Chapter 2
Wohooo =) Chapter two is finished as well =)
As I'm only now posting this, it might not have been waiting for you, but it did take a little bit of time and me rewatching my housemates Harry Potter DVD's after work for almost an entire week, as my books and DVD's are in Germany... Yes... I know... that's a great place for them to wait and get all dusty... *pull out wand and mutter Accio Harry Potter books*..... hmmm.... not working... Maybe they are too far away... For your information, my wand is a Maple wood wand, with a phoenix feather core, 11" and Pliant flexibility.
What's your wand like?
Anyway, Harry is going to have his first potions class towards the end of the chapter and that's (in my version) his first actual meeting with Professor Snape.
Chapter 2
Harry probably should have paid attention to the prefects introduction of all the house rules, but Harry was too tired to concentrate on all the important things he was supposed to hear, while being too fascinated by the Slytherins common room, his new common room! They had walked down and further down towards the dungeons, the prefect had said the password, pureblood, and led them into a cave like, huge room.
First Harry noticed little rock nooks all around the walls, too high for students to reach on their own and hidden from sight. Next he noticed the windows. They were deep down in the castle, most likely below the ground!
Why were there windows?
When Harry looked closer, he noticed stuff floating in front of the window. The longer he looked, the more he noticed and the clearer it became, that the dark outside the windows was water, most likely the dark lake just outside the school. There were things and creatures swimming around, looking into the common room, waiving at the new students and swimming off again.
“Now, to finish off before you will head upstairs to your new bed room, it’s essential and mandatory that you are present for all meals,” a female prefect explained, “if you fail to respect any of those rules, points will be deducted and you will receive detention with Professor Snape! Now, for the girls, please follow me to your bedroom.”
“And the boys, please follow me to your bedroom,” the male prefect said and waived the boys to follow him, higher and higher they climbed again, walked past doors and more doors, some seemed locked and unused, others stood open with boys unpacking their suitcases, and some doors were just closed, voices behind them, chatting and laughing, catching up after the summer. On the sevenths floor they stopped, the door was opened and the boys walked in towards their beds. Their trunks stood at the foot of each bed. All Harry wanted was to fall into bed and sleep until morning, he had never eaten that as much as he had for dinner and was now exhausted.
“Are you sleeping already, Potter?” the boys chuckled as they all sat on their beds, sorting through the things they would need for the morning. “We were wondering if you listened to any of the rules! You were so busy looking around,” Draco chuckled and Harry grinned, “Not really, but I’m sure I’ll catch up quickly… I hope!” The boys broke out in laughter and Harry began changing into his pyjama, while Draco and the other boys changed with a simple swish of their wands.
“Oh, right,” Draco said as he hopped into his bed, “You grew up with muggles… Tell us! Are they as cruel as everyone says? I heard that if they find witches, or wizards, they will burn and stake them!”
Harry chuckled and shook his head, “They haven’t done that in ages, now they just pretend it was special effects for movies or something like that if they happen to see magic. And back in the days they tied people to a stake to burn them. They were afraid of magic as it was special and different and they still can’t explain it.” “Oh… that… doesn’t make it much better… but I guess I’m glad that they don’t burn us anymore,” Theodore Nott, a pale boy with brown hair murmured and shuddered at the thought of it. Suddenly Draco opened his eyes and stared at Harry and the others, “What ever happens, my father won’t hear a word of any of this or you’ll regret it!” Then he lifted his wand towards the lights and said, “Nox!” The lights went out and the boys were in darkness.
Harry grinned, climbed into the big and comfortable bed, pulling the blanket up to his chin and mumbled, “Not a word.” The others agreed quickly, but more worried than amused and Harry didn’t understand why. What was so bad about asking about being curious?
After a while Harry decided to ask, otherwise he’d be tossing and turning, wondering about that question instead of sleeping. “Malfoy,” he whispered and looked over at the pale, blonde boy, “Why is it so bad if your dad finds out that you’re asking me about… muggle stuff?” He still had to get used to the word the wizarding world used for non-magical-people.
He heard quiet snores and for a moment thought that Malfoy was already sleeping. Then he heard him shift in the dark. “Well, we are a pure blood family, for generations and my family… we believe that muggles are… not worth as much as us wizards. Muggles aren’t special at all; they don’t have any powers or anything!” Malfoy whispered, “If my father heard that I showed any sign of interest towards anything muggle, he’d be furious! It would be dishonourable for my family if anyone knew that I might not completely hate muggles…”
“Why do they hate muggles so much?” Harry asked and looked at Malfoy. “They are plain and boring and not worth a thing. They are the reason why we aren’t allowed to use magic outside of school, before we’re seventeen, before we have been stuck in school for so many years! When ever they find out about us something bad happens! Sometimes I wish there were only wizards and witches around, so that we could just walk around freely, we could be who we are… who we’re really meant to be, you know.”
For a while the two boys were quiet and Malfoy chuckled quietly, “You know, sometimes I think that it might have had it’s perks if the dark lord had succeeded and cleansed the world of muggles.” At that Harry cringed and Malfoy sighed, “I don’t think it’s right what he did though, he might have had a great vision, but the means he used to get there were absolutely horrifying.” Silence again.
“My father used to be a supporter, he used to believe it was the best for the wizarding world if muggles weren’t around anymore…” “Thanks, Malfoy,” he said and lay down again, “Good night.” “Night,” Malfoy mumbled and Harry heard the blanket rustle.
Sleep came quickly and Harry woke early the next morning, packing all of his school books, parchment, ink and quills into an old bag and went down into the Slytherin common room, as soon as he was dressed and ready to go. The other boys were still sleeping, so Harry took the time he had until breakfast to read into his school books and tried to understand what he was supposed to learn in class.
To Harry’s demise he realised quickly that he didn’t understand a word of what he read in those books and all too soon he heard the footsteps of his fellow Slytherins approach to go to the Great Hall for breakfast. With a sigh, and a rumble of his stomach, he packed his book back into his bag when he saw Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott.
“There you are,” Theodore Nott said and laughed, “We’ve been looking for you, Potter!” “I woke up early and thought I’d come down here to read for a bit,” Harry said and smiled at the boys. “Let’s go for breakfast?” Daphne, one of the first year girls, asked and stood there with the four other girls. “Sure,” Malfoy said and the ten of them walked out of the common room and up through the castle, towards the Great Hall.
Their first class would be Potions with their head of house, the first time Harry would actually meet his head of house. But first he got to enjoy a breakfast that seemed to never get empty and Harry ate about four plates of delicious breakfast. Eggs, rashers, bread, toast, fruit, juice and tea seemed to refill automatically until 9:30 sharp, as the older students explained.
“It’s time to get to class, Potter, come on, finish up already!” Nott chuckled and stood up, “Have you been fed at all by the muggles?” “Of course,” Harry said quickly, hoping they wouldn’t suspect the Dursleys of doing anything wrong. If they found out he told anyone about how they had treated him, they would probably be furious!
Soon Harry found himself walking back towards the dungeons and towards their Potions classroom. The boys and girls sat down at their desks and the door at the back of the room opened. Out came the strange Professor with the long black robe, looking as gloomy as he had the night before as well.
“There won’t be any foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don’t expect any of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making, however, for those select few… who possess the predisposition… I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses, I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death.” Snape said as he marched to the front of the class, as Harry took notes of his words.
“Then again,” he said and Harry felt the Professor glaring at him, “Maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention!” The girl next to Harry poked his shoulder, puling his attention from his notes and Harry looked at her, and then up towards his teacher again. Quickly he put down his quill and tried to look innocent, not that he had done anything, but the way Professor Snape looked at him made Harry feel like he had just set the house on fire. By accident.
“Mister Potter!” the Professor snared, “Our new celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” On the other side of the room, in the first row, Harry saw the arm of the girl with the wild brown hair shoot into the air, obviously knowing the answer, unlike Harry.
“You don’t know?” he asked, “Well, it seems like fame isn’t everything. Let’s try again. Where, Mister Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?” Again, the girl’s hand shot up straight away. Bezoar. That word sounded familiar, he had read about that in his book just before breakfast! “Is it in the stomach of a goat?” he asked carefully and for a second he thought he saw Snape smile, but then his glare returned, “Very good Mister Potter.”
“And what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?” he asked again and the Gryffindor girl seemed to stretch her hand almost to the ceiling this time. For a moment Harry looked a bit lost and noticed Malfoy, trying to say something without making a sound. It looked an awful lot like “same”. “Isn’t it the same?” Harry asked, more guessing, but Malfoy smiled and put his thumbs up underneath his table.
“Correct, Mister Potter,” the Professor said and send a glare towards Malfoy, “Ten points to Slytherin.” He looked around the classroom and at all the expectant faces. “Why aren't you all copying that down?”” he asked and straight away Harry saw everyone reach for their parchment and quills. Luckily Harry had most of it written down already. “As Mister Potter correctly assumed, monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Once widespread, this pant is now only found in wild places and is a very useful flower in potion-making due to its magical properties,” Snape explained further, “However, there are over 250 species of Aconitum, so while choosing your potions ingredients, you have to be careful which one you choose. Aconite is one of the most common types. Although Aconitum is used in making medication for pain reliever, diuretic, heart sedative and to induce sweating, it is still highly toxic.”
After a short moment of silence, to give the students a chance to write down what they had just heard, Snape continued, “A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. Most poisons, but not every poison! It is also used as an ingredient in many antidote potions. And for your information, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful that it is know as the Draught of Living Death.” The rest of the class was less eventful, as Snape explained different ingredients and techniques to process them for the potion. However, there were different techniques for most potions, so it would be important to read the instructions carefully. It reminded Harry a lot of cooking which he did have some experience in and was looking forward to actually trying it out, hoping it was similar enough for him to succeed in this class! He was all too aware, that he was absolutely unaware to most things magical and that it would take quite some time to catch up to all of the knowledge most wizard children had picked up as they grew up. Harry wouldn’t loose faith and do his best. Even though Snape had called on him in his first lesson, he felt more at home and more welcome in Slytherin and Hogwarts, than he ever had with the Dursleys!