SALEM ᵈ ᵐᵃˡᶠᵒʸ

vi. Accidents Happen

THE first thing I did when I arrived at the lonely Potions classroom was plop down into an empty seat and slouched in exhaustion. I thought that my first day back would be kind to me but turns out, I was so wrong.

When I received my schedule that morning, I could have sworn my heart shattered when I saw that I had majority of my core classes the first day of the week, meaning that I was bound to collapse at the end of the day.

Adding to the fact that every teacher kept reminding us about our upcoming OWL's, I was about ready to hibernate.

My first lesson was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, which started out alright. I busied myself by writing down notes and important facts from the textbook that could hopefully be useful once June arrives.

My next class was Herbology — my weakest subject (yes, there are Hufflepuffs who are rubbish at this subject) — with Professor Sprout, then Charms, and finally Potions.

I sighed inwardly upon realizing that I still had Defense Against the Dark Arts left. I was sure looking forward to that one.

After every lesson, my head started to hurt from mentally listing every homework we received whilst trying to remember them. I had already started my Transfiguration essay on Vanishing Spells with Hermione in the library before ultimately giving up to join my friends for lunch.

I knew that once I come back from my winter holidays, I would lose my flow of studying soon enough.

Ha, funny me, thinking about the holidays when school just started.

More people started pouring in the classroom, all of them wearing glum expressions as they took their seats. It was as if the depressing setting of the dungeons and the ever-so-sour Professor Snape was sucking the energy out of us.

I visibly perked up when I spotted my two friends taking their seats on either side of me.

"Where were you two?" I whispered at them.

"Sorry," Ernie let out a sheepish smile, "I had to get my Potions textbook from the common room and I dragged Ruby with me."

"I still can't believe you made me run," she whispered harshly at him.

"Settle down," Snape drawled, his eyes settling on us with a warning look before waiting for the class to get seated.

Even his voice was enough to put me to sleep. I tried my hardest to stay awake, occasionally pinching myself and blinking rapidly trying my hardest to listen to him drone on about OWL's.

Luckily for me, I excelled at Potions, thanks to my dad. Ever since I took a nasty fall after practicing Quidditch, I figured that the sport wasn't for me. Unlike my mum, who was the best Chaser Hufflepuff has seen during her Hogwarts years.

Instead, I spent the free time I had at home watching my dad brew potions of for fun and listened to him explain it step-by-step.

I didn't know why he chose to become an Auror instead of a Potioneer. He should've just taken Snape's job and be done with it.

And because of what I learnt from dad, when the time came for me to brew a Forgetfulness Potion in my first-year, I did it better than most and earned a rather begrudging praise from Professor Snape.

As much as my friends said that I was probably one of Snape's favorite students, I still didn't want to believe it, knowing that he was particularly choosy with students unless they were Slytherins like him too. 

"Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation," Snape explained, a look of almost pure boredom on his face.