Extraordinary

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The whole class settled down quickly, everyone engrossed in their own potions in desire of the extravagant prize.

Tom had been intensely aware of how helpful this potion could be to his plan.

Though he had already had Slughorn wrapped around his finger, Dumbledore was still too keen and observant and he was sure there would come a time where something like this would definitely work as a wonderful asset.

But still, it would be quite a competition to get the trophy, since Slughorn tended to be a bit biased but he was not outright unfair to any of his students.

And though Tom did think he was good at potions, unfortunately, he wasn't the best.

In the back of the class, he could see Severus hunched over his cauldron, completely busy in the art of brewing.

A small group of Hufflepuffs worked together, assisting each other on the table next to his.

And right next to him stood McQueen, who was just a second away from being blown into bits by accidental magic.

Tom hadn't expected(or wanted) her to make any more advances towards him after he'd rejected her several times before.

Though she was a pureblood and from a traditional wizarding family at that, she was still too annoying for his patience.

Tom had his plans sorted out and there was a perfect time for everything and right now, all he could care about was to not mess up his own potion because of someone else's stupidity.

Scarlett's voice disrupted the peace in its usual high pitch.

"Are you sure this is fine? This doesn't really look enough."

"That's what the book says right? You'll be fine, just follow the steps, Miss McQueen." He replied as politely as he could, quickly returning her attention back to her cauldron.

He took a glance at the other girl, who was sitting quite seperately on the other end of the classroom.

He had started noticing her more often now.

Well, he had been looking out for her ever since he saw her sneaking out of the tower and associating with Sirius Black, but nowadays he didn't have to look for long to notice her.

She seemed to stand out quite significantly. She was never alone anyways, always surrounded by at least one of the Gryffindors or some younger Slytherins who followed her around like little ducklings.

She appeared to have a powerful aura of her own, it seemed. But currently the said girl was focused on working her knife properly.

Y/n had her head down, as she slowly cut the sopophorous beans, without slipping.

Instead of noticing how his own potion had started sizzling, his attention went towards how her hair had been flowing around her. That would be a mess to comb through. He had his own experience of dealing with untamable hair until he came across some magical products that made his curls manageable.

She had discarded her robes and her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows. The first button of her shirt was open, just barely providing any relief from the warmth and her baby hairs clung to her forehead due to the close proximity of the flame.

Still, she had a small smile as she proudly looked at the perfectly cut pieces and twirled her wand around her fingers looking for the next instructions.

She leaned to put the juice of the beans in the cauldron and then proceeded to sit cross legged on the stool, almost falling back in the process, looking around to see if anyone noticed.

Cute!

But his attention was turned back to his own potion soon and he lowered the flame to stop it from over cooking.

"Hey! Tom? How are we supposed to get the juices in the cauldron?" Scarlett asked making him put up another fake smile.

"I'm pretty sure it says you need cut the beans and collect the juice." The girl rolled her eyes but continued to stare quizzically at the strange beans.

"Do you think you could cut some for me too?" She asked and he turned to look at her.

McQueen fluttered her eyes, trying to do a persuading pout.

"I'm not sure if that would be nice of me. How will you learn if you never tried it yourself?" He enquired in his sugarcoated tongue and she sagged back.

"Fine!!"

He continued working on his own potion for the time being, until a small explosion was heard and Slughorn sauntered over their to clean up the mess.

He waited for his potion to boil and slowly stirred it around. The hour was almost over and though his potion was  turning out just fine, he wasn't sure if it was exceptionally perfect.

There were several students who'd got the potion looking good enough and his didn't look any different.

Slughorn started to check the potions one by one as he passed through the tables. The class was silent except from the occasional comment from the potions professor.

It wasn't until he'd already criticised half the class when his surprised gasp was heard.

"Merlin. It's perfect. I couldn't have brewed it any better myself." He said, marveling at the student's attempt.

The class broke out into murmurs at the sudden revelation.

Of course someone brewed a perfect potion on their first try. Was slughorn really going to give away the liquid luck to this student?

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