Chapter eleven
All morning, I dreaded leaving the safety of my bed. I slept horribly, tossing and turning all night long with nightmares that were now too faded in my memories to recall. Breakfast tasted bland, and I dragged my feet out of the Great Hall once it was over.
It didn’t help that this was my first day to volunteer in the library. As a seventh year, we have the option to help in a classroom or student center of our choice. I learned yesterday that Malfoy was Snape’s student aid, which makes sense. I believe that Cho is helping Madam Pomfrey and Hermione Granger is McGonagall’s student teacher for the first years. Lavender wouldn’t stop gushing about how excited she was to learn everything that Trelawny knows as her student assistant. I was feeling the complete opposite as Madam Pince pushed a giant cart of dusty old books at me and told me to put them back where they belong. And I’m expected to do this for the first two blocks of the day every Tuesday for the rest of the year…
Things were going fine until I dozed off in one of the quiet, low-lit shelves near the back of the library. I was having better sleep than I had all night, until Madam Pince found me and scolded me for drooling on an ancient book of spells.
After fulfilling my duties in the library, I only had to sit through one hour of Charms and then it would be time for lunch. Easy, I thought. Until I walked into Flitwick’s classroom and saw who was there.
Across the room, I made eye contact with Matt. Once he laid eyes on me, he straightened in his chair and smiled. He began to wave me over, so there was no turning back now. I took a deep breath and approached his table.
“Heather, hey! Here, take a seat,” Matt said as he moved his bag off of the chair beside him.
“Thanks,” I said, as I slid into the seat.
“How are you? How are your classes?” He asked. He was still smiling at me, that dimple on his left cheek more pronounced than ever. I leaned back in my chair, hyper-aware of the way he was looking at me.
“Brutal, as expected. How are yours?”
“Rough. I don’t know why I signed up for so many.”
“It seems like a lot of people made that mistake,” I replied.
“How was the rest of your summer?” he asked. I wished he would just let us sit in silence while we waited for Flitwick to arrive,
“It was fine. You?”
“Fine,” he shrugged.
We fell into silence. Finally.
“So, this tournament,” he ventured.
“Yeah, crazy, huh?” I said.
I fiddled with my quill and wondered when Flitwick would arrive. Class should have started already, right?
“You knew all about it, didn’t you?”
I turned to look at Matt. He was watching me already. He didn’t seem to be accusing me of anything, but I felt myself tense anyways.
“Yeah, I did. How’d you know?” There was no point in lying, not after it’s been revealed to everyone already.
“I just figured you would have worked on it with your internship. You and Malfoy were in so many meetings with the Sports and Games guys. I saw you talking to them more than once and I just put the pieces together.”
“Good work, detective,” I joked. Matt smiled and I relaxed.
“That must have been tough keeping that secret all this time.”
“Eh, it wasn’t too hard.”
“I’m sure it was easier than working with him,” Matt said.
His eyes flickered to the door. I followed his gaze and saw Malfoy enter the classroom.
Great, I thought. I looked back at Matt, ignoring Malfoy as best as I could.
“Let’s just say, I have never been so ready for summer to be over with.”
Matt chuckled. “Did you hear what happened yesterday?” He whispered, leaning closer.
“I don’t think so.”
“Professor Moody turned Malfoy—”
Flitwick tapped his wand on his podium, having appeared without me noticing. The class silenced. Matt groaned and leaned back away from me. He made a motion as though to tell me he would finish his sentence later.
While Flitwick gave his usual recital of class expectations, I stole a glance at Malfoy. He sat across the aisle from me next to a Ravenclaw girl I didn’t recognize. He had his quill at the ready while he watched Flitwick at the front of the room. His jawline looked tense, and I could tell his relaxed posture was not as relaxed as it may seem. He had the same look on his face that he did when we were under the wire trying to get the proposals out in time to Grimilda. He was stressed. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering about what. Did it have to do with what Matt was about to tell me?
When Flitwick told us to begin practicing the spells we learned last year to get warmed up, I reluctantly turned my attention back to Matt.
“I have to admit something,” Matt said with a serious look on his face.
Oh, no, here it comes.
“What?”
“I’ve never perfected my vinegar to wine spell,” he said with a dejected shake of his head.
“Oh.”
“I practiced over the summer though, and it’s gotten better! But warning, it will not be the best wine you’ve ever tasted.”
“Noted,” I said. “When I can’t reverse my bubble-head charm on you, we can call it even.”
“That’s fair.” Matt said with a smile.
The class volume rose as everyone began practicing their spells. Flitwick came around to each table, giving pointers and offering advice. He congratulated me on perfecting my Gouging Spell and gave Matt some tips on how to make his wine taste less like vinegar.
“What were you going to tell me earlier?” I asked once Flitwick moved on. He was now at Malfoy’s table, correcting something with the way Malfoy was holding his wand. Malfoy looked annoyed.
“Oh! Yeah, c’mere.” Matt motioned for me to come closer. Once I was standing near him he began again.
“Yesterday in the courtyard, Malfoy and Potter were getting into it again,” Matt began.
I rolled my eyes. Of course they were.
“Anyways, Professor Moody comes by and tells Malfoy to knock it off, or else he’ll teach him a lesson.”
“What happened?” I asked. My eyes were wide.
“ He turned Malfoy into a ferret, ” Matt said as he barely held back a laugh.
I took a step away from him. Matt was wiping tears from his eyes from how hard he was laughing. When he looked at me I could barely force a chuckle. I looked at Malfoy’s table from the corner of my eye. Malfoy was standing still, his wand at his side, looking directly at my table. At Matt to be specific.
I averted my gaze and busied myself by flipping through my textbook as though I needed to find something. When I dared to look up again, Malfoy was no longer looking at us. Matt finally stopped laughing and was back to waving his wand at a cup of vinegar, unsuccessfully turning it into wine.
The rest of the day went by much too quickly, and before I knew it, I was eating dessert and dreading the end of dinner. While the rest of the Hufflepuffs planned to get started on their homework in the common room, I had to tell them that I was heading to Snape’s classroom for my first night of detention.
“How is it that you got detention on the first day back to school? That has to be a new record,” Susan said before she took a bite of pudding.
“I don’t know, Susan, I really don't know…” I pushed my pumpkin pastie around, unable to enjoy its deliciousness while there was a knot in my stomach.
The tables cleared and everyone rose from their seats, eager to hang out with their friends and enjoy their evenings. I, on the other hand, was now headed towards the worst possible place to enjoy my evening.
“Good luck,” Susan said as I broke off from our group and headed deeper into the castle. She, along with the other Hufflepuffs I told of my fate, watched me walk away with pity written all over their faces.
The rest of the day went by much too quickly. Before I knew it, I was eating dessert and dreading the end of dinner. I overheard more people whispering about Malfoy’s incident in the courtyard. I held back my own comments and took another bite of pudding.
“How is it that you got detention on your first day of school? That has to be a new record,” Susan said as she grabbed herself a pumpkin pastry.
“I don’t know, Susan, I really don’t know…” I pushed my pudding around with my spoon, unable to enjoy its deliciousness any longer. The knot in my stomach tightened.
The tables cleared and everyone rose from their seats, eager to head to their respective common rooms and hang out. I, on the other hand, was now headed to my doom.
“Good luck,” Susan said as I broke off from our group. She, along with the rest of the Hufflepuffs I talked about my fate, watched me walk away with pity written all over their faces.
I walked deeper into the castle, my footsteps echoing against the stone walls. A group of Slytherins walked past me, talking loudly to one another, as they turned a corner. Snape’s classroom was only a few feet away. I could hear voices coming from inside. My palms began to sweat as I got closer.
“Ah, Miss Winters, thank you for finally gracing us with your presence,” Snape sneered as I entered.
Malfoy stood beside him, his back to me. He didn’t turn or acknowledge my entrance.
“Here are the potions you will be brewing,” Snape said. He placed a piece of parchment down on his desk and turned to face me and Malfoy.
“There are four in total, along with some ingredients that will need to be replaced as well. I expect these to be completed in a timely manner and correctly. ” He glared at me in particular at this statement.
“You will find everything you need in my supply closet. Which, I keep a very close eye on, so if anything that should not be missing goes missing, I will know.”
Snape turned and walked around his desk. He gathered some papers and a few items.
“I will not be available for questions, but should you have any…” he trailed off and gave us a look that said don’t bother me.
Snape took one last look at us both then walked past us and out of the classroom. With him gone, the silence in the room was deafening. Malfoy didn’t make a move to speak or look at me still. I reached forward and picked up the parchment.
“Draught of Peace, Invigoration Potion, Befuddlement Charm…” I read. “These don’t sound too difficult.” I said, looking at Malfoy for a response.
He finally moved, but just to glare at me.
“Oh wait,” I said, looking backing down at the sheet to ignore his stare. “Polyjuice Potion… that one is gonna be tricky, isn’t it?”
Malfoy remained silent.
“I wonder why Snape even needs it, that stuff is vile,” I continued. I just couldn’t stop talking.
“I guess I’ll gather the ingredients. I wonder which one we should start with first.”
I looked at Malfoy, who still looked like he wanted to squish me with his boot, then walked out of the room. Snape’s supply closet is only right around the corner. But just as I began opening the door, Malfoy’s hand shot out from behind me and pushed it shut.
“What are you—”
“Give me that,” he said and snatched the parchment out of my hands.
“You could have said please,” I said, but he was ignoring me.
“We should start the Polyjuice first,” he said as though I hadn’t spoken. “That one will take the longest. The other three are fairly straightforward, though.”
“How long is that going to take?”
“Polyjuice takes about a month, the other three will take around four hours combined.”
“Wait, what?” I gawked. I knew Polyjuice was complicated, but a month ?
“If we get started now, we can get the other three done tonight.”
“Four hours?” I repeated, still stunned.
“You want to get this over with, don’t you?” He said, looking down at me.
“Yeah, but, that’s a lot to do in one night.”
“Maybe for you.”
My mouth snapped shut.
Malfoy opened the supply closet and began to take down vials and jars. I wondered how he even knew which ones to grab. I had zero plan when I came over here, I was just trying to get away from his hate-filled eyes. With his arms full, he walked past me and back into the classroom. I followed.
“Okay, so what should I do?”
“Set up four cauldrons on that table, three small and one large.”
I did as he said. As I placed the cauldrons equal distance from each other on the far table, Malfoy arranged the ingredients on another table in separate piles. I stood back and watched as he placed them in a particular order.
“You know, I’m not completely incompetent,” I said.
“You don’t say?” Malfoy responded without turning around.
“So, stop treating me like I am. I can help you, if you just tell me what to do.”
“I can get this done a lot faster if you just stay out of my way,” he said.
“Gee, that sounds familiar. Didn’t you say the exact same thing on my first day at the internship?” I said. Malfoy remained silent so I continued. “And didn’t I prove to you that I was actually useful and we ended up working really well together?”
Malfoy still didn’t respond. I sighed and walked towards him, standing on the other side of his table, forcing him to acknowledge me.
“Can we just skip all this bullshit and get to that point again?”
Malfoy’s hands stopped. He looked up at me, his eyes bore into mine. A moment passed during which I could almost see the gears turning in his head.
“Fine,” he finally said. He pushed some jars in my direction. “You can get started on the Befuddlement Charm. Those are all the ingredients you’ll need. The brewing instructions are in chapter four of Advanced Potion Making. ” Malfoy motioned to a bookshelf behind me with textbooks on it.
“Thank you,” I said. I grabbed the vials and placed them on a separate table with a cauldron.
After I studied the brewing instructions, I began to carefully prepare my ingredients. I shaved the scurvy grass and chopped the Sneezewort petals, all the while double checking the book to make sure I was doing everything correctly. All the while, Malfoy chopped, diced, and squeezed various plants and things behind me with a speed I couldn’t compete with. He was prepping at least three potions at once, all while I slowly moved through my one. He came over and borrowed the lovage grass before continuing at his own table.
We worked in silence, mostly because I didn’t trust myself to talk while handling a knife. The next time I turned around, Malfoy’s ingredients were in neat piles, all ready to be tossed into the cauldrons.
“Everything’s boiling, what should I do now?” I asked.
“Come over here,” he said.
He was tinkering with something underneath the large cauldron. I stood beside him and watched as he tapped his wand onto the base of the cauldron. A spark appeared, igniting the fire beneath. He stepped back and wiped his hands on his pants.
“Do you think you can watch this until it boils?”
“Seriously?” I glared at him.
“As soon as this boils, you’ll need to stir it clockwise four times then wave your wand over it once. You can handle that?”
“ Seriously?” I repeated.
“I’m just checking!” Malfoy said as he backed away.
He went back to the other table and threw the ingredients into each cauldron. I leaned against the table and stared into the large cauldron. But I quickly got bored and went back to watching Malfoy.
His movements were so precise yet so quick. It reminded me of watching Snape demonstrate in front of the class. Malfoy’s face was so serious as he concentrated on the potions. But beneath his furrowed brow and straight lip, he seemed excited by the work, intrigued by the ways the ingredients interacted, or in some cases, didn’t interact. The fact that he was Snape’s student aid made perfect sense. He was in his element here.
“So, how was the rest of your summer?” I asked, hoping he was open to conversation other than insulting me.
“Fine,” he responded.
“Just fine? No exciting plans?” I probed.
“Went to the Quidditch World Cup,” he said.
“That’s fun! Oh, well…” I trailed off, remembering the attack that was on the news. “Were you there when the attack happened?”
“No.”
“Good.” I said. The room felt tense again. I bit my lip and tried to think of what I could do to shift the energy back to positive.
“Well, the end of my summer was fantastic, thanks for asking.”
“You weren’t locked away for breaking curfew?”
I opened my mouth to respond, then stopped. This was the first time he mentioned anything related to that night, to the summer that we had spent together.
“No, I was not. In fact, my mother trusted me so much she didn’t even wait for me to get home before going to bed.”
“And you were so worried,” Malfoy drawled.
“Yeah, well, a certain package I received the next morning aroused her suspicions.”
“You’re welcome for that, by the way.”
“Did I not say thank you?”
“Hm, I don’t recall getting a response no,” Malfoy said.
“Well, I gave your owl some treats… he took the whole bag, actually.”
“Yeah, she can be like that.”
I smiled. I didn’t realize how much I had missed this.
“A response would have been nice,” Malfoy said suddenly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t think it was necessary.”
“A thank you is always necessary.”
He turned around and leaned against the table facing me. His three cauldrons were all bubbling, the potions underway.
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind next time,” I said, unsure of what else to say.
Malfoy made a noise in the back of his throat. Before I could ask him what it meant, my cauldron began to boil.
I quickly grabbed the ladle and began to stir counterclockwise, making sure to stop immediately after the fourth round. Afterwards, I waved my wand over the cauldron, and watched as the grey sludge inside began to bubble and burp. A foul odor drifted upwards and I held back a gag.
I let out a breath and leaned against the table once more. When I looked up, Malfoy’s eyes met mine.
“So, now what?”
“Now we wait,” he said.
“Is there nothing we can do while we wait?” I asked as I picked up the sheet from Snape.
“I’m sure we can think of a few things,” Malfoy responded.
My heart thudded in my chest. I ignored his comment and kept staring at the parchment, suddenly unable to read.
“Uh, here, we can, um,” I began, my mouth also suddenly unable to form words. “He needs dried kelp and crushed unicorn horn and something else,” I said, scanning the page.
“Let me see.” Malfoy pushed himself off the table and came to stand beside me. He chose to stand much closer than was necessary (at least I thought so) and read over my shoulder.
Sandalwood. Bergamont. A citrusy undertone. My eyes fluttered as his cologne enveloped my senses.
He was saying something, but I missed the first half of his sentence.
“Crushing the horns isn’t the hard part, it’s getting the glitter out of your clothes that’s tricky,” he finished.
“Oh, yeah, totally,” I stammered.
“I’ll get the nightshade and the nettle if you want to tackle the jewelweed and kelp?” He said.
I looked up to respond to him. Our faces were much closer than I approximated. It took everything in me not to jump backwards, because I knew if I did, he would only tease me. Instead, I maintained my composure and nodded my head. If I spoke, I would have said something stupid.
“What about the unicorn horns?” I asked once he stepped away.
“Oh, I guess I can do those,” he said.
How did he forget about the unicorn horns when he just said what a pain they were?
I brushed it off. Malfoy went to grab the supplies from the closet and came back with what we needed.
I sat down with my basket of jewelweed and jar of kelp and began to work.
Malfoy sat at the other end of the long table, his nimble fingers plucking the petals off the nightshade, discarding any of the dead leaves and separating the stems. I fumbled with the jewelweed, when I typically excel at handling plants in Herbology.
The time passed quickly, with us getting up periodically to stir the cauldrons and eventually, bottle the completed potions. Snape walked by at some point and observed us in silence, his judgemental stare making me second guess everything I did. Once he was gone, I ended up spilling half of my vial of Befuddlement potion. Thankfully, Malfoy thought to double our batches in case of these things.
“Now all that’s left is to come back each night and stir the Polyjuice,” Malfoy said. We had cleaned up the rest of the cauldrons and were both exhausted.
“I’ll do tomorrow night’s, if you want to just switch off?”
“That works for me. We’ll have to add some other ingredients eventually, but we don’t have to worry about that now.”
We both walked to the door. All I wanted to do was get into my bed and fall asleep, but for some reason, I felt disappointed leaving the classroom.
“Good work,” Malfoy said.
“Oh, thanks. You too.”
Malfoy nodded and began to walk down the hall in the direction of the Slytherin common room.
I watched him walk away, feeling like there was more I should say, but I wasn’t sure what. I shook my head and walked up the stairs towards the Hufflepuff basement. I needed sleep, that’s all it was.