Potions
The first lesson of the day saw the Gryffindors and the Slytherins attending potions with Professor Slughorn.
"Morning Students, get your cauldrons set up!" Professor Slughorn groaned, as sluggishly as his name suggests. He was less jovial than he was when Catrina last saw him.
It must be the aftermath of the teachers feast. Slughorn did keep refilling his chalice...
"Safety in the labs, hair tied back Miss MacDonald, blah blah blah... partner up, you know the drill. Oh- that reminds me! Can two of you do the honours and partner up with our new students, take them on, show them the ropes?"
Lily Evans nobly stepped up to be Eliana's potions partner. "Come with me Elle. I can show you all you need to know." She smiled an assuring smile. Catrina was almost jealous she couldn't be with Lily as well.
"Thankyou Miss Evans. Ah Catrina, you should go with Mr Snape, you're already acquainted and he'll be a highly competent Sensei, hahah!" Slughorn winked obliviously as if he was doing Snape a favour. "Instructions for Veisalgia draught on page 238 of your textbooks, I could really do with some and my stocks have been exhausted." Slughorn collapsed in a hungover state onto his desk, she wasn't sure if he was asleep or just tired.
Snape balled his fists and groaned like a toddler.
"I can already tell you're going to be useless, so just stand out of my way and follow my orders!" Snape snarled, he looked dark and creepy but he wasn't very physically threatening, despite towering over her.
"Whatever, don't get too cocky, this looks easy." She shrugged.
"Just start the fire while I gather the ingredients! I'd be surprised if you can even manage that." Snape shoved past her.
Catrina hoped starting the fire would just be like putting on a Bunsen burner. She looked over to the Gryffindors. The boys and girls were mixed.
Eliana got cheery, bright-eyed potions princess, and she had to be with greasy over here. She should've just let Elle have the wand... this was her karma. She would’ve gone with Alecto but she was already partnered up with Greengrass. She thought they were hitting it off too!
Eliana had already set up her station with ginger, who shared a bench with two entirely handsome dark haired Gryffindors, what a sight, she fawned. Elles hit the jackpot twice now!
Whatever Catrina had been praying, was shortly answered. Opposite her and greasy's workspace, were also two dark haired handsome boys, setting up their cauldron. Not as boyishly charming as the Gryffindors but tall and broody nonetheless. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
"Hi there, is he always that annoying?" She motioned to Snape, fussing over ingredients at the back of the classroom.
"Yeah, he's a bit of a git. He's probably intimidated cos you're a dame. I'm Mulciber by the way, and this is Avery."
She felt incredibly flustered. They must be the tallest boys in the class. Along with that brown haired Gryffindor boy who had a big bloody red scar on his face. Must be some cat.
"I saw you at the feast. Catrina, isn't it?Were they giving you a hard time, Malfoy and Lestrange?" The light from the open flame lit up his handsome features. "Don't worry about them, they're like that with any girl. Not that you are like just any girl." He smirked, looking pleased with himself.
"Shut up you bloody flirt." Avery elbowed Mulciber.
"Don't be queer." He elbowed him back. "Here, let me help you with that, Incendio." Mulciber came over and lit her fire.
She was rather embarrassed, should she have known how to do that? Alecto had done the same right in front of her and she couldn’t even bother to remember what it was, some witch she’d make. Mulciber didn't seem to care, the other boy however, Avery, who too was handsome but more quiet, seemed rather sceptical.
"Don't think some of the foreign schools allow fire based magic... dangerous and that..." Mulciber whispered to his partner.
Snape was already back, clutching various herbs, vials, and other items she could not identify.
"Well, I assume you can read, though still, a strong feat for you. Start slicing the shrivelfig." He handed her a knife and she got the sudden urge to use it on him.
She got to chopping, occasionally getting distracted by the Gryffindors, who seemed to be having fun. It appeared the boys had been separated for a reason, as they were now
"You need to be slicing it thinly to preserve the juices!" He spat. "And hurry up, I'm already on step 4."
She simply ignored him and continued chopping. Her eyes darted to the Gryffindors again, Elle was doing good, Lily was guiding her.
"Focus, stop being so incompetent!" Snape scowled, much to the amusement of his friends.
"Chill Snapey, she's just a bird." Mulciber grinned.
Snape merely rolled his eyes, he grabbed the knife from her hand, accidentally brushing his against hers, and quickly finished of the shrivelfigs. "See how long that took me, that's how fast you need to go. Don't hold me back anymore or you won't be doing anything!" He narrowed his eyes. Nerd.
Catrina began on the next step, Snape was getting even more frustrated, he had to show her exactly how to do it this time, as it wasn't to his standards.
"There. Just do exactly what I did, a toddler couldn't mess it up. Though perhaps they are more mature than you." He snarled.
"Yes sir." She scoffed.
She was able to work faster once she got the hang of it, however tempting it was to work even slower, just to spite Snape.
"So, where do you come from new girl?" Avery spoke.
"I didn't come from another school, if that's what you were thinking." She shrugged, trying to play it school, surely some wizards were homeschooled.
"Ah, a rural chick. That's cool." Mulciber nodded.
"Stop distracting her." Snape said, not looking up from his cauldron.
"Getting possessive Snapey? I think he's got a crush on you new girl." Avery snickered.
Her cheeks flushed, which was incredibly embarrassing because now they would think she reciprocated the feeling. Which wasn't true, it just made her flustered, hearing those words coming from a handsome guy.
"Hah, don't kid yourself Ave. The day Sev's into a cute pure blood chick is the day Dumbledore will bloody retire. He's only into ethnic chicks, like ginger over there..." the boys chortled as they looked across the room at Lily.
They thought she was cute? The thought made her cheeks sting red. They also thought she was a pure-blood, she felt guilty misleading them but what was she supposed to say? And Snape? He had a thing for Lily Evans? She supposed it was just another boy joke.
"Is that your sister with ginger?" Avery peered over. "You look identical."
This annoyed her, everybody thought they were so similar 'wow you're the spitting image', or calling her by the wrong name, she knew they were different, beyond their personalities. She was a quarter of an inch taller, Elle had a mole on the side of her cheek, there was plenty about them that was different! Though sometimes that stung more, if people could tell they were different could they also think that Eliana was prettier than her, that she was more feminine, or had nicer boobs, could they tell that Elle had a softer voice, or that her teeth were straighter? Did people also have a favourite twin? She wasn't sure, Elle was quite outgoing, but then again she could be too when she wanted to. Elle did enjoy sports more and had friends on the hockey team, but she had friends on the book club. Was Eliana more popular than her? Elle seemed to have tons of friends already...
"Catrina's better though." Mulciber smirked. Her pride was restored.
"Are you going to get on with the bloody recipe or am I going to have to do everything for you like a helpless child!" Snape gripped her left wrist, forcibly grabbing the knife. "Ugh, useless..." he continued muttering to himself under his breath as he finished chopping her share.
"Psst, Catie, I'm bored, why don't we have some fun?" Mulciber grinned, he was eyeing the Gryffindors.
The prospect excited her wholly, and he wanted to share this moment with her.."Why don't we put something in one of their cauldrons? Like something stinky...maybe Sluggy will actually drink it." She giggled but quickly silenced herself, ashamed of her girly excitement.
"Perfect, let's do gingers cauldron, he'll never suspect it from her. We can sneak in some Bubotuber pus." Mulciber cackled under his breath. Maybe Snape didn't actually have a crush on Lily, if he did he would've got all protective. Then again maybe not, he was pretty shy and weird.
"Hahah. reminds me of when we spiked those third year girls goblets with sleeping draught and we-" Avery snickered causing Mulciber to kick his shins. She'll pretend she never heard that...
"You should drop it in Catie, they'll get all creeped out and whiny if I go up behind them, plus Potter and Black would see me coming." Mulciber handed her the vial of pungent gooey pus.
"You're right, they won't suspect me."
"Giving up on your first potion already new girl? I knew it was too difficult for your undeveloped brain." Snape tutted. She pinched his arm aggressively and skipped causally to the group of reds.
"Hi Elle, how are you getting on?" She asked innocently. She did feel guilty sabotaging her potion. But Elle would understand if she knew a handsome guy was on the line.
"I'm doing great, thanks to Lils that is!" She punched Lily Evans gently on her arm.
"Nice, just thought I'd come over, it's not much fun with greasy..."
"Sluggy's a menace for putting you with Snivellus! That's a bloody violation!" The Gryffindor boy with long dark hair and pale skin laughed. She suddenly wished she was in Gryffindor...
"Sirius Black! Don't be so rude! You're lucky to be with Sev, Elles twin, he's the best at potions!" Evans beamed.
Great, so now she was 'Elles twin'? She would hardly say lucky, 'Sev' had insulted her intelligence on about five occasions already. And the handsome Gryffindor was a Black, like Narcissa?
"He's only the best to compensate for how annoying and greasy he is. Do you have a crush on him or something?" She scoffed, feeling very proud of herself as Sirius and his friend burst into laughter.
"Hahah! We found a cool Slytherin, James! What's your name Elles twin?" Sirius asked, his grey eyes looking right into hers, it almost made her forget why she was here!
"Catrina, just call me Catie though."
She needed an opening, distraction so she could slip the pus into the caldron. She didn't feel bad anymore. Not after Evans has defended Snivellus! She liked that nickname.
"Uh Lily, Snivelly wanted to talk to you, something about uh... flowers?" She thought that sounded romantic enough. Hopefully it would embarrass Snape in front of his mates as well.
"Uhm... alright then, Elle do you mind just finishing step 8? Thanks." She had done it, Lily was gone now all she needed was a moment where Elle was distracted.
"Hm, I need some Ashberry... uhhh" Elle looked as clueless as she did when reading the bloody text book.
"Here, take this, it's nice and ripe." James handed the berry to Elle, she couldn't help notice how their hands met when the fruit was being passed.
Elles cheeks were painted a pale pink. Hm, boys.
It seemed Sirius Black too noticed this little interaction as he conveyed a look to Catrina. A 'Did you just see that?' kind of look.
She was able to quickly sneak in the pus into the caldron while their eyes where still locked. Elle didn't notice, neither did James, and Lily was still with Snape. Sirius saw the whole thing but would he really say anything. He had this mischievous grin on his face, like he was pleased to be in on it.
Perfect.
She turned around again to see how Lily was doing with Snape, Mulciber was staring back at her. Perhaps he saw her laughing with Sirius. Perhaps she liked the idea that may have made him jealous.
"See you round, Black." She smiled.
"See you Catie."
She made her way back over to her station, awkwardly manoeuvring around Evans in the process. Hopefully she doesn't notice, hopefully she will just think it's Sirius and James.
"Done. It should work."
"Good girl, you've impressed me." Mulciber grinned, to which Snape and Avery cringed.
She blushed hard at this as well, her cheeks would probably be stained pink for the rest
of the day.
"Ew. Stop flirting." Snape gagged, he had finished brewing the potion, but did not look up from his caldron.
"Strong words from you, practically drooling over ginger before." Mulciber scoffed. "Such poor taste Snapey, I'll never understand you!"
"I was not!" Snape scowled.
It was clear, he did have a thing for Evans. She couldn't explain why but after this lesson she started to dislike the ginger girl.
~
While Lily had gone off to Snivvy, Eliana finished off her and Lily's potion, with help from James Potter.
It was kind of them both to help her so much, they must have felt the same way their first time in this class too.
She enjoyed sharing a bench with Black and Potter. She wouldn't mind it if she could share with Mary and Marlene next time, or Remus and Peter, who were all on a station together.
She was intrigued by Remus, who was tall and thin, but not lanky, he was proportionately broad around the shoulders. And he was covered in scars. There could only be two reasons, he got into a lot of fights, or, he kept animals. Both options were perfectly attractive. God, she sounded like her sister.
She noticed the scars on his cheeks, there was one going right across his eyebrow. She noticed them on his neck going beneath his shirt. The September heat turned the potions lab into an oven. Remus has removed his jumper and rolled up his sleeve, his arms too were faced in scars. Perhaps he was self conscious about them, as when she looked at him again his sleeves were down and he had put a jumper on.
James was helping her out, showing her easier ways to do things, shortcuts and tips. Lily must've told the group she was muggle born. He was teaching her spells she might find useful and better wand technique as well.
Sirius, who was James potions partner, seemed to be occupied on something else. Her sister was stood at their station too, obviously bored of working with the oily haired loser.
"Me and James once watched a porno with twins in it once, on this muggle technology called VHS. Have you got one of them back at home?" Sirius asked her, earning a shove from James.
"Shut up Sirius! I didn't want to see that for your information!" James had gone quite pink.
"No we don't have one, they're quite expensive." Eliana said, dismissing the uncomfortable statement, because it was weird and to save James from further embarrassment.
"Do you have a thing for twins, Black?" Her sister giggled. Why did Cat have to push it?
Of all people, now Sirius had turned red. He didn't even reply.
~
Lily returned to the their station, looking more annoyed than when she had left. Eliana couldn't understand why she would ever want to talk to Snape. She was a great partner but if she liked Snape so much and Cat didn't get on with him, they could just swap. She could be with her sister.
"All done? Let's call Professor Slughorn." Lily smiled falsely.
"What's the matter Evans? Did Snivelly smell that bad again?" James and Sirius chortled.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Lily said calmly. "Professor, we're finished!"
"Ah excellent, you two. Let me just- ah... looks a tad off colour don't you think girls? That's quite alright, I'm sure miss Mikovsky is just treading the waters!"
"I can follow a recipe-" Did they really think her so incompetent?
"Don't worry Elle, you won't get it first try." Lily whispered and gave her a gentle nudge.
Slughorn extracted the concoction into a ladle, taking a liberal sip.
The look on his face was not a pleasant one. She can't have messed up that bad, hopefully Lily wouldn't be annoyed.
Slughorn spat out the unsavoury draught, unfortunately landing directly on James and Sirius.
"Sorry boys! Well that seemed to do the trick nonetheless. Don't worry yourself girl, that's quite an advanced recipe, I didn't expect you to get it perfect." Slughorn patted her on the back.
Lily was attempting, albeit poorly, to conceal her annoyance. First day with her new partner and the potion just happened to go wrong.
"I followed the recipe to a T. I'm not a fool." She muttered under her breath.
Something in Eliana's mind just knew. Knew this had to be the bidding of someone else.
She looked over to her twin, who was ignoring her gaze. Hm.
~
Lunchtime at Hogwarts was no more fantastic than breakfast or dinner.
Eliana had distanced herself from Lily at the table, feeling awkward after 'messing up' their potion.
"Don't suppose you've ever played Quidditch before Elle?" James Potter smiled, his teeth pearly white. He had a perfect Hollywood smile, whereas her own teeth were stained yellow from coffee and fags.
"Nah. Sounds posh though." Elle smiled back, taking note to conceal a teethy grin.
"Bet you'd make a good beater Elle, got the build for it." Sirius joined the table.
"Ignore him." James whacked Sirius across the back. "He gets all pissy when I bring up quidditch, jealous he didn't make the team." James pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
Whatever a 'beaters build' looked like it couldn't be pretty.
"Why can't you get it in your arrogant head James not all of us aspire to be quidditch stars like you?" Sirius rolled his pale grey eyes.
She had to be on Sirius side, James did seem like the cocky sort of sod who thought everybody wanted to be him, or be with him.
"I can show you how to play if you want Elle, on Saturday?" James shrugged casually.
"She doesn't want to waste her Saturday watching you show off. Why don't you come to Hogsmeade with us?" Sirius threw his dark hair across his shoulder.
The offers were surely tempting.
"I think I can decide myself thanks."
The boys looked abashed by what she has said, as though nobody had ever dare reject their advancements before.
Of course her mind was made up. But she'd let them know in due time.
~
Catrina couldn't dare face her sister for the rest of the day, perhaps even the week. The guilt of messing with her potion had caught up to her, surely Elle could see right through her shame?
The Slytherin common room was mostly empty that evening, thank god. She couldn't take another run in with Malfoy and his lot.
She ready to retreat to the dorm room for the night. It had been a confusing day to say the least.
"Oi, how come I never seen you round 'ere?"
Of course, she always spoke too soon.
"Ah that's right, you're that new girl." The same voice spoke.
The boy was sat back on the ornate settees, his legs sprawled crassly, smoking a pipe. He must've been a sixth or seventh year, the type of lad who'd get served at the local, he certainly was no looker.
"Yeah, you alright..."
"They been saying you're from Durmstrang, but I don't think so... I can tell you ain't, come ere sit down."
"Heh, yeah, dunno where they got that idea." She shifted awkwardly on the spot, feeling scrutinised by the boy.
"You ain't a mudblood then, if you ain't foreign?"
"Nah, just... didn't go to school... till now."
"Hippie folks? Let me educate you then doll... wots your name anyway?"
"Catie.." she was feeling an uncomfortable tension with the boy.
"Amycus Carrow." She felt his gaze weigh on her chest for a moment. He extended his arm across the settee, as if it was across her back. Was he related to her dorm mate? "You're good looking for a fourth year." He inched closer, she could smell the tobacco on his breath.
"You coming to Hogsmeade this weekend? Let me get you a drink at the three brooms." He ran his hand through her hair, how much closer was he going to get, there was still first years in the common room!
She had heard others in her house talk about the upcoming Hogsmeade trip, but no one yet had asked her to go? Perhaps it was expected of her? There was no telling with these wizards.
But if this Carrow boy had asked her, maybe it was an invite only basis. Would Mulciber have invited her if he knew she wanted to go? Probably not, they'd only known each other a day, she couldn't get her hopes up.
"Hm, I suppose I could join you." She shrugged.
"That's right darlin, meet me here at eleven then."
Her first date? Catrina's hands had gone clammy and her cheeks were surely flushed.
Even though Amycus was hardly cute, he was still an older year, there was some status in that. Hopefully he wasn’t too closely related to Alecto, or she would probably be breaking some girl code. Though that’s the sort of thing Anastasia would be more fussed about.
She heard footsteps on the iron stairs and quickly pushed Amycus away.
"Ugh, you again new girl, already flaunting yourself to a new boy-toy?" The voice of Severus Snape snarled.
"Get outta here Snapey, you're being a little cock block." Amycus threw an apple at Snape, hitting him on the forehead.
"Nice aim." She giggled. Snape looked pissed but seemed too scared to fight back. To which Catrina was entirely satisfied.
"Throwing's not the only thing I got good aim in." He winked and uncouthly looked down to his crotch. She thought that was the type of thing Sirius Black would say. Boys.
Catrina retreated to the dorm for the night, feeling pleased with her new catch.
~~~~chapter ends~~~~~