Potions with the Gryffindors

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder there than up in the main castle but since you slept in the dungeons you’d already gotten used to the lower temperature over the course of your first week.

On Friday morning, you found yourself in the Potions classroom. There was a clear line down the middle that separated the Gryffindors from the Slytherins. Professor Snape started class by taking roll in order to ensure that everyone was present. He barely glanced in your direction when he said your name but he notably paused after Parvati Patil’s name.

“Ah, yes,” he said softly, “Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity.” Mocking his name as he spoke. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. You glanced back and saw that Harry’s eyes were locked on Professor Snape’s. You didn’t envy him in that moment. You did everything you could to avoid looking into those cold, dark tunnels.

After he finished taking roll, Professor Snape started class with a speech. He spoke in barely a whisper and as a result, kept the classroom completely silent without any effort. “You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of Potionmaking. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper **** - if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”

And then Professor Snape seemed to zero in on Harry Potter.“Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

Hermione’s hand had shot into the air. You mentally ran through Magical Drafts and Potions and remembered the potion that was listed at the very end of the book as an example of the more complicated potions you could brew. Draught of the Living ****. You raised your hand as well.

“I don’t know, sir,” Harry answered.

Professor Snape’s lips curled into a sneer. “Tut, tut - fame clearly isn’t everything.” You got the feeling that there was something immensely personal buried within this line of questioning. You lowered your hand and Professor Snape completely ignored Granger’s.

“Let’s try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”

You grinned to yourself and glanced back to see Blaise Zabini smirking. Your reading had prepared you for it. But you didn’t raise your hand. Neither did he. You both realised that these questions were aimed specifically at Harry Potter. Hermione Granger didn’t seem to realise that and stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat.

“I don’t know, sir,” Harry finally replied.

“Thought you wouldn’t open a book before coming, eh, Potter?” You looked back again to see Harry forcing himself to keep looking straight into Professor Snape’s cold eyes. Better him than you. Hermione Granger still hadn’t gotten the hint and Professor Snape continued to ignore her quivering hand.

“What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?” You knew this too. However, it wasn’t in the Potions book. ‘Both’ plants were listed in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. At this, Granger was pretty much standing up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling. The girl was clearly intelligent but she was completely oblivious to the situation. No wonder she’d been sorted into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw.

“I don’t know,” Harry said quietly. “I think Hermione does, though, why don’t you try her?”

You slapped yourself in the forehead. Oh, great idea Harry, just wave a red flag in front of the angry bull. A few people laughed… mostly the clueless Gryffindors. You actually saw Finnigan shoot Harry a wink. But you and the Slytherins knew better.

“Sit down," Professor Snape snapped at Granger. The girl finally got the hint and lowered her hand. “If I wanted Granger to answer - I would have asked her. I wonder, however, if your astounding arrogance comes from your fame or perhaps something else… Let’s find out, shall we? Let’s ask our other celebrity.”

And suddenly you were the center of attention. “Mr. Gaunt… where would I find a bezoar?”

“In my pocket, sir,” you told him.

“Is that cheek, Mr. Gaunt?" Professor Snape asked dangerously.

“No, sir,” you replied as you pulled out the bezoar in your pocket that you had owl ordered from the Malfoy apothecary earlier in the week. “I read in Magical Drafts and Potions that a bezoar is a stone from the stomach of a goat that serves as a natural anti-toxin and will save you from most poisons. I’m the last of my family line so it seemed like something useful to have around, you know, just in case.”

“Remember to replace it every month for optimal effectiveness,” Professor Snape advised before he rounded on Harry again. “Well, Potter, it seems as though someone is prepared for class.” Harry glanced away from Professor Snape and shot you an annoyed look. Ron was outright glaring. They probably thought you were showing off. But what did they expect you to do? Play dumb? You knew the answer.

“Let’s try again,” Professor Snape suggested with an almost cruel undertone. “Mr. Gaunt, what’s the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?”

“According to One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi they’re the same plant, sir,” you replied. At this point, you realised that Professor Snape was using you to rub Harry’s ignorance in his face. But he was your scary Head of House and you knew that the consequences would be severe if you didn’t go along with it.

“Correct,” Professor Snape stated. “They also go by the name aconite.” He turned back to Harry and gave him a rather ugly sneer. “Well, Potter, it seems that it is possible for someone to handle the limelight without becoming an arrogant dunderhead. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your cheek and for being unprepared for class. Mr. Gaunt, five points to Slytherin for being prepared. And for your information, Potter, powdered root of asphodel combined with an infusion of wormwood creates a sleeping potion so powerful that it’s called the Draught of Living ****.”

Five points. You knew that you’d mainly gotten them to serve as an extra insult to Harry. But you couldn’t help but feel a measure of pride in the accomplishment. Professor Snape wouldn’t have asked you if he wasn’t sure you’d be able to answer. He’d likely noticed you reading all week. These were the first points you’d earned at Hogwarts and you weren’t going to let Professor Snape’s vendetta against Harry Potter ruin it for you. Perhaps you could get a ledger and keep a record of the points you gained.

You came out of that line of thought when you realised that half the class was glaring at you. Hermione Granger looked particularly offended. Her expression seemed to say that you had stolen those five points from her. And also murdered her pet along the way.

The lesson continued with Professor Snape dividing the class up into pairs. Your assigned task was to brew of Cure for Boils. He noticed you sitting in a row with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle and seemed to approve of your plan to boost the Slytherin average so you ended up partnered with Gregory Goyle as you intended.

Professor Snape swept through the classroom in his long black cloak and criticised almost everyone. The only ones spared were you and Draco. It probably helped Malfoy’s case that he was the professor’s godson. You, on the other hand, had likely earned a measure of your Head of House’s respect by aiding in his humiliation of Harry Potter. It also helped that you and Draco were being extra careful that not only were you doing the right thing but also that Crabbe and Goyle weren’t screwing anything up as well.

“Those snake fangs aren’t good enough yet,” you hissed at Goyle as you felt a dark shadow looming over you and watching your progress. “Put your back into it. They need to be a fine powder. That’ll ensure that every drop of venom is removed.” And like that, the shadow was gone. You felt another swell of pride and knew you’d been doing something right

You were about to take your shared cauldron off of the fire so you could add the porcupine quills that you had carefully counted and measured out when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon.

The source was Neville Longbottom. He had somehow managed to melt Seamus Finnigan’s cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people’s shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Longbottom, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

You blinked at the surprising reaction and crouched down on your stool so you could poke your finger into Longbottom’s spilled potion. Your finger came away with an angry red boil from where it had made contact. Interesting. Somehow Longbottom managed to turn a potion that was supposed to cure boils into one that caused them.

“Idiot boy!” Professor Snape snarled as he cleared away the spilled potion with one wave of his wand.“I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?”

Longbottom could only whimper as boils started to pop up all over his nose. Somehow Professor Snape had known exactly what the boil-covered boy had done to cause such an **** reaction.

It was then that you realised how volatile Potionmaking really was. Simply misusing one key ingredient had completely inverted the potion.

Professor Snape ordered Seamus Finnigan to take Longbottom to the hospital wing and then rounded on Harry who had the misfortune of being on Longbottom’s other side. “You - Potter - why didn’t you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he’d make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That’s another five points you’ve lost Gryffindor for sabotaging another student’s work.”

Sighs from the Gryffindors filled the class. Draco Malfoy seemed to find the whole situation hilarious and was laughing loudly.

But you couldn’t help wondering if you could recreate Longbottom’s failure without making a big mess. The porcupine quills were the key. You had just been about to take your shared cauldron off of the fire so you could add them. Professor Snape would be furious if he knew what you were about to do. But you couldn’t help yourself. You had to know if your newfound understanding of this potion was accurate.

You eyed your carefully measured porcupine quills. You needed to ensure that they caused a less volatile reaction when they were added at the wrong time. Maybe if you halved the dosage. Goyle gave you a confused look as you split your collection of porcupine quills in half and reached for the cauldron.

“Wait… aren’t we… supposed to take it off first?” your partner asked.

“Yes, but I’m trying something different,” you told him as you dropped the quills into the cauldron and then reeled back. Your potions started hissing and acid green smoke began to billow out of the cauldron. But unlike Neville Longbottom’s disaster… your potion didn’t overflow nor did it explode.

Professor Snape was standing imperiously in front of you a second later. “Mr. Gaunt… what do you think you’re doing?”

You once again found yourself as the center of attention. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were glaring at you for causing trouble.

You took a deep breath and answered, “Learning from Longbottom’s failure, sir.”

Those cold dark tunnels bore into you. “Explain yourself. Now.”

“L-longbottom inadvertently showed us that the porcupine quills are the active ingredient in a Boil Cure Potion,” you explained. “Just by failing to put his quills in at the proper time he completely inverted his potion so instead of curing boils it caused them. I… attempted to recreate that reaction without the mess so I halved the number of porcupine quills that I added. The result was that my potion didn’t boil over and it didn’t melt the cauldron like Longbottom’s did. But because of that I don’t think mine is quite as potent as the mess that Longbottom made.”

“What use could I possibly have for a potion that causes boils?” Professor Snape demanded.

“Er… you could use it to judge everyone else’s potion?” you offered. “A Boil Cure Potion is useless without any boils to cure.” You were rather pleased to have come up with that answer off the top of your head. You hadn’t actually thought of the use of a boil-causing potion when you’d decided to make one.

“Take that cauldron off of the fire this instant,” Professor Snape ordered. You and Goyle scrambled to remove the boiling cauldron from the flame. The Potions Master stepped closer and surveyed the mixture that you had created.

The classroom was dead silent. The only sound came from other cauldrons bubbling.

“Five points… to Slytherin.” A gasp rang through the classroom before Professor Snape continued, “For an in-depth understanding of the Boil Cure Potion and its ingredients.”

You could finally breathe again. Your gamble paid off. You’d gone from five points to ten in one class. Malfoy was smirking. Crabbe and Goyle both looked confused about what had just happened. A wide smile spread across your face. This definitely cemented your decision to get a ledger so you could keep a record of gained points and moments like these for posterity.

“WHAT!?” You turned to see a scandalised Hermione Granger. She had partnered with Dean Thomas - the other muggleborn first year in Gryffindor. Their potion could have served as an example of what a Boil Cure Potion was supposed to look like. Which was probably why she couldn’t contain herself upon hearing you get rewarded for doing something different. “But professor! He wasn’t even following the instructions!”

Professor Snape’s cloak swished as he whirled around to face her. “Miss Granger, are you the Potions professor here?”

Granger seemed to shrink under Professor Snape’s glare. “No, sir…”

“No, you’re not,” Professor Snape agreed, “I am. Which is why it is up to me to decide whether or not a student has grasped the subject. Since you haven’t, you and the rest of the class will write a three-foot essay on the importance of each ingredient in a Boil Cure Potion.” Groans rang out throughout the classroom and bushy-haired muggleborn’s face went red. “And furthermore… three points will be taken from Gryffindor for you presuming to know more than a professor.”

Granger reeled back and looked like Professor Snape had struck her. Obviously, the teacher’s pet was more used to receiving points than losing them.

Professor Snape then addressed the rest of the class, “Just to ensure that none of you attempt to follow Mr. Gaunt’s example by mindlessly throwing ingredients into a cauldron… if I learn that any of you have intentionally sabotaged an assigned potion… you will be barred from this classroom faster than it would take to empty the offending cauldron.”

Yup. Your foray into in-class experimentation was likely going to stay a one-time thing.

“And Mr. Gaunt,” Professor Snape’s attention went back to you. “You are excused from the essay. Instead, you will serve a detention with me tonight after dinner where you will be brewing the Cure for Boils that you were assigned today. It had better be perfect because whether or not you and Mr. Goyle receive any credit for today’s lesson will be hanging in the balance.”

“Yes sir…” you agreed. All things considered, that seemed fair. Maybe not to the Gryffindors but when Professor Snape was concerned… self-preservation was your top priority.

Less than an hour later, you left the dungeon feeling rather good about yourself.

“That was the greatest class ever,” Draco exclaimed from the front of your group. “I don’t know what was funniest... Potter’s stupid expression, Longbottom covered in boils, or Granger looking like she was going to cry!”

“Speak for yourself,” Pansy complained. “Longbottom’s potion ruined my shoes!”

“You’ve got big, brass balls, mate,” Blaise Zabini remarked as he walked beside you at the back. “I wouldn’t have done what you did in front of Snape. But, then again, I wouldn’t have earned ten points for Slytherin.”

And then an angry throng of Gryffindors went by.

“Blatant favoritism,” Dean Thomas muttered.

“He would’ve murdered us if we'd done that with a potion,” Lavender Brown remarked.

“Snape probably told the cheating snake those answers beforehand,” Ron Weasley insisted.

Harry shot you a glare as he went passed while Hermione seemed to be trying to avoid looking at you. You weren’t sure which reaction stung more.

“Forget them,” Draco spoke up.“They’re just sore that we gained ten points in that class while they LOST THIRTEEN!” Granger flinched while Harry looked back and glared. Ah, the usual ulterior motive, the supportive comment was so he could insult the Gryffindors.

Professor Snape had most likely destroyed any chance you had at being friends with Harry Potter. After that class, the Gryffindors likely saw you on par with Draco Malfoy. But being friends with Harry Potter would mean earning Professor Snape’s ire. And with your detention later tonight looming ahead of you, it was probably a good idea to distance yourself from Potter as much as possible.

Marvolo Gaunt House Point Ledger

Severus Snape: +5

Severus Snape: +5

New Total: +10

Points awarded by: SS