Chapter 58, Potions and Prats!
Due to his caution, Severus was the only one to wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning. He studied Astronomy at breakfast while Heather, Raislen and Regulus hunched morosely over cups of coffee. "But I only had three drinks," Regulus moaned pitifully to his cup.
"On a relatively empty stomach," Heather muttered. "That matters. Why did you buy such strong drinks? I think I hate you a little. Gods, my head is pounding."
Raislen snickered. "He was probably just feeling festive."
"Likely he did not wish to appear a baby in front of the Lestranges," Severus said.
"Observant, aren't you," Regulus bit out.
"I strive for that, yes," Severus replied with a slight smirk.
"Thank you." Regulus only clutched his head and hunched over his coffee as if it could actually help him. Raislen seemed to recover once he got some breakfast into him. His shoulders straightened, his large green eyes brightened, and he was able to talk Astronomy with Severus. "You are far larger than Heather and Regulus, so the drink did not affect you as much," Severus observed thoughtfully.
"You mean sexy and muscular," Raislen clarified, puffing out his chest in Heather's direction. She laughed, spraying coffee over said chest in its Slytherin robes.
"I don't think she's impressed," Regulus commented miserably. "Do you all know what I am going to do? I am going to return to my dorm and go back to bed." With that, he rose carefully, almost as if he was made of glass, and left the table.
"I would say that I hope he feels better, but the prospect is unlikely," Heather said and Severus nodded. He should come up with a rejuvenating potion for such days, he decided. Something to rehydrate and replenish vital nutrients.
Only at present, there were O.W.L.S to study for, so it would have to Eileen had given permission for him to attend Raislen's party, Severus was eager for the holidays.
As the days passed into December, Severus felt unusually festive. Rarely did he feel the Christmas spirit as others seemed to do, but this year, anticipation and excitement permeated his mood. He had eventually mentioned his hangover potion idea to Heather and Raislen, and a few days before Hogwarts closed for the holidays,they began urging him to sort what ingredients he would need to brew it up.
"The eggnog shall flow at my party, and it shall be as hard as a rock," Raislen proclaimed. "We won't want to wake up miserable, so if you need any ingredients that your mum doesn't have, I am happy and eager to supply them to avoid a hangover. I plan to drink far more than I did a few weeks ago in Hogsmeade." By that point, Severus was ready to set aside Astronomy not to mention eager to avoid Transfiguration studies, so he applied himself to the task of considering what would be required to make the potion he had in mind for curing hangovers.
He spent a few hours in the library after dinner poring over books more suited to those interested in healing than potions crafting. One had to understand specific physical processes, especially those related to dehydration, in order to select the most suitable ingredients. The process went far faster than he'd expected and when he left the library to head down to bed, he had two pages of notes on restorative supplements.
Combining the best ones with some herbs for energy and others to settle the stomach should work nicely. He would be leaning heavily on ginger for the stomach settling aspect, so if the tonic ended up tasting like ginger, that would be a plus. He rather liked ginger. The next day when classes were over, he handed Raislen a list of ingredients. He had pored over his notes during Transfiguration and chosen those that he felt would work best together when combined.
"I put a check mark by the ingredients that I don't think Mum has. Those that she does have, I will bring along to the party. If you get everything I shall mix a cauldron of the potion up before the party. Then everyone will have some for the next morning," Severus told Raislen. "Fortunately it won't be one of those potions that must sit and cure for weeks or anything."
"Wonderful," Raislen said happily. "Thanks, Kid. You're brilliant."
Severus grinned. "Aren't we all." And they were. Each had their own specialty, and he always felt in good company. With the holidays approaching and a new and useful potion under his belt, Severus was most definitely feeling the Christmas cheer. Perhaps he looked happy. Perhaps that was why the Gryffindor Gang of gits decided to disrupt his good cheer two days before everyone went home for the holidays.
Looking back, Severus felt he should've known things were going too well. He was in the midst of a line of fifth years filing into charm's class when he was startled by a cold wetness against his chest. He glanced down at the stack of books in his arms as his mind struggled to process. There was no reason for his chest to feel wet! What was going on? Drip, drip, drip, drip. He stared at water drops streaming out of his charms text book.
"Looks like someone very smart conjured water into your book." The self satisfied voice was full of laughter. It spoke from just behind Severus. It belonged to James Potter. Suddenly full of a white hot rage, Severus turned to glare. James stood with his three git friends. He and Sirius were smirking while Peter looked on eagerly and Lupin stared uncomfortably at the floor where a small pool of water was forming from Severus's dripping book.
Whirling, he rushed into the room to put his books down and assess the damage. He did not want to hold them for too long and risk getting any books wet that may still be dry. Rushing to his usual seat, he dumped his books onto the desk and began hastily lifting one after the other. He opened each, hurriedly flipping pages before placing it down to check the next.
To his relief, they were all dry, save for his charms book. It had been on the top of the stack of books, ready for the charms lesson to come. As such, it was the one closest to his chest as he'd carried them to class. The charms text was sopping wet through and through, from covers to every single page. He performed a drying charm, but all the ink had already run, so the book was completely unreadable. He attempted to cast Reparo on the now wrinkled and mottled pages, but though the pages became crisp and smooth again, most of the words on them were still illegible.
Apparently there was only so much Reparo could do. As he stared at the book, his heart pounded with rage. Glancing around in a near daze, he noticed that all the students had taken their seats. Flitwick hadn't started class yet, so Severus approached him. He was never one to snitch and look like a baby when he could handle his own problems, but if the class was called on to turn to a specific part of the book, he would be quite literally unable to do so.
"Yes, Severus," Professor Flitwick asked, smiling kindly as Severus approached. The little Charms professor stood beside the open door of the classroom, apparently waiting to make sure everyone had time to get to class before beginning.
Severus cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable as well as enraged. "I was wondering, Sir, if you have an extra book that I could borrow just for today? And perhaps tomorrow? I will replace mine before we return from the holiday break."
"What happened?" Flitwick asked, concerned and mildly curious. He did not appear to suspect foul play yet. Severus sighed.
"James Potter conjured water into my book. He will lie and say he did not, but he admitted it to me. I cast a drying charm then reparo but the ink was too saturated before I could do so and I am afraid the book is ruined."
Flitwick huffed a sigh. "Those boys get into more trouble than any other student I've seen here since Tom Riddle's gang back in the forties! The only reason they get away with what they do is that James and Sirius's parents both donate a great deal of money to the school so too many on the board of education would complain were Albus to give them what they deserve." Flitwick spoke quietly to Severus, but there was a note of cold fury in the little man's tone that was clearly evident without his having to shout.
"Oh," Severus said. It all made a bit more sense now. "If one has money, they can get away with a great deal, it seems."
Flitwick sighed, nodding tightly. "I am afraid so, Dear Boy." He patted Severus's shoulder before turning toward the open door of the classroom. "I can hunt up a spare book for you, yes. I will take that one because I wish to show it to the Headmaster." He plucked the book from Severus's hand and strode ahead of him into the class.
As Severus followed, Flitwick was already calling out instructions to the students. "Get out your books, class, and turn to page one-hundred-and-..." Several bursts of water from the ceiling interrupted the Charms professor as he spoke. Severus glanced around to see squealing students hastily snatching their books up lest they get wet. Only four desks were hit by the water, though. They were the four desks of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
"Oh Dear," Flitwick exclaimed coldly. "It appears that someone cast a conjuring charm that had a delayed backfire. Sometimes that can tend to happen. It affects the caster and those closest to him." Flitwick smiled pleasantly at James, then at the other three in turn.
"I suppose you shall have to struggle through class today by following what everyone else is doing without a functioning book. Let us hope you are able to keep up else your grade for today shall suffer." It was then that Severus suddenly understood. Flitwick had only pretended to be interrupted by the gout of water springing forth from the ceiling! He'd pretended because he had caused them. Severus was impressed and full of admiration for the clever way Flitwick handled his revenge. Detentions weren't working, and this was far better. The man was a genius!
"But Professor," James exclaimed.
"James," Flitwick interrupted coldly. "I do not recommend that you speak again." Something about the cold fury in Flitwick's eyes shut James up and kept any of his three friends from opening their mouth. Severus felt his heart soaring. Somehow Flitwick's quiet cold rage was validating in a way that nothing else ever had been. He calmly walked up to the professor's desk and waited while another charms text was dug out from under the immense pile of books that Flitwick tended to stand on.
He passed it to Severus without a word, and Severus took it equally as silently, only giving a nod of thanks before hurrying to his seat. He did not even glance around at the gits, opting not to give them the satisfaction even though he was curious about how they were reacting to the situation that they had created, yet would never take responsibility for. That was nothing new, though it never failed to disgust him. When class was over, he headed from the room, gaze straight ahead of him. "You shall pay for ruining our books, Snivellus," Sirius growled at his back.
"Had you left mine alone, it would not have happened, Black, but I do not expect the likes of you to be smart enough to comprehend the basic laws of cause and effect," Severus said icily. As he spoke, he glared at Sirius over his shoulder. Peter and Remus were still at their desks, collecting their books. James stood with Sirius as always, though. Just like pain and suffering, the two were rarely seen apart.
"But you had to run and tell like a little baby,"James said, giving Severus a look of disgust that set his blood to boiling all over again.
"You ruined my book, so I had none for class! I was hardly going to make up a lie blaming my self, you stupid git!" As Severus spoke, he struggled for Flitwick's calm. It was so much more impressive and frightening than a person loudly losing their temper.
"God, would you all move? You're blocking the way out. How rude!" Severus glanced behind Black and Potter to see a red haired Gryffindor girl whose name he could not recall. Avery and some of the others just called her Mud-blood, so that title came to mind first, unkind as it may be. He truly had nothing against her, but like the dreaded pet name of Heather Toy, if one heard something often enough it tended to stick in the mind. As he was one of those blocking the way, he shot her a glare, then turned and walked from the room.
"Sorry, Lily," James said humbly. That was odd, Severus thought. Odd that James had it in him to be sorry to anyone, and he actually sounded as if he may mean it.
"If only," Lily, otherwise known as Mud-blood shot back tartly. If James made any sort of reply, Severus was too far down the hall by then to hear it. If nothing else, the girl understood James, Severus thought with a slight smirk of amusement. Even his own Gryffindor lot saw what a bloody git he was. Something about that fact eased Severus's rage over his ruined book somewhat, allowing his former holiday cheer to return to a degree. Apparently his mood had not lightened sufficiently, however, because as soon as he joined the others at lunch, Heather asked him what the matter was with an open look of concern on her face. Sighing, he explained what had happened in Charms class.
"I love Flitwick so much," Heather said warmly.
"I hate those Gits so much," Regulus chimed in. Severus nodded his silent agreement to both statements as he chewed a mouthful of roasted chicken seasoned with rosemary. The school may have far too many gits, but the food was always delightful!
"So they're studying conjuration, and that's what their tiny pea brains think to do with it?" Raislen demanded, making a face of clear disgust before biting into a wedge of bread completely slathered in butter.
"Pass me one of those, won't you?" Severus asked. "What do you expect? They don't actually think of careers or ways to apply magic to accomplish anything great. They thrive on tormenting others, like a pack of wild dogs."
Regulus chuckled. "Technically Sirius is the only dog. I don't know what the rest are."
"What's that supposed to mean," Heather asked. "That is I don't disagree or anything, but clarify all the same."
"Oh! You thought I was referring to his personality!" Regulus shook his head. "If I were then sure the lot of them are nothing but a pack of unruly wild dogs. I was actually referring to his Animagus form. He's been working on it for over a year. I thought it was because Bella's is a fox, but that was too odd. I mean he hates her, so the fact he would wish to emulate her in any way was confusing. When I said as much to him, he was disgusted enough by the concept to let a bit of the truth out. Apparently he and all of his Gittish friends became Animagi together for some reason that he did not choose to divulge."
"And why didn't you tell us this before," Heather demanded.
Regulus flushed. "I actually forgot. I suppose I didn't consider it important what with everything else going on. If you recall, you and Raislen had an epic siege style row at the beginning of the year that lasted for weeks!"
It was Heather's turn to blush. "Anyway," she said, "that's interesting information to know."
Though Severus agreed, he wasn't yet certain how this information could be best utilized.