father. And he was pretty sure everyone else did too as they now all seemed to in unison roll their eyes every time Slughorn said the name 'Harry Potter'.

"Would you excuse me Professor, I think I should be leaving now," James announced as he stood up from the table.

"No Potter do stay. I was about to get out my photo album. There are some great pictures of your father in there."

"To tell you the truth I'm not feeling great," James said in a hushed tone as he leant over to Slughorn and was starting to feel the effect of the Puking Pastille he had eaten a minute ago.

Slughorn noticed that James had started to look rather pale. "You don't look too good Potter. Here let me get you a glass of water."

"No I think it's best if I just leave," James said before running to the door and having to stop just before it and threw up in a plant pot that was nearby. "Sorry professor."

"Maybe someone should see you back to your room. Pavel, take Potter back to your common room," Slughorn ordered to a sixth year across the table from him.

"No I'll be fine Sir, honest," James said and was out the door before Slughorn could protest.

"I do hope it wasn't the food," Professor Slughorn said and everyone round the table started to look at each other rather worriedly.

James now regretted eating the Puking Pastille and not just pretended to be ill as he threw up another two times before he reached the bottom of the stairs. It was now gone ten o'clock and he knew everyone would be in their common rooms as he headed for the steps down to the dungeons. After a quick check that no one was about he started to descend them.

But once he had got down into the dungeon and passed the Potions classroom everything looked the same. It was the same torch lit stone walls everywhere. Nothing stood out to him that he recognised from his dream. He knew he had descended another set of stairs but the only ones he found were just a few steps and he was sure it was a proper staircase he had gone down. His search for the room was looking hopeless and to make matters worse he had been down so many different corridors and got himself all turned around he no longer knew the way back out.

As he searched down yet another corridor trying to find the one that would lead him to the stairs back out of the dungeon he thought he heard footsteps. He stopped, stood still and listened. It was definitely footsteps and then he heard a distinct meowing. It was Filch and Mrs Norris. If the caretaker caught him down there this time of night he would be in trouble for sure. James turned around and saw a door behind him. He tried the handle and it was locked.

"Alohomora," he said as loudly as he dared as he pointed his wand at the lock and the door clicked open.

James quickly slipped in and closed the door quietly behind him and listened at the it to see if he could hear Filch going past.

He didn't even bother to look around the room he was in but he could feel it was cold, it was freezing in fact and he began to shiver. Finally curiosity got the better of him and he turned around. The room was dark and he lit his wand and slowly walked forward. It was then he realised his feet were making an odd crunching sound as he walked. He looked down and the floor was white. It was covered in snow.

With one hand holding out his wand in front of him he used his other hand to rub his arm to try and warm himself up. He hoped Filch would pass soon as he didn't think he could stay too long it that room or he'd probably freeze to death. But why was there a room in the castle with snow in it?

His fingers were beginning to get numb from the cold and he thought he would have to risk it and get out of the room when he heard a noise from behind him. He turned quickly and cast the light from his wand deep into the room. He couldn't see anything except the white snow on the floor. But he could undoubtedly hear a noise. It was like a breathing sound, but it was very deep, almost like a grunt. There was definitely someone or something in there with him. James rushed to the door, his feet crunching on the snow as he went.

But suddenly he hit an icy patch beneath him and slipped, falling over backwards, his wand flying out of his hand as he went down.

Everywhere hurt as James scrambled to get back on his feet. He reached for his wand and grabbed it but as he did so he noticed something on the snow near to where it had lain. It was white, but not perfectly white like the snow so it only stood out slightly and it was certainly a different texture to the snow.

James looked at it curiously and with his wand followed the shape of it up. It was big as he continued his wand upwards until he was faced with a giant white beast that was looking down at him.

James screamed and as fast as he could ran towards the door. He didn't dare look back as he grabbed the handle and yanked it open and was back in the corridor, slamming the door shut behind him. He didn't care if Filch heard him, he just wanted to get out of there and he continued to run down various corridors until somehow by luck he found his way out of the dungeon.

As he stooped panting in the entrance hall, trying to get his breath back and his heart still racing he thought about the beast he had just seen and his lucky escape from it. That certainly hadn't been in any of his dreams.