A Second Bolt of Lightning

But then Monday happened.

"RUN LIKE THE FUCKING WIND!" I yelled, speeding down into the dungeons. Like the parkour god I was, I jumped over multiple first years in an effort to not be late to class.

"LIAM!" Lee screamed at me, "YOU BASTARD! YOU JUST LEFT A FOOT IMPRINT ON THE POOR BOY'S FACE!"

Fred looked backwards, "It truly was a blessing from Merlin! Oh, how I'd do anything to even have Liam even kiss my hand!"

"I'd go to the moon and back for you!" George shouted out.

"Well I'd—"

I skidded across the hallway and nearly tripped over my feet while stumbling into the Potions classroom. I paused in the entrance, leaning on the doorframe to catch my breath. I took off my glasses, cleaned them with my robe, and walked into the classroom.

I found a table near the back of the classroom and sat down, taking out the book that Professor Snape had given to us. He usually wrote down other, easier, ways to brew the potion on the board. So the book wasn't much of a use anyways.

Only moments after I had taken out my supplies, Snape walked into the classroom. He stepped to the front of the classroom, pointing to the board.

"We will be discussing manipulation potions and how they interfere with the victim's mind." Snape said, looking at the whole classroom. "This can be linked back to the 1924 experimental potions..."

I felt my eyes getting heavier and heavier by the second. I loved to make potions, as I had come to learn after the past few weeks. I just hated history, in Professor Binns' class was me being passed out after the ten minute mark.

I thanked the gods when the doors slammed open and I saw George, Fred, and Lee waltzing into the classroom. George shot me a wink.

"Good morning!" George bellowed as he made his way over to the empty seat next to me.

"That's 10 points taken off. Each." Professor Snape snapped, turning back to the board. The Slytherins in the room snickered.

Snape continued to teach the lesson, talking about how the potions change the way signals are sent to your brain and whatnot. He discussed the side effects, and how this had a lasting impression on the mind. 

"What did we miss?" George leaned over to me and whispered into my ear.

I shrugged, continuing to stare at Snape, "Nothing much. Potions, y'know."

George nodded at that. Both of us attempted to focus on the gibberish coming out of Snape's mouth before George turned to me and uttered, "We should turn his hair pink."

I raised an eyebrow, "How would we even do that?"

"Olivander! What is one thing that I have said in the past minute?!" Snape yelled at me from the front of the room.

I peered to the board with the writing, narrowing my eyes. I raised an eyebrow and muttered, "How the potion changes the...brain...chemistry?"

Snape stared at me for a few extra seconds. He then uttered, "5 points from Gryffindor for not paying attention."

As the lesson went on I whispered to George, "Did I get the answer correct? I swear if he just took off house points—"

"The scum has a burning hate towards Gryffindors, so it's pretty normal." George responded. "Ooh! What if we turned his hair red and gold!"

I paused, considering the idea. I nodded slowly, starting to grin at the thought. Yes, that would be pretty funny.

"Hm." I whispered. I stared at Snape until he had his back towards me and uttered, "I think those colors would look marvelous on him. Don't you think it fits his face shape?"

"Repping that Gryffindor pride."

I snorted, causing Snape to give me the death glare.

The professor wrote two last things on the board before turning around and then began to speak, "These potions can often be mixed up with health potions, such as the strength potion. They both share a similar greenish hue."

Snape stared at me straight in the eyes, "If any of you were to get, for example, kidnapped and given a potion. But you didn't know what it was. How would that benefit you? You'd likely be dead."

A chill ran up my spine, and Snape looked away from me, addressing the class as a whole once again. "Flip to page 72," he wrote the page number on the board, "and write a paragraph on the similarities and differences."

The whole class groaned at once as the class went to the page. I scanned the page over, skimming over dates and numbers, as they had no interest to me. Different diagrams were drawn of the potion for strength.

But I could not find a single sentence detailing how the colors or textures were different from any poisons. I kept on reading and rereading passages and paragraphs until my brain short circuited. I was nearly dead.

Somebody touched my arm and I basically jumped out of my seat. My heart raced. I turned to see George smiling at me. I felt my heart flutter and I awkwardly smiled back, hoping he didn't notice me jump.

"I found the page." He whispered, taking the book in front of me and flipping a few pages further, "It seemed like you were struggling."

I looked over the page and nodded, "Been lookin' for this for ages! Thanks."

George nodded and turned to the table behind us, where Lee and Fred were sitting. All three of them seemed to be in a heated conversation about something, but I attempted to tune it out.

Up until I overheard the word 'Sevy surprise.' I immediately turned around and whispered, "Bitch, Sevy surprise?!" And struggled to hide my laughter. I covered my face and was nearly dying from holding it in.

"Yeah, we just quietly walk behind him and boom! Sneak attack! Get surprised!" Fred whispered, doing over dramatic hand motions.

"So then we all thought 'Sevy surprise.' Sounds cool, doesn't it?" Lee said while occasionally reading his potions book.

George smirked, "Ah, me and Freddie here invented a hair dye that doesn't wash out for a good week. Even if you take an antidote."

Fred grinned, "Percy was all shades of the rainbow over the summer." Fred and George high fived each other after that.

I laughed, "I can only imagine."

"Green hair suits him though."

"We'll have to do it right before he sees good 'ole Penelope."

Lee snapped his fingers, "Enough Percy slander, now what's the plan?"

I looked over to the two redheads, "And how soon can we do it?" I smiled, looking back to Snape.

Fred looked to me and said, "I think we packed some from home, didn't we?"

"We packed a little of every product."

I leaned onto the table, "How many products have you guys developed so far?"

George pulled out his hand and began counting off, mumbling to himself.

"Aha! 43!" Fred announced.

George stopped counting and gave Fred a glare. "I was the one counting!"

"The better looking sibling always prevails!"

"If wearing a mop is considered attractive then—"

"Liam Olivander." A voice said from behind me. My eyes widened as the words pierced through my ears.

I turned slowly only to be met with Snape's cold glare. He tapped the piece of parchment by my book with his wand. He looked me up and down and said, "I observe that your paper is blank. If you keep on messing around in my classroom, that'll be a week's worth of detention." Snape turned around, "This material is of utmost importance and should not be dismissed."

I sat there in shock. Snape really had to audacity to scold me when half the class also wasn't writing their paper. Just because I was the new kid didn't mean he had to be breathing down my neck 24/7.

I raised my eyebrows and turned back to see Fred giggling like a toddler. I sighed, "Do you think tomorrow is too soon for the Sevy surprise?" I asked the group.

"No I think it's brilliant." George grinned.

I nodded at that and returned to my assignment, shaking my head at Fred's wheezing. I tried to get my brain to focus on the reading I was doing.

'Difference between a deadly potion and strength can be narrowed down to two things.

1: Texture

A strength potion generally has a chunky, sludgy type texture. While poison has a smooth appetizing look to it.

2: Smell

Strength potions smell like citruses, like oranges or lemons. A poison can smell like rain, or a crackling of a fire.'

I sighed, reading the paragraph over many many times. After I could practically recite it from memory, I tried to write it in my own words.

Writing, as I had found, was not one of my strengths. I struggled to even write a coherent sentence. It took ages to think of the right words to put down on the page.

After what seemed like hours of writing, class was officially over and it was time for lunch.

My appetite was nearly completely lost when I noticed the texture of the chocolate pudding laid out in front of us. I sighed and picked at the rest of the food on my plate.

"You seem quiet today." Fred said with a full mouth.

I stirred the spoon around in the pudding, "The potions book has traumatized me."

Lee, who was mid spoonful of the pudding, slowly spit it out. He pushed it aside, "It wasn't that good anyways."

George narrowed his eyes in the direction of Snape, "D'ya think he'd look good in polka dots?"

"He'd look absolutely fabulous." I said without a second thought.

"It's even better with Quidditch coming up!" Fred replied, still shoving his face with food. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't affected by the potions assignment.

"Quidditch?" I asked. As soon as I had thought I had learned all the funny words, I had been bombarded with another one.

"Yes quidditch!" Then Fred gasped, grabbing George's shoulder, "Georgie! Liam doesn't know what quidditch is!"

George gasped, fake fainting dramatically, "Oh the horror! Liam how could you have gone so long without hearing of the best sport in existence!"

I paused looking at the two, "So it's a sport?"

"A sport?!" Shouted George in mock offense.

"No, it's the sport!" Fred finished.

Lee leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Be prepared, you're not going to hear the end of their obsession."

I nodded at Lee and felt a burst of joy when I saw how excited the twins were to talk about it.

Every so often I glanced over to Snape, just to imagine how idiotic he'd look tomorrow.

The twins rambled on and on about the point systems, the positions, how beaters were the best position, etc.

While doing one of the glances at Snape, I happened to make eye contact with him and— wait. Was he crying?

Snape looked away from me abruptly, like nothing had ever happened. I raised my eyebrows and wondered, what was that?

It was hard for me to listen now, and I looked at the rest of the Professors sitting on the stand. I made eye contact with Lupin. Strange. I smiled and waved at him, only for him to look away too, with the same expression as Snape.

I chose to ignore whatever had just happened and listen more about quidditch. I smiled as they explained how the Seeker worked, and how the role was the most important one. After beaters of course.

"I bet you can guess what position they play." Lee whispered into my ear.

For the rest of lunch, I enjoyed their presence and just having friends to talk to, not letting the peculiar experience get to me.