I had a restless night imagining what Matilda could have possibly meant. Something about Lillian Avery had captivated her. Was she being manipulated just like Sarah had been? If so, I needed to find out and put a stop to it as soon as possible. We intended to confront her at breakfast, but to the great annoyance of myself, Demelza and Amy, she was no where to be seen.

"At least Avery doesn't look too excited about anything. That's got to be a good sign, right? I mean, usually she'll tease us and brag about things like that before they happen, if she's in any way involved" said Demelza

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Well, look at what happened when Sarah joined her. She came to our compartment on the train, remember? She said that Amy would be losing someone close to home soon"

"Ohhh yeah that's true" said Amy, a look of recognition on her face. "Plus, wasn't she teasing Ginny about being responsible for the attacks in first year?"

"She was" I said slowly, chewing my lip and nodding thoughtfully "so it doesn't seem likely that she's got Matilda on side, she'd be mouthing off if so. But that will make it all the more confusing if we can't speak to her at any point today"

"Let's hope we can"

First though, we had classes to attend, and one of them was Potions. It had, thankfully, been a while since Snape had done anything particularly nasty to me, thanks in no small part to Demelza, who was the best in the class. Therefore, it had become at least somewhat bearable. That was all about to change today though.

"Today you will make the Calming Draught" said Snape, his dark eyes boring into us all. "It is something you may have taken in the past, around times of high pressure and stress, such as examinations and for those of you on house Quidditch teams, the matches. I will be testing one of your potions at random (though he looked right at me when he said this, to laughter from the Slytherins) at the end of class. If it hasn't been brewed correctly, it is likely to make you very angry and potentially violent, so getting this correct is of the upmost importance. The instructions (he waved his wand and they appeared on the blackboard" are there, the ingredient cupboard (he waved his wand again) is open. Begin"

Demelza and I gathered our ingredients and sat back in our usual seats.

"Oh Miss Weasley" said Snape "I feel a change of scenery would be good for you today. Come and sit up here"

He pointed to a desk right in front of his own.

Of course. I should have known that if I was going to be a guinea pig, I wouldn't be allowed to have Demelza's help making the potion. I looked at Snape, then at Demelza, chewing my lip.

"This isn't a request, Weasley" Snape added dangerously.

Demelza shrugged and gave me a look that said "doesn't look like you've got a choice" and I had to agree, unfortunately. I sighed heavily and sat down in the desk that Snape indicated. I would have to just try my fucking hardest. Demelza had slowly been improving me over time, but I was still not at a level where I felt confident making a potion like this alone, and doing it right in front of Snape would make it 10 times worse.

I concentrated with all my might for the next 50 minutes on the instructions, making sure to read each line 4 different times before doing anything, and to my great relief, it looked like I would succeed, as the potion was looking exactly as it should. Snape looked disappointed that he would have nothing to criticise. Or so it seemed. At that exact moment, Selina Sawyers, a Slytherin at the very back of the room, called Snape over, and as soon as he had passed Ares Yaxley's desk, she stood up and walked over to mine.

Casually leaning against my desk, she put her hand behind her back and squeezed a tiny bottle of liquid over my potion. I began to make a movement towards her, but then I caught Lillian Avery's eye, and she had an incredibly dangerous look on her face, and shook her head, making cut throat gestures as if to say "don't even think about it"

Yaxley, seeing this, smirked and walked back to her desk, sitting down just as Snape began walking back across the classroom. He said that everyone's time was up, and that we should all fill a flask with our potions and bring them to him for marking. After this was done, they would watch his demonstration on me.

I already knew that I was not about to be calmed by this potion. Whatever Yaxley put inside it was going to set me off in the manner Snape warned about. He didn't yet know what had happened though.

"Alright" he said in a resigned tone when everyone had sat back down "let us demonstrate Miss Weasley's potion. If you may". He indicated for me to drink it.

I sighed, chewing my lip nervously, and downed the potion. At first, nothing happened, and I allowed myself to foolishly think that the added ingredient hadn't worked. But of course it had.

I felt myself go into the biggest rage of my life, and it was completely uncontrollable. It was like someone had me under the Imperious Curse, but without the blissful sensation or the voice in my head. I started running around and throwing books and chairs, one of which struck Amy in the face, knocking her unconscious for the second time in a week. The Slytherins, I noticed, had all hidden under their tables. Clearly, this had been planned well in advance, and they had gotten back on side with Avery and co after the Operation Infiltration fallout. This continued for about 30 seconds before Snape grabbed me and forced an antidote down my throat.

Once I had returned to my normal state, I was given a week's worth of detentions, which I didn't complain about. There was no point in doing so. Snape clearly knew that someone had tampered with my potion, but that of course, didn't matter. He also didn't revive Amy, meaning Demelza and I stayed behind once the bell rang to do so, and take her up to the hospital wing so that Madame Pomfrey could fix the large bump she had on her forehead.