Talon Black and the Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter 5 First Lesson

Talon dug into the scrambled eggs and bacon that she had piled onto her plate. Ignoring the looks she was being given, most girls don't eat as ravenously as she did, Talon looked over her schedule. Everything was fairly normal for seventh year except for the extra potions classes she had with the first years. Maybe this'll be good for me in the long run. I've always been exceptionally gifted at potions so naturally anything I can learn from the infamous Potions Master would be more than worth my while. If he's willing to teach me, that is.

Gathering her things Talon got up from the table and slowly made her way to the dreary dungeons. She wasn't in a hurry, breakfast wasn't over for another 30minutes and she could use this time to sketch out her latest dream.

Talon didn't meet anyone on her way to the potions room and she was glad of it. One less meaningless conversation she would have to have. She very cautiously opened the door to Snape's classroom and peered inside. He wasn't inside. Talon walked in, still observing her surroundings. Just because I can't see him doesn't mean he's not in here and I'll simply die if he catches me off guard again.

Satisfied that he was indeed not in his classroom, Talon sat down in her customary spot in the front of the room closest to his desk. She pulled out a piece of charcoal and her worn leather sketchbook, she had had for as long as she could remember, and flipped to a new page. It was bewitched to never run out of pages but not look any bigger than your average composition book. Talon guessed it was some sort of modified Undetectable Extension Charm.

She let the remnants of her latest dream wash over her mind and she began to draw. Hard, dark lines creeped out of her stub of charcoal as her hand scratched over the rough paper. When the image on the paper was clearer than what was left inside her head she stopped and looked at her work.

A large bird of prey, possibly a falcon, was perched on the rim of a black bubbling cauldron. She couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it. It looked like a cover of a Muggle horror novel. But her dream was anything but absurd. It was one of a few reoccurring dreams that she had but each time different aspects became a little less muddled and the dream as a whole started to make more sense.

In the dream, she was always in the same run down graveyard with the same crumbling headstones and the same dilapidated shed in the background. In between the shed and the beginning of the graves is a huge, black, cauldron, big enough to fit a grown man inside. Sitting on the rim of the bubbling cauldron is a larger than normal falcon. Or is it a raven? The bird is colored like a raven but large like a falcon. That's as much of the dream she can ever remember. Sometimes she feels like there was more but she's never remembered anything past the cauldron.

Shaking her head to try and rid herself of the dream further, Talon leaned back in her chair and bumped into something. She jumped up from her chair and whirled around, her hands out protectively in front of her, palms facing outwards.

It was Snape. He quirked a thick eyebrow. "What? Are you planning on electrocuting me again?"

Talon lowered her hands down by her side and softly said, "Professor I'm sorry. You startled me, again."

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down into Talon's sapphire blue eyes.

"I demand an explanation for what transpired in the Great Hall this morning."

Talon's big eyes shifted around nervously and she noticed a few eager first years had begun to trickle into the classroom. "Sir I don't think now would be the best time to discuss it.. It's a bit of a long story."

Snape glowered at Talon's small form. "Very well," he quipped. "but you will tell me at a later time."

Talon bobbed her head in acknowledgement and Snape turned to leave. He seemed to have remembered something because he abruptly turned back around.