Cures for Pricks
1991-First Year
Elizabeth and Malfoy presented their subject to Professor Binns and it was accepted with nothing more than an “Approved.” Elizabeth had prepared maybe a little too much.
That evening they worked for an hour and a bit in the library, mostly disagreeing on what was actually true versus not. In the end, Elizabeth called for a truce and said,
“Why don’t we just write about it and say that some sources claim this was false because of this and that and leave it there? I’m getting a headache from all of this and Madame Pince has come over twice telling us to be quiet. I don’t want to be kicked out.”
“Fine, but that means the thing with the squirrels also needs to have some counter-examples for its validity.”
“Okay.”
He packed up his things intend on leaving.
“You’re done?”
“You’re not the only one with a headache.”
With that he left. Elizabeth was left sitting there staring at the spot where he disappeared behind a bookshelf. She wished they did a bit more than that, but at least it was a start. They had built somewhat of a basic outline on what they wanted to cover.
She guessed she should also leave at this point. Nothing more was going to be done. Not by herself anyway. Her head really was pounding. She got up and spots showed up in her vision. She slammed her hands on the table and blinked repeatedly.
Other students looked up at the sound. She saw them staring at her and she quickly started moving out from between her chair and the table. The light from the torches were hard on her eyes and she knew she was having the start of a migraine.
Usually, her uncle had a couple of potions or aspirin ready to go for her, but she had forgotten to pack them since they happen so seldomly.
“Off to the Medical Wing, I guess,” she thought.
She got there and the light from the room was so bright, Liz winced when she went through the doors. Madame Pomfrey was busy folding some blankets and towels when she saw the girl walk through.
“Do you need anything, darling?”
“Umm. Do you have anything for migraines?”
“Of course. Just sit right there, love. I’ll go grab them.”
Elizabeth sat down on one of the beds and closed her eyes.
“This is quite strong so here’s a bit of water to help it down.”
Madame Pomfrey handed her two cups. One was obviously water and the other was a murky purple liquid. It looked absolutely disgusting and nothing like what her uncle would make.
The elder witch seeing her disgust said, “It’s best to just take it in one swig.”
Elizabeth took her word for it and brought it to her lips. If the look of it was bad, the smell was worse. She gulped the liquid down and immediately downed the water afterwards. She was going to ask for her uncle’s recipe and try to make her own because she could not drink this again.
The headache lingered, but it was much less painful than before. His at least got rid of it completely.
“Thank you.”
Madame Pomfrey took the cups and walked away. Elizabeth got off the table and left.
In her head, she was already planning on how she would word the letter. He was a bit cagey about his potions’ recipes so she needed to sound desperate.
“Hi, my head feels likes about to explode and their remedy really sucks. Yours is so much more amazing.” Something along those lines should work.
She got to the tower just before curfew and went directly to her dorm. Erin was sitting on her bed reading over the potions’ manual.
“Ready for tomorrow?” Elizabeth asked putting her bag down on her trunk and grabbing her pyjamas.
“Not remotely. You?”
“I think I’ll be okay, but Snape’s a tough critic.”
“Boy, is that true.”
“Maybe, a good night’s sleep is the best choice though?”
“Yeah… One more read through and then I’ll go to bed.”
Elizabeth went to get changed and got into bed. Tomorrow, they’ll brew their first official potion. Boil Cure. Fairly simple, but she wanted to impress Snape so he would take her seriously.
She tossed and turned trying to fall asleep. Her mind was getting the better of her, filling it with terrible scenarios and absolute destruction.
…
In the potions’ classroom, the students were abuzz waiting to start brewing their potion. Each person would be making it by themselves and hence judged individually. Olivia had told them that in the Gryffindor and Slytherin class, one of the students managed to overflow the cauldron and ended up with boils all over their face.
Elizabeth was adamant to not make a mess of this. Professor Snape entered the room and called the class to order.
“Today, as you know if you did the reading, we’ll be brewing Boil Cure, a cure for boils. Very aptly named. The instructions are in your books and if you have any questions, you should already know the answer. I will grade the potions afterwards. Start.”
Elizabeth grabbed the snake fangs and started crushing them in the mortar. Everything was automatic and she was done the first part quite quickly. She made the potion with her adjustments. When she asked him about certain irregularities, he just waved her off, not caring. So, she did what she thought was right. After 35 minutes, she added the horned slugs and took the cauldron off the fire. This is where she thinks the student Olivia mentioned messed up. You have to take it off the fire before adding the porcupine quills. She continued one and soon a small pink smoke rose from her cauldron.
Done and absolutely perfect. Also, in record time she believes. Professor Snape was not paying attention, leafing through a random book.
She walked up to his desk, but was interrupted when someone started yelling. Their cauldron was starting to bubble and was about to spill over.
Elizabeth took one look and went to grab some lavender and sprinkled it in. The potion immediately calmed down and she told them to add a cinnamon sprig and everything would be fine.
Snape was looking at her with a raised brow. She went up to him and told him she was done. He nodded and followed her to her cauldron.
“Adequate. Well done, Miss Blanchet. 5 points to Ravenclaw.” He walked back to his desk. “Bottle it and clean up. You can leave afterwards.”
She did just that. Smiling.
…
“That was amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of him award points during Potions to another house. He only ever praises Slytherins,” Olivia said. “You must be a potions genius.”
“If anyone is a potions genius Clarke, it would be me.” Malfoy and his gooneys were standing in front of them. “I brewed the Boils Cure in an hour and it was perfect.”
“Well, Liz’s was perfect too. She even saved another student’s potion from exploding. That’s genius if I’ve ever seen it.” Olivia defended her.
“It’s okay, Oli. He wouldn’t know genius if it hit him the face. Especially not with the people he hangs out with.” Erin claimed.
Elizabeth was staring at her feet. This was not how she wanted to celebrate her small victory.
“At least they aren’t dirty Mudbloods like you.”
Olivia was about to pull out her wand, but Elizabeth stopped her.
“He isn’t worth it,” she whispered to her.
“Plus, he thinks that having cronies makes him more powerful than he is. News flash, it doesn’t.” Liz said that directly to him. It was one thing to insult her, but not her friends. She would defend them.
“Let’s go.” Elizabeth pulled Olivia and Erin with her past Malfoy. They were not going to start dueling in the corridor. Especially not with Malfoy who she knew probably had some nasty curses in him.