COLLISION COURSE // george weasley

Chapter seven.

OK YEAH I JUST FOUND OUT THE PUREBLOODED FAMILIES ARE LIKE RELATED OR SOMETHING AND WE'RE GONNA IGNORE THAT— that is NOT canon here bye
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The dark classroom was filled with the noise of bubbling pots and grinding knives. Snape's looming presence had the whole class quiet, not even a single whisper traveling through the air. During our first Potions lesson Snape had given us assigned seats, and much to both Helena and my dismay, this meant that we were stuck sharing a table with the Weasley twins for the entire year.

Helena scrunched up her nose as she cut her crocodile's heart into tiny pieces, as the instructions in her book told her. ''This is disgusting,'' she whispered.

''Said the person who turned someone's drink into vomit just yesterday,'' I whispered back. Helena smothered a laugh as we both looked over to Victoria Fowler, who was fortunately sitting at the other end of the classroom.

We'd gotten quite an earful when Victoria returned to the dorm yesterday night, but miraculously enough Helena didn't have to spend the night on one of the couches in the common room. Her punishment presented itself in the way the entire dorm room smelled slightly like vomit, however, and we could not open a window.

I saw George's curiosity getting the better of him as he turned around to see what we were looking at.

''Did you do that? The puke in her goblet?'' He whispered to Helena.

Her smile turned into a glare as she refused to answer him. She'd always been vocal about not wanting anything to do with the two of them after I told them about their attitude towards me, as she was a good friend and didn't like anyone who treated the people she cared about badly. Even still, I felt slightly bad for him. He had helped me get to Lupin's office after the dementor's attack, after all. He caught my eye and I nodded at him subtly. A smile crept up his features before he focused back on his own potion.

The potion we were brewing was the Draught of Peace, a potion frequently taken by stressed out students and people suffering from PTSD. The recipe wasn't too complicated, but it had to be done perfectly, or it could have some less fortunate effects, as Snape had put it.

I poured the last of my powdered moonstone into my cauldron and began stirring. Potions wasn't my worst subject, as following the instructions in the book was similar to following cookbooks, something I did often at home to pass the time. It required an enormous amount of studying, however, which was something I was less gifted at.

''Valerie,'' Helena whispered as she poured her own powdered moonstone into her cauldron. ''I've been thinking about it a lot, but it makes no sense.''

I look over at her questioningly. ''The dementor,'' she clarified. I saw George looking up quickly, shooting me a look. ''From what Dumbledore told us, they feed on happy memories. Why did it come after you, and so deep in the school grounds, too?''

I shrugged. ''No idea, but I'm not sure now's the time to talk about this.'' I motioned to Snape with my head, who kept a sharp eye on our table in particular. Though I dismissed Helena, I couldn't help the tugging at my chest at the thought. Why did the Dementor come after me? If it could sense emotions it should've been obvious that it wouldn't get many cheerful feelings out of me that day.

I kept stirring my potion absentmindedly, until I noticed it turned a beautiful turquoise blue. The twins got up to grab more lavender, and I felt Helena elbow me in the side. I looked over at her and she motioned at the stack of red spider legs on the edge of the table. I checked if Snape was looking into our direction, but his eyes were following the two Weasley boys.

I moved around our table, pouring the spider legs into one of their potions quickly before hurrying back to stirring my own. The twins returned to their cauldrons, and Snape took that as a cue to approach our table.