The Slytherin Princess | Draco Malfoy x Reader

Chapter 53: Search party

Your batch of clairvoyance draught has finished brewing.

~~~

One week went by far more quickly than you'd thought it would. You'd managed a perfect batch of Felix Felicis, and you were just about to find out if your Draughtus Praevisionis had been brewed correctly. An hour before, you'd hidden Juniper's wand within the house the two of you were hiding out in. If your potion had been made properly, she'd immediately know where her wand was without a word from you.

You were hopeful. The book had said your brew needed to be a shimmering, misty lavender color, almost translucent. And the mixture that had been simmering at a near-boil for almost the entire week you'd been in that house had indeed shifted from its original opaque yellow color to exactly the misty lavender you wanted.

"We'll have to take more than what I'm administering you right now if we want to find Harry," you said to Juniper absentmindedly as you got her dosage prepared. "The amount of clairvoyance needed to find a small object is much less than what we'll need to find an entire human. Especially one who's going to be on the move as much as Harry, Ron, and Hermione are."

Juniper nodded as she took the small vial of the clairvoyance draught from your hands. She swirled it around in the small glass flask, watching it shimmer in the light coming through the cracks in the blinds covering the window. "If this is a perfect or even near-perfect batch, you'll be the Head Potioneer at the Apothecary before you even graduate Hogwarts," she said slowly, but you shook your head at the thought. "I'd have to have perfect grades on my NEWTs, too, though," you said, your shoulders slumping in disappointment. And there's no way I'll get those. Not with the classes I had to take this past term, having to take that upper-level Diseases and Treatments of Magical Creatures with Hagrid just to stay hidden as Ravena."

Juniper waved your self-deprecating thoughts off with a flick of her hand. "Snape should be back once the war's over, he'll let you into the upper-level classes immediately. He knows how talented you are, y/n. It would be stupid of anyone to not notice. You're a natural."

You smiled slightly at her kind words, then nudged the vial still sitting in her hand. "Drink it, then. Go find your wand."

She rolled her eyes at you playfully, but she tipped the vial back and swallowed the lilac liquid in one go. You watched as she crinkled her nose, though that was to be expected. The book had said so itself: "Though the liquid will be a pretty color, normally one that reminds one of flowers that pop up as spring is just beginning, one should expect the flavor to be that of a banana that has been left on one's counter for a few days too long. It will not be a pleasant taste, but it will not last very long."

You watched as she sat in silent contemplation for a few seconds, then her eyes lit up. A shimmer of blue light flashed across her corneas, and she stood up and left the room immediately. Your heart began to race in anticipation; this most likely meant your potion had been brewed exactly as it had needed to be.

Juniper entered the room again just a few moments later, drawing her wand from behind her back with a smile as bright as the shining sun outside. You cheered in exhilaration despite yourself, you had never brewed something so complicated without a professor's help. And now you'd brewed one of the even more complicated potions perfectly, all on your own.

"Y/N, what did I tell you?" Juniper cried, pride clear in her bright brown eyes. "You're a natural! You've got the spot at the Apothecary without a fucking doubt!"

You smiled too. You hadn't ever brewed something this good in class. You supposed that with the right motivation and the desire to do well, you really were a natural.