Elphaba sighed in annoyance. For the last half hour, she'd been busily working upon a potion that she was supposed to be able to identify through smell, but she couldn't smell a thing! She'd added every ingredient in the correct order and correct amount, but nothing! Not a single whiff of anything! Except maybe her potion partner's overbearing fruit-scented perfume...
"Galinda, tell me again how I'm supposed to be able to identify this scented mystery potion when you've decided to bathe in that stupid perfume of yours!" the green girl demanded of her potions partner.
"First of all, I did not 'bathe' in it. As any good perfume-wearer will tell you, you're only supposed to apply a few delicate squirts to your pulse points and/or hair! Only stupid little try-hards douse themselves in their smells!" Galinda replied, sticking her nose up in the air, highly offended that Elphaba would even dare suggest that Galinda did not know the proper perfume-adding technique. "Second of all, I intentionally wore less perfume today because I knew we'd be making this sort of potion! So whatever it is you're smelling, it's not me!" she huffed.
Elphaba only rolled her eyes in reply. Though she had to admit that Galinda's second remark about not wearing too much perfume today surprised her, that still didn't help the matter at hand: identifying the mystery potion.
"I just wanted to rub Snape's big fat nose in it," Elphaba complained as she threw her hands up in defeat. Seeing the genuinely frustrated and disappointed look upon her green face, Galinda's own relaxed a little.
"Oh, don't worry, Elphie," the little Slytherin tried to soothe her friend. "Class is only half over! We still have plenty of time to try and catch a scent!" but Galinda's words did little to soothe Elphaba's ego. Although she had been sorted into Gryffindor, Elphaba still had all the intelligence and intellectual pride of a Ravenclaw and any time she found herself unable to measure up to a task at hand, especially one involving wit and intellectual skill, she took it very hard and very personally. So while Galinda tried to soothe Elphaba, Elphaba only gave another frustrated sigh before turning a critical eye back to their potions text book. Maybe they had forgotten something?
But the rest of class passed on and neither Elphaba nor Galinda managed to discern even the smallest of smells. Frustrated and nervous as the number of peers who turned in their answers increased by the second, Elphaba and Galinda could only exchange helpless glances before trying to sniff other cauldrons just in case maybe someone else managed to make something work. Still nothing.
"Could it be our noses?" Galinda wondered after she finished trying to sniff her eighth cauldron. Elphaba didn't get a chance to reply, however, because Snape interjected himself into the conversation with a sickening sneer and an impossibly low and nasty drawl.
"It seems to me that Ms. Thropp and Ms. Arduenna-Upland have yet to turn in their potions work," he said. "Perhaps if I remind you that this assignment will be used for a larger project next week, that will act as adequate incentive for you to do your work!" although his voice was soft, it seemed to fill the entire dungeon in which they were working and every student, regardless of house, turned to them and snickered cruelly.
"Perhaps if I remind you that murder is illegal, that will act as adequate incentive for you to leave us alone!" Elphaba growled under her breath.
"Elphie!" Galinda warned, touching the green girl's arm pleadingly. Although even Galinda had to admit that Snape was a horrible excuse for a human being, that didn't mean she wanted to confront him head-on about his issues. And she especially didn't want to see Elphaba try, because that would likely end with someone getting killed. Or worse! Expelled...
But even though Elphaba had only whispered her snide remark and even though Galinda had calmed her down a mere second later, Snape still seemed to have heard the insult because he rose from his place at the desk in front of the class and glided down the aisle of desks until he reached the one that Elphaba and Galinda were standing at. Elphaba narrowed her eyes while Galinda smiled nervously and looked away.
"Well? Can you identify it?" Snape challenged Elphaba coldly. Immediately, Elphaba felt torn in half. On the one hand, she did not want to lie and look silly by guessing wrong, but on the other, it went against everything in her nature to allow a big, fat, bully like Snape just mock and deride her for no good reason. She reluctantly put her face closer to her cauldron once again and took a sniff. Still nothing.
When she gave no verbal reply, Snape gave her a sickening smile.
"It seems that Ms. Thropp's beaky nose is not suited for the job," he remarked slyly. Then he whipped around to Galinda. "Perhaps Ms. Arduenna-Upland will prove me wrong, but I doubt she will," he crossed his arms with a smug smile and leered down at the trembling blond.
"Oh, Merlin's beard!" she whimpered to herself. Even though she, herself, was a pureblood witch and a Slytherin, because of her close ties with Elphaba (a muggle-born and a Gryffindor), none of the perks or privileges of being a Slytherin were afforded to her, and she could find no lenience with Snape at all. He would not forgive her for siding with a Gryffindor and he refused to treat her the same way he would treat other Slytherins. Galinda did not necessarily mind this loss of privilege, but it did make moments like this far harder on her emotional state than they should've been.
Seeing Galinda shake, Elphaba spoke up again, swift to come to her friend's defense.
"Hey!" she interrupted, drawing Snape's cruel gaze back to herself and away from Galinda. "A beaky nose is no good for smelling potions because it is thin! We need something bigger, and more bulbous! We need something that can really hold the stenches in. Why don't you give it a go, professor?" she demanded. The entire classroom gasped audibly. Though seeing a Gryffindor pick a fight with Snape (especially if that Gryffindor was Elphaba) was far from rare, seeing that Gryffindor being so outspoken definitely was. Even the brashest of lions treaded carefully around the head of the snake house. Today, however, Elphaba was plowing right on through, roaring as loud as she could. Galinda blanched again, but this time, it wasn't for her own safety, it was for Elphaba's. Yup, someone was definitely going to end up dead today...
While the rest of the class stared at Elphaba, mouths and eyes all opened impossibly wide, Snape clenched his own teeth tight. His nails dug into his palms as he stared down at the green-skinned Gryffindor with an unspeakable rage and hatred. He really did want nothing more than to blast the ugly little green bean into oblivion, but alas, that was against Hogwarts policy, and as his teaching post here at Hogwarts was the result of a debt he owed to the headmaster, he couldn't exactly afford to be kicked off the staff. Instead, he only swallowed down the burning rage biting at his throat and addressed her with that same eerily calm tone as always, even though it was clear to everyone in the room that an unadulterated loathing was bubbling just beneath the surface of his soft-spoken words.
"I would, if this weren't a student assignment," he hissed. "But alas, it is, and therefore, you must be the one to identify the potion. If you desire to keep your grade in this class, that is... And I trust you know the difference between a student and a professor, Ms. Thropp?"
"Of course," Elphaba replied, tone just as sinister as Snape's. "A student comes to learn from the professor, who is already adept in the subject."
"Then why, Ms. Thropp, do you insist that I help you with your assignment?" Snape asked back frostily.
"Because you certainly don't act like a professor," Elphaba said. "Out of all the professors I've had here at Hogwarts, you are the most immature and unprofessional. You refuse to accept the fact that students will not always perform perfectly, and you show a painfully blatant favoritism of the Slytherin house. It is not only deeply disrespectful to the student body, but it gives a very bad name to all the other, good professors of Hogwarts. Such prejudice and shortsighted temper is the mark of someone who is incredibly arrogant and ignorant. I trust you know what an arrogant, ignorant person is, Professor Snape?"
Once again, the entire room went into shock. Never had anyone ever been so sharp, biting or thorough in their complaint against Snape. No Gryffindor before in the history of Snape's teaching career here at Hogwarts had ever managed to be so over-the-top, yet also so calm, quiet, dignified and eloquent. Not even once did Elphaba's voice raise above a whisper, but she managed to get every single little last thing out to Snape that she wanted to, and when she was done, she gave him a darkly satisfied smirk. Beside her, Galinda looked seconds away from fainting.
"Of course I know," Snape replied. Although he had nearly gone blind with fury, he managed to still speak in a tone as civil and quiet as Elphaba. "I am looking at a prime example right now," his lip curled in triumph as he gestured rudely to Elphaba.
"How so?" Elphaba replied, not even missing a beat. "You haven't got a mirror."
Finally, then, the entire classroom erupted into sound. This remark from Elphaba had been the killing blow, the last word, the coup de gras. No more could possibly be said in response and that was how the student body knew it was finally ok to riot. Where they once had all been like statues, watching the little showdown with bated breath and wide eyes, they had suddenly come to life in a hailstorm of screaming, laughing, cheering, jeering and pointing. The Slytherins all booed and hissed Elphaba while the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws cheered her on, chanting her name and lauding her for her quick wit and daring nerve. Even Galinda finally looked a bit more comfortable, putting a relieved hand on Elphaba's arm that they all, somehow, had managed to survive this potions class. She was the only Slytherin who looked happy for Elphaba. Elphaba smiled back at her, Galinda's silent gesture of praise meaning far more than any of the other screamers in the dungeon.
But although Elphaba had gotten the last word, she had not gotten the last action. In the end, that round went to Snape. Not only did he remove 50 points from Gryffindor house (though, for once, none of the Gryffindors were at all mad about that) but he also failed Elphaba for the present assignment and all the ones to come that would have relied upon what she learned today. This meant she had managed to get a 0 on the next five assignments. She failed the entire next week. But, like the Gryffindors, for once, she wasn't mad at all.
"It was well worth it," Elphaba promised as she received her failing grade with a smile. "Besides, I've padded my grade enough that I'll still pass."
"That's only if you can stay out of trouble for the rest of the semester," Galinda replied with a guilty laugh. Perhaps Snape did not see her as a true Slytherin due to her ties with Elphaba, but he did show her a bit of mercy and he allowed her to pass. She still, technically, had no clue what the mystery potion had been, but Snape insisted that he did not want a bright young mind like hers to be dragged down by a sour, sallow, bitter thing like Elphaba, so while Galinda received a passing grade, Elphaba did not. Elphaba hadn't been bothered at all by this.
"To be quite honest, I still wish I knew what the mystery potion was," Elphaba confessed as she and Galinda cleaned up their station.
"I don't know, Elphie," Galinda said in earnest. "I went around, trying to catch a whiff of other cauldrons, but I couldn't smell anything!"
"Not a thing?" Elphaba asked, though she already knew the answer.
"Not a thing!" Galinda echoed. "I mean, aside from the usual mold of the dungeon," she added, then she began to list off other commonplace smells that she had picked up on during the lesson. "I could smell the frog legs, the smell of the fire used to boil our potions, the oil you use to wash, that smelly kid who works right behind us and probably hasn't showered in a week, the bug juice that the other girl spilled earlier today..." on and on Galinda tried to list every possible smell she could remember, but not a single one pointed to a particular potion.
"Wait!" Elphaba interrupted. "Did you say that you could smell my bathing oil?"
"Yes?" Galinda asked. "Does that surprise you? I mean, I was wondering why it was so strong today, especially since you knew that we'd be making this potion today, but I wasn't going to complain," she said. "It smells nice, I promise!"
"No, no, no, it's not that," Elphaba shook her head. "It's just, I did the same thing you did with the perfume, I tried to wear less today than normal!"
"Less that normal?" Galinda looked mystified. "To me, it smelled stronger than normal!"
It was in that moment that Elphaba realized she knew exactly what the potion was. While Galinda continued to puzzle and muse, still clearly lost, Elphaba suddenly blushed a dark green and swallowed nervously. She scooted away from Galinda and riffled through her potions book until she found the page containing the answer to today's question. She marked it with another stray piece of parchment she found sitting on an empty desk before shoving the book at Galinda.
"I know what the answer is and I've just marked that page!" she cried, the whole sentence coming out as one long word.
"What?" Galinda asked, it taking her a few seconds to process Elphaba's remark.
"It's why I smelled your perfume so much today, and maybe why you smelled-" but Elphaba didn't even finish her sentence before bolting.
"What?" Galinda repeated, confused as to what could've changed Elphaba's mood so drastically. She shook her head with a puzzled expression before opening the book to the page Elphaba had marked.
"Amortentia," Galinda read slowly. "Amortenia is the most powerful love potion in the world. It is distinctive for its mother-of-pearl sheen, and steam rises from the potion in spirals. Amortentia smells different to each person, according to what attracts them... Oh..." Galinda looked up from the potions book, but Elphaba was long-gone already. Suddenly, Galinda was blushing just as hotly as Elphaba had been, and she spent the whole rest of the day thinking about that mystery potion, and the smell that attracted her the most.
AN: Based off a JamesXLily Tumblr prompt that said that there was a day at Hogwarts in which James and Lily were potions partners and they could not identify the Amortenia potion because all James could smell was Lily's perfume and all Lily could smell was James' cologne, never mind the fact that neither of them had worn perfume or cologne that day...