Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 4: Confiscated and highly dangerous

Sarah will remember this first Monday all her life: 4th of September, 1989, as the day the twins abandoned her.

Their first Potions class with professor Snape, who was scary enough as it is. He made them pair up, which was inconvenient for them since they were a trio. The twins immediately grabbed onto each other and sat at a table. Sarah turned to them and whispered "Traitors."

They mouthed in synch "Sorry" but she didn't respond. Instead she looked around for someone who was alone too. Everyone seemed to have a pair, even Alexander shot her an apologetic look from across the room. But then she saw a girl reading alone.

She approached her, "Hey, can I pair up with you? I'm the only one left without a partner," She looked up and nodded gently at her. Sarah sat and introduced herself, the girl did as well "Selena Collins."

She seemed kind. She had long, dark hair, displayed on her back. It blended right in with her robes.

"Today you will attempt your first potion, I want to see your incompetence to know from which low-point I'm starting with you" Professor Snape said dryly. He shot a glare at every pair. When he looked at Sarah, the coldness of his gaze made her feel a little sick, but he didn't linger, he turned around and started stating the instructions. They have to make a Strength potion, and most of them didn't even know how to hold a cauldron. That seemed like a recipe for a catastrophe but Snape didn't seem to mind, he was waiting for an excuse to yell at them.

Sarah concentrated on what she remembered of the 'Strength potion' from her weekend reading. Before they started, Snape grumbled again "Can someone tell me what color this potion is supposed to be?"

Sarah looked around, no one dared to look up from their books. Selena and she raised their hands at the same time. Snape looked at them with disdain, like he was displeased someone knew the answer. He tilted his head at them Go ahead without actually saying which on was supposed to answer, and they both said "Orange, sir."

He closed his eyes and nodded "Correct. Five points to..." he looked at their uniform colors and said between his clenched teeth "Gryffindor"

"If your potion is any other color, you will know you have pitifully failed" he turned around and walked to his desk "You may begin"

Selena and she looked at each other, proud to have earned Gryffindor points already. Sarah looked around the table and saw we were missing an important ingredient, Selena noticed as well because when Sarah turned to her and said "We're missing a-"

" A snake fang"

"You did the reading, too? I thought I was an obsessive freak for doing that."

Selena laughed, "I did do the reading, we both are obsessive freaks, but," she stopped and looked around at the other students who were struggling to decipher the book's instructions "We are also the only ones going about it the right way."

At the end of the class Snape checked every potion and commented, mostly insulted every student, making them look down, ashamed.

"One might think you would be acquainted with the color orange, Mr. Weasley," he said to George who looked at their now blue potion.

Fred dared to answer, "At least it's the complementary color, sir."

That earned a few laughs in the room, including Sarah and Selena. But Snape shot them a hateful and warning glare that made their ears go red. He moved on to the others, making similar comments.

It was the first time in their lives they were all doing this. It didn't seem fair for him to judge them on the first try, the first hour. But she will learn that Snape and fairness were not cordial to say the least.