"Potions class." I whispered softly, looking at my timetable.
Why hasn't Professor Figg written back to me yet?
I wondered, stuffing my timetable back into my sling bag.
Is he okay? He said he'll write back as soon as he reached and he should've reached a long time ago.
I was so worried in thought that I literally jumped when someone shouted my name.
"Y/N!" Poppy called as she rushed up to me.
"Hey Poppy. Where were you all this time?" I asked her, as we proceeded to the dungeons.
"Oh! I had promised to help Professor Jaggs with the nifflers you see after class!" She said cheerfully.
"I was wondering where you'd gone. Anyway its so nice to see you helping magical creatures Poppy." I smiled.
"You're one of the few who actually care and aren't afraid."
"Who is afraid of Nifflers Y/N?" Poppy asked rather surprised.
"Sebastian." I blurted out of nowhere.
Poppy looked at me unbelievingly.
"But wait...that doesn't make sense. He's always making trouble, breaking rules and in detention. He can't be afraid of something as harmless as Nifflers." She said disbelievingly.
"You're right! Sorry- that came out wrong. He isn't afraid. He just doesn't like them." I said remembering his exact words-
I don't lose 'myself' in the euphoria of their so called "cuteness".
"But that's even more impossible!" Poppy said laughing. "You cant 'not like' Nifflers. They're so adorable!"
"I told him the same thing. He said it's because he had some shiny toy when he was a little kid. A Niffler stole it and he never found a new one again... so that's why he has a thing against Nifflers." I said grinning.
"Hmm... that's understandable. Sebastian always has mysterious reasons." Poppy said softly.
"He's a Slytherin for a reason. But he's alright. Mischievous but respectful. Honestly some of his other housemates can be a headache sometimes."
"Yeah I like that about him too." I said.
"Anyway what's up Y/N?" Poppy asked looking me straight in the eyes.
"How do you mean?" I asked quickly, looking away from her.
Poppy simply smiled as she said gently,
"Something is troubling you. Even though its just been a few weeks that you've been here, I feel like I've known you forever. You're my best friend."
All I could do was smile back, as I stared at a crack on the stair we were approaching.
"He should've written back by now." I said out loud without any context.
"Professor Figg?" Poppy supplied gently.
I nodded taking a heavy breath as we entered the potions classroom.
"I'm sure he's fine Y/N." Poppy said gently touching my elbow. "He's one of the best we have and know at the job."
I took in another heavy breath and nodded giving her a smile.
"Y/N!" Natsai called from her potion station and approached us.
"Hey Natsai." Poppy and I chorused.
"How're you feeling now?" Natsai asked, patting my back.
"Better." I smiled.
"That was one hell of a duel you had with Rookwood yesterday. You're a great dueller. Hard to believe you're starting as a fifth year." Natsai patted my back, as I remembered my close encounter with Rookwood last afternoon in Hogsmeade where Natsai had accompanied me.
Someone nugged me on the shoulder as they walked past me while Poppy and Natsai suddenly became rapidly involved in figuring out whether it was Puffskien or cat hair on Natsai's robes.
I turned to see and found that the person who bumped into me was Sebastian.
He didn't look back but my eyes followed him to his place at the end of the classroom, his robes bilobing as he sped across.
He reached, turned and then looked at me- his brown eyes sparkling in the faint light.
He kept his bag on the seat beside him and then with both his chin and eyes, he gestured to the empty seat beside him.
I nodded.
"Lets take our seats before Professor Sharp comes and bombards us with more sarcasm than usual." Poppy said turning to me.
"Whose hair were they?" I asked as I read the instructions on the blackboard.
"We agreed they were Puffskien hair. Poppy is more knowledgeable about creatures." Natsai said, pulling her text out and Poppy left to bring a cauldron to her desk.
"Are you sure you're okay after last evening? Because something is bothering you." Natsai whispered.
"I am, Natty." I sighed smiling.
"Lets meet after school. Courtyard- 6pm okay?" Natsai said quietly as our classmates approached.
"Yes. See you!" I said, walking upto Sebastian, who watched me approach as he removed his bag from the seat.
"Hey." I said swinging my bag off my shoulder as I adjusted my robes and rolled up my sleeves.
"Some conversation with Sweet Sweeting on the way here huh?" He said snarkily.
"You saw us?" I asked surprised.
"I was right behind you." He said winking.
I looked at him disbelievingly.
"And for starters L/N." He said giving me a smug look. "I don't - 'don't like' Nifflers. I envy them." He smirked, locking eyes with me.
"So you sneak up on me too now?" I asked. "I understand my life cab be very interesting but please let me be." I say smugly.
"I'm not the King of Sneaking around for nothing." He grinned.
"Anyway." He suddenly turned serious.
"Where were you last evening?" He asked, cleaning his station as mostly everyone settled in.
"I had work to do." I said, sitting down on the stool, a little tired.
Work was our code word. That's how we both communicated when our work wasn't exactly legal or authorized or both.
Sebastian stopped working for a second as he glanced at me sitting on the stool.
"Did you not sleep? You looked awfully tired at dinner last night." He asked, as he cleaned his cauldron with a cloth.
"Isnt any topic regarding sleep a bit too rich coming from you?" I smirked tiredly.
"It takes a certain charisma to be working all day and night long and still look absolutely dashing." He grinned.
"Anyway I've never been one for sleep cycles. It's a very common Slytherin trait." He winked.
My head slightly ached now. I massaged it.
"Were you traveling far from Hogwarts?" He asked looking at me, as he began cleaning another cauldron for some reason.
I nodded, took a look around to make sure no one was around as I took a deep breath and said softly,
"Professor Figg has left me an assignment to investigate while he's away on other investigations. He said Ranrok's allies were spotted there and he wanted me to go and look for clues." I said looking into my bag for my potions text.
"What place was this?" He asked attentively.
"Some castle ruins. East of Hogwarts. I flew on Highwing and it took about an hour to reach." I replied.
"You went alone?" Sebastian asked rather pointedly.
I nodded standing up to drink my refreshment potion.
"Why?" He asked with his mouth slightly open as he stopped cleaning the cauldron.
"You could've written to me-"
"You had detention Seb." I sighed, still looking for my potions text.
"And I could've skipped it." Sebastian said simply.
"Then you would have got MORE detention." I said now hunting vigorously for my textbook.
"Which I am used to!" Sebastian said hotly.
But I couldn't reply this time. I had opened up my bag and my hands found the picture of Professor Figg and me when we had gone to the Ollivanders in Hogsmeade to purchase my first ever wand just months ago. He had suggested we took a picture so that I always remember the day I was reborn a witch.
I stared at it, as my chest became heavy with worry as my breath rate became rapid.
Sebastian gently tickled my chin with his quill as I squealed.
"Whats that?" He asked coming beside me.
"Nothing!" I said hastily, shoving the picture back in as I pulled out my Potions textbook.
"L/N are you okay?" He asked me.
"Yeah I am!" I say softly.
"I doubt." He sniggered.
"Why?" I asked dubiously, hoping he couldn't see my worried face. But I think he could thats why he thought I wasn't okay.
"Because you've got out your Charms textbook." He smirked, pointing at my book.
"OH Merlin!" I grumbled, finally pulling out my Potions text book and putting the Charms one back in as our Potions Professor came in followed by Sebastian's best friend Andreas who came up infront of him on our station.
"Now that you've cleaned up your cauldrons- (Oh no I forgot!- I thought) Today we will be brewing The Draught of Peace- a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: If you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing." He said leaning against his desk.
Sebastian gently pushed one of his cleaned cauldrons towards me.
That's why he cleaned two!
I thankfully beamed at him as he gave me his- 'What would you do without me' look.
"You may partner up or brew alone. This class is of for 2 hours and a draught of peace takes 90 minutes to brew. You have good lot of time. Everyone in this room will leave after preparing the potion. If you don't..."
He paused, taking a good look at the class.
"You know what I'll do."
"What will he do?" I whispered to Sebastian.
Sebastian simply winked shaking his head.
"BEGIN NOW!" He said loudly clapping his hands, ushering everyone at their tables, and sounds of turning pages ran rampant all over the room.
I leaned over and placed my cauldron on the burner.
"Hey Sebastian, partner up with me?" Andreas asked.
"Umm no. You need to brew alone for once." Sebastian said airily.
I opened up my book to the index, to check the page number for the recipe of the Draught of Peace.
My head hurt to read. But I didn't stop. I couldn't. This was the last class of the day.
"Page 34." Sebastian whispered, turning on the burner under his cauldron, as he glanced at me.
I nodded with a smile turning to the recipe.
The Draught of Peace is a potion which relieves anxiety and agitation. Its ingredients are-
1) Powdered moonstone
2) Syrup of hellebore
3) Powdered porcupine quills
4) Powdered unicorn horn.
5) Valerian Root
EFFECT- Relieves anxiety.
SIDE-EFFECTS-
Overdoing the ingredients may result in a long or irreversible sleep.
CHARACTERISTICS-
Emits light silver vapour
BREWING TIME- 90 minutes
DIFFICULTY LEVEL- Advanced.
----
"Its an advanced potion." I said out loud.
"Hmm?" Sebastian asked, pulling out what looked like Moonstone from his supplies.
"It is indeed." Professor Sharp came up. "It is an ironically difficult potion to make, requiring that the brewer follows the directions carefully, because making a mistake could have drastic consequences. Adding too much of the ingredients, for instance, would put the drinker of the potion into a deep - and possibly irreversible - sleep."
"Right sir." I managed to say, kind of tensed.
"I've seen you in class Miss L/N. You're a talented potion maker. I feel you are tough enough to take on this potion. If you need any help, feel free to ask me."
"Thank you sir." I smile as he walked off.
"I can't believe there was no sarcasm in there." Andreas said.
I grinned as I read the recipe-
Add powdered moonstone until the potion turns green.
I take my moonstone and started crushing it.
"Can you crush my moonstone?" Andreas asked Sebastian.
"Seriously?" Sebastian asked dubiously. "Andreas the potion's just begun mate." Sebastian sighed, walking to his station.
I smiled again. Sebastian may be sarcastic, but he was helpful.
I finished powdering my moonstone and added it into the cauldron and waited for the potion to turn green.
Sebastian was still busy silently powdering Andre's moonstone without being caught by Professor Sharp.
I saw his potion had started to boil with green bubbles.
"Sebastian your potion!" I said quietly.
"OH Merlin right! Here- Andreas!" Sebastian cried softly getting back to his potion.
I read the next step waiting for my potion to turn green.
2) Stir until the potion turns blue.
So I had to wait till it turned green and then stir.
I read the next step.
3) Add powdered moonstone until the potion turns purple.
I decided to powder more moonstone meanwhile.
I powdered some with the mortar and pestle and I watched Sebastian stirring and his potion turned into a magnificent blue.
"Heyy that's a nice blue!" I say happily, getting on my toes to get a better look at his concoction.
"Thanks. It's as amazing as it's brewer." He grinned looking into his cauldron.
He read the next step and his face lost the glee.
"No! I haven't powdered more moonstone! The potion will be spoilt if I start now!"
"Put out the burner and turn it on when you're done adding!" Greg suggested.
"But that'll kill the potion." I blurted.
"Yeah!" Sebastian groaned, watching his blue concoction.
"Here use mine." I handed him my powdered moonstone.
Sebastian raised his eyes doubtfully.
"Mine hasn't turned blue yet." I said peeping into my cauldron.
"I can powder some more." I say sliding my plate of powdered moonstone to him and I dug into my supplies for more.
"Thanks." Sebastian smiled genuinely as he poured the moonstone in.
I nod, powdering more moonstone as my potion subtly hinted a change in colour.
I waited for it to turn proper green while Sebastian was still waiting for his potion waiting to turn purple.
"Yes!" I let out a sigh of relief as it turned green.
"Wow thats literally the Slytherin Green!" Sebastian grinned coming up by my side as he looked into my cauldron.
"You should've been a Slytherin." Sebastian murmured so softly that only I could hear as he stared into my cauldron.
"Just because my potion turned green?" I asked skeptically, pulling my book.
"Mine isn't the Slytherin Green. But I am a Slytherin.... somehow." Sebastian laughed, looking at me.
"Sebastian can you help me here?" Andreas asked, not looking up.
"Right. Keep going L/N." Sebastian sighed walking off to Greg.
I added in my moonstone.
Now I had to wait for it to turn blue.
Blue was Professor Fig's favorite colour..
The same sick feeling took hold of my stomach again.
A scene from last night's duel flashed before my eyes... That was a lot of Stunning charms I'd used yesterday.
"Y/N stir!" Sebastian whisper yelled, with one eye on me as helped Andreas.
"OH right thanks!" I say softly, coming back to the potion I was brewing.
I stirred clockwise till I got a navy blue like the Ravenclaws.
"Should I've been a Ravenclaw?" I smirked as Sebastian approached to peep into my cauldron.
Sebastian grinned, "Perhaps you shouldn't have been sorted at all."
"That would be.... well nevermind." I say, unable to look for the right words.
"Hah! Have I stumped the gifted one?" Sebastian said adding something to his cauldron that he shouldn't have.
"Seb what are you adding?" I asked instantly frowning.
Sebastian turned to his hand and watched in horror.
"Andreas!" He glared at Andreas.
"What?" Andreas asked innocently.
"Whats your pearl dust doing in my hand?"
"Well I was showing you the pearl dust, and then you forgot to give it back to me as you checked L/N's cauldron and then just absent mindedly added it in." Andreas said rather spitefully.
Sebastian was about to reply when Professor Sharp came to our opposite table.
"You're done for Sebastian." I blurted, staring at a black mass somehow looking like a huge alive bug crawling out of Sebastian's cauldron.
"I honestly don't know exactly how many Detentions I am supposed to report for tonight." He said rather confused.
"Where exactly did you leave your brain today?" I asked.
"I didn't leave it anywhere. It sort of just left."
"Could you please elaborate?"
"Dont worry it's very common." He said with a wink.
"What're you going to do now?" I asked peeping into my own potion.
"Add more detention into my bucket." He said tiredly looking at Professor Sharp with his back so close to our table.
"Scourgify!" I suddenly cried pointing my wand at Sebastian's cauldron and the mess cleaned itself up.
"What're you doing?!" Andreas cried.
I didn't say anything, quickly piled up his stuff neatly at his table as he watched still with his mouth slightly open.
I pulled him over to my station gently just when Professor Sharp approached us.
"Any help needed Miss L/N?" Professor Sharp asked.
"No sir thank you. Sebastian is being very helpful. We're brewing together you see." I said innocently with a smile.
"Ahh so you two have partnered up then?" Professor Sharp said peeping into the cauldron.
"It looks good. Keep proceeding. For the first time Sallow hasn't blown up the whole classroom. He's been better behaved since this year. Finally he's caught on to his age." Professor Sharp said sarcastically as he walked away to the table beside ours.
There's the sarcasm. I thought as I turned back to our potion.
"You owe me." I say with a smile without looking at Sebastian, peeping into my cauldron.
"Big time." I heard the smile in his voice.
"Say what, I've been thinking. Anyway we always brew mischief together... how about we also always brew potions together?" He asked sheepishly.
"Always?" I asked smirking.
"Always." He said with a certainty in his tone I'd never heard or felt before.
"You could do the brewing and I could provide my charm and emotional support." He grinned leaning against the table, looking for my eyes which were set on the potion.
"I'd be perfectly content to have you around doing nothing. But I know you won't leave me alone with all the work." I say looking up deep into his eyes.
His head tilted slightly as his smile widened. His eyes again showcased his inner childish innocence.
"There's the silver lining." I grinned, gently pressing his nose, finally making him laugh.
