Son of the Dark Lord

Chapter 9: Potions And Other Classes

The next morning, Draco woke Harry bright and early.
"Harry, your first owl order package has arrived!" Harry sat up groggily and reached for his glasses.
"What are you talking about, Draco?" Draco practically dragged Harry out of bed and pushed him over to the small window in their room. Harry saw the owl leaning down to tap on the window again.
Draco dragged a chair to the window and helped Harry climb up. When Harry opened the window, the owl swooped in and landed on his bed. Harry climbed back down and hurried to his bed. He saw the small parcel tied to the owl's legs. The owl held still as he unburdened it, then spread its wings.
"Oh, hold on, I have something for you!" The owl eyed him skeptically, but did not take off. Harry pulled the box of owl treats out of his trunk and offered a couple to the owl. It hooted happily then gobbled them down. Harry gave it a quick pet. "Thank you for my mail." The owl nipped him affectionately then flew back out the window.
"Wow, seems like you have quite a way with owls, Harry." Harry shrugged.
"I just know what it's like to be treated like a servant. I think everyone should be thanked for their services." The other boys nodded.
"Noble thought, Harry." Harry smiled at Blaise in thanks.
"Let's get ready and head up to breakfast. I'm starving!" They all scrambled to get ready quickly then headed off to the Great Hall for breakfast excited discussing their first lesson of the day. Draco spotted Hermione as soon as they entered and went to sit next to her. Harry followed, just in case Draco needed moral support.
"Hello, Hermione."
"Hello, Draco. I received your card. It was quite eloquent, and I accept your apology, however you really must learn to think before you speak."
"Yes, of course, Hermione. I'll do my best." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Oh, and Harry, I hope you aren't offended by my lack of card, but my order from the stationers hasn't arrived yet." Seeing Harry's puzzled look, she explained. "I wanted to thank you for defending me yesterday."
"Oh...er...you're welcome. Think nothing of it." She smiled, and Harry settled down to his breakfast. As they ate, the mail arrived. Harry scanned the hundreds of owls for Hedwig, but didn't see a single white owl. Draco's eagle owl arrived bearing sweets from home. Draco passed out sugar quills to his four friends. He still had enough left over for Blaise, Daphne, Theodore, and even one for Alexander.
He came over to the table halfway through breakfast like he always did every morning. He talked with them about their classes for the day and gave them advice on how to get on the professors' good sides. He gratefully took the sugar quill saying he had History of Magic first today. Everyone wished him luck as he headed off.
After breakfast, the five of them trooped off to their dormitories to pick up their bags, cauldrons, and potion supplies then asked a portrait to help them find their way to Potions. When they entered the Potions dungeon, only a couple of other Slytherins were in the room. The Gryffindors had yet to arrive. They split into pairs. Hermione and Draco sat at the front right table on the Slytherin side. Vincent asked Harry to partner him for the day, and they sat at the front left table. Gregory paired with Theodore (to whom Draco offered a sugar quill) and sat behind Harry and Vincent. They all spoke quietly amongst themselves. A sudden rush of noise announced the entrance of the Gryffindors.
They scraped the stools along the floors, slammed their bags and cauldrons on the tables, and spoke loudly. Harry caught Neville's eye and gave him a quick smile. However, Neville gulped and turned away quickly. Harry saw Weasley smile evilly and wondered what malicious rumors he'd been spreading, making a note to ask Alexander about it. Before he could think about it more, the dungeon door was shut behind Professor Snape.
"Silence!" He strode to the front of the classroom. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," He spoke softly, but even the Gryffindors knew to keep quiet. "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..." Here he paused, and Harry was positive he heard Hermione sigh. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Hermione let out a soft, "Oh." She clearly did not like the idea of being considered a dunderhead.
"Malfoy!" Said Professor Snape suddenly. "What would you get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"The Draught of Living Death, sir. It is an extremely powerful sleeping potion."
"Correct. Five points to Slytherin." Draco turned and grinned at Harry.
"Weasley! What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Harry turned to look at Weasley, who shrugged.
"Don't know. Isn't that why I'm here?" Professor Snape sneered as the Slytherins watched, shocked.
"Detention, Weasley. See me after class for the details. Let's try again. Thomas! What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Do any of you Gryffindors know the answer?" Harry sniggered as the Gryffindors stared at each other stupidly. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Be sure to have opened the textbook by next lesson. Now, anyone from Slytherin?" Hermione raised her hand. "Miss Granger?"
"They are the same plant, sir. It is also known as aconite." Remembering something that she had talked with Alexander about, she added. "They are commonly used in the wolfsbane potion, which is used to help werewolves with their transformations."
"Very good. Take ten more points to Slytherin."
"R...Potter!" Harry saw most of the Slytherins wince. "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"In the stomach of a goat, sir. It is a hardened hairball that has the appearance of a stone that is found there that will save you from most poisons."
"Excellent. Seems that potions is a strong suit for you as well. Five points to Slytherin. Now, today you will be brewing an elementary potion to cure boils." He flicked his wand at the chalkboard. "Instructions are on the board. When your finished potion has cooled, please fill your vial..." He paused and waved his wand at the room, causing labeled vials to appear on everyone's desk. "And deposit the vial on my desk. Begin." Harry looked up at the board and carefully read the instructions.

Light a fire and bring it to 300 degrees. To check the temperature, point your wand at the fire and say, "Siccusia."
Fill your cauldron half full with warm water and place over fire.
Stir the water in a clockwise direction and slowly add dried nettles until the potion turns a deep forest green.
Heat the mixture until it turns royal blue.
Add crushed snake fangs until the potion turns a vivid pink.
Remove your cauldron from the fire.
Slowly add porcupine quills (no more than one every 30 seconds) until the potion turns orange.
Return your cauldron to the fire.
Add a horned slug. Your potion should turn turquoise.
Heat the mixture until it turns bright red.
Remove your cauldron from the fire and allow potion to cool.

Harry started the fire and managed to successfully cast the spell to check the temperature. He then filled his cauldron with water and brought it back to his table. He noticed Vincent was having difficulty with the temperature spell, so he cast it for him. Harry made it through the first eight steps without a problem. His perfectly orange potion even earned an approving nod from Professor Snape. Vincent, however, added too much snake fang and ended up with a dusty rose potion instead of a pink one. When he was done adding the porcupine quills, his potion was more of a carnelian color. When Harry added his horned slug, his potion only turned a sky blue. Confused, he raised his hand to ask Professor Snape why.
The slug was too small. Cut another small one in one inch slices and slowly add the slices until it turns turquoise."
"Thank you, Professor." Harry did as he was told, and by the fifth slice, his potion was a perfect turquoise. He then heated his potion to a brilliant red and extinguished the flames. As he waited for his potion to cool, he re-read the instructions to make sure he had followed them correctly. Satisfied that his potion was perfect, he filled the vial and placed it on Professor Snape's desk. He cleaned up his cauldron with a handy spell Hermione taught him ("scourgify"), and sat down to await the end of class. As Vincent was cleaning up his potion, clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the room. Neville had somehow managed to melt his cauldron into a twisted blob, and his potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes.
Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, 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. Professor Snape cleared away the potion with a wave of his wand.
"Longbottom, read line 6 of the instructions."
"Re...remove your c...cauldron fr...from the fire."
"Did you do that?"
"No, sir."
"Which is precisely why you are in this situation. Finnigan! Help Longbottom to the Hospital Wing. And five points from Gryffindor for ignorance." The last few minutes of class passed relatively quickly. As Harry was among those students who had turned in a perfect potion, he was not assigned homework. When the bell rang, they all hurried off to lunch, and then the Slytherins went up to transfiguration. Draco was especially looking forward to transfiguration, as he desperately wanted to be able to transfigure his bed. He soon learned, however, that that was going to take a long time.
Professor McGonagall was a stern teacher. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione and Harry had made any difference to their matches; Professor McGonagall showed the class how Harry's had gone all silver and pointy and how Hermione's even had an eye and gave them a rare smile.
Easily their most boring class so far (and overall, Harry was willing to wager) was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates. Most of the students had an extremely difficult time staying awake in that class. Harry quickly understood why Alexander was so grateful for the sugar quill that morning. Only Hermione seemed able to resist the spell-like effect of Professor Binns' voice.
That night the five friends spent their time in the common room working on their essays. Harry and Hermione both only had an essay due for History of Magic. Draco had essays for both History of Magic and Transfiguration, and poor Vincent and Gregory had essays for all three classes. Hermione took pity on them and helped them along, enabling them to finish all but their essays for Potions before bed.
Harry finally made it to bed absolutely exhausted. He couldn't help but speculate as to what tomorrow would be like. After all, they had Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow. He couldn't wait.