A Marauder's Guide to Falling Together

Chapter Thirty Two

"This may very well be the most important potion you will ever brew during your academic career," Professor Slughorn's words clung to the air. "Please do pay attention and don't hesitate to ask for any help. We will begin with part one, steps one and two as well as part two, step one today. You shall need to make it this far before the conclusion of class in order to be prepared for tomorrow's steps."

Slughorn had written out the instructions again on the board but they had gone over them in minute detail a few classes prior. Marlene didn't want to chance misunderstanding his eloquent scrawl so she pulled out her parchment paper where she had them copied down.

"Add three measures of fluxweed to the cauldron," she recited out loud. Natasha picked up the vile that was labeled 'fluxweed' and carefully measured it out. Marlene could tell that she was nervous as her hands were slightly shakier than normal. "Do you want me to do that?"

"Of course not," Natasha snapped without taking her eyes of the measuring tool. "You'll likely screw it up."

"This is getting old," Marlene said hotly. "I get that you don't like me. I'm not overly fond of you either but you're not the only one that needs to learn how to do this."

"Fine then," she replied curtly. "You can do the next one."

Marlene grabbed the two bundles of knotgrass and waited for Natasha to finish adding her ingredient. The two continued to work through the instructions silently, only making the odd comment or snide remark here and there.

"When is it supposed to start thickening?" Natasha's voice wavered slightly. After their potion had brewed for the allotted sixty minutes and they had moved on to step two, a quick examination of the texture revealed it to be less mud like than the instructions noted.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. However, she was relieved when their Professor made rounds through the room and stopped to hover over the cauldron shortly afterwards.

"This looks good ladies," he examined their work. "Once you add in the rest of the ingredients it should start to thicken up in the next twenty four hours."

He was absolutely right. By the time they had arrived the next morning for their next class, Marlene was pleasantly surprised to discover that their potion was thick and opaque like it should be. Even Natasha seemed mildly astonished but her elation didn't last for long before she began barking orders and insults again.

"No it's supposed to be clockwise," she hissed as Marlene attempted to stir the concoction. "You're going to ruin it!"

"The instructions specifically say anti-clockwise," Marlene snapped back. She refused to allow Natasha to grab hold of the stick. "Read them again and you'll see."

Natasha begrudgingly flipped through her notes and scanned the board. Her lip pouted upright but she refused to acknowledge that Marlene had been right. Marlene only allowed herself moments of satisfaction before refocusing her attention on the thick mass in front of her.

"That's it," she said with elation. "Now all we have to do is split it into portions and add a strand of our hair –"

"We aren't actually going to use the potion?" Natasha seemed mortified. "There's no way I'm going to spend the rest of the day walking around as you."

"It doesn't last the whole day," Marlene said, annoyed. "You would have to continue drinking it for it to remain effective."

"She's right," Natasha's friend Teresa said from the table beside them. "The effects will only last between ten minutes and twelve hours depending on how well it's been brewed."

Once the rest of the class had finished brewing their potion Professor Slughorn combed through the room admiring and making comments about each potion. Nobody except for Snape, Lily and Remus's teams had seemed to get it quite exactly the way that Professor Slughorn had been hoping but he was nevertheless delighted of their success.