Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons.
It was colder there than anywhere else in the main castle.
It did a fantastic job of being creepy and the effect only got more pronounced due the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Professor Snape spoke in a soft voice almost like a whisper but it reverberated around the entire classroom.
While Professor McGonagall had an air of authority about her, Professor Snape relied entirely on his personal gravitas to take control of the class.
The class they were taking was with the Slytherin’s.
It became very apparent that the Professor had a certain bias right from the get go.
It started from the roll call, where he pronounced their names while looking at their face.
He didn’t bother to look at any of the Hufflepuff’s.
Arthur gave the man the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe being the head of the house made it necessary to know all your children intimately.
Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class.
His black eyes scanned the entire classroom, “You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making.” he started, “As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”
Silence followed his little speech.
Arthur and Cedric looked at each other and exchanged knowing looks, it was a good introduction.
They were all on the edge of their seat and desperate to prove that they were not dunderheads.
“Mr. Pucey.” said Snape, addressing Adrian Pucey a stocky blonde Slytherin, “Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”
“A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons.” answered Adrian Pucey.
Arthur remembered reading something about it on ‘One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi’.
It mentioned that a bezoar was one of the most versatile antidotes you could have on you.
If you worked with close proximity to poisonous things, a bezoar could just be the difference between life and death.
“What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?” asked the professor again, this time addressing the entire class.
Of the Hufflepuffs only Cedric had his hand raised, but the professor picked another Slytherin, Cassius Warrington, to answer.
The kid was tall and well built with dark hair.
“Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant. It also goes by the name of aconite.” said Cassius.
The professor nodded at that and addressed only the Slytherins this time, “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”
The question was clearly of additional complexity, as it involved the steps to potion making.
The previous questions were clearly general knowledge questions.
Arthur knew that with certainty because the first two questions could be found in the book ‘One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi’ while the last one would almost certainly be in the ‘Magical Drafts and Potions’.
He knew that because he didn’t bother looking too closely at the potion textbooks.
To him it just looked like a recipe book, and no one ever memorized those except maybe the Slytherin’s.
Immediately proving him wrong were Flora and Cedric who both raised their hands.
Professor Snape meanwhile totally ignored anyone wearing yellow and selected, Corey Tuttle a mean looking Slytherin boy who was distractingly big for his age, “Sir, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death.”
Professor Snape showed no emotion as he continued, “Sit down, Mr. Tuttle.” He looked around the room and snapped, “Well?
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment.
Over the noise, Professor Snape said, “A point will be given to Slytherin House for their early preparedness.” He had clearly ignored the Hufflepuffs.
…
Things didn’t improve for them as the Potions lesson continued.
Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils.
He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone, except that he deliberately spent more time watching over Hufflepuffs.
The last straw for Arthur was when Professor… strike that, when Snape made Anna Turner cry.
Anna Turner was a scrawny little girl.
She always hung out with Flora and Patricia and was very small for an eleven year old.
He looked at Snape’s indifferent face and made up his mind, two could always play at that game.
Arthur and Cedric looked at each other and saw the same understanding on each other.
Arthur gave a little nod to Cedric who nodded back and promptly dumped all the ingredients in the cauldron.
Arthur stared dumbfounded at the action.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he said keeping his voice as low as he could.
“I thought we agreed to get the attention off her.” Cedric whispered nervously, “What did YOU mean by the look?”
“I wanted to tattle to Professor McGonagall.” Arthur said nervously checking if Snape had noticed.
He hadn’t.
The potion had started to turn a dark crimson color and started to give off black fumes.
Cedric nervously took a step back, his face white and said to Arthur, “Do something.”
Arthur gave Cedric the most deadpan look he could manage which wasn’t easy.
The potion had started to bubble and turn into a deep black color.
He took a closer look to see if it was salvageable in any way when saw a liquid dripping out from the bottom of the cauldron.
As impressed as he was by making this little metal melting concoction he couldn’t let it continue.
Cedric was never getting the card was the last thought he had before he shouted, “PROFESSOR! OVER HERE! a spider caused me to drop everything in the potion. It looks really bad.”
Snape made it to their desk just in time for the cauldron to completely melt away.
…
The greenhouses behind the castle was where they went to study Herbology.
Professor Pomona Sprout was a witch who worked as Head of Hufflepuff House and Head of the Herbology department at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
She was yet again distinct from the other teachers Arthur had seen before.
Her clothes were designed for rough and tumble garden work, he supposed was the mark of a good Herbology professor.
Their class started with learning how to handle dragon dung.
If anyone thinks dragon dung would be different from any other types of dung, then they would be right- it stayed warmer for a longer time.
Apparently Professor Sprout had conducted experiments with dragon dung fertilizer for the whole summer and explained that because dragon dung stayed warm for a longer period, it needed to be harvested before it spoiled.
She let everyone connect the dots themselves.
The Professor explained that dragon dung fertilizer had useful magical properties which would be ruined by introducing any foreign material.
That meant that whoever thought dragonhide gloves would be a cool thing to own was on the short list.
By the combined groans of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs it was everyone.
Anyone excited at the thought of having a class finally be free from the regular indoors was already filled with regret.
…
Their class concluded with a roll call.
As everyone packed their things and ran for the showers Professor Sprout called out, “Mr. Diggory and Mr. Smith, please stay behind!”
Arthur had half a mind to just make an excuse about not having heard anything and leave.
He would have if only Cedric hadn’t stopped and started moving towards the professor.
He wouldn’t be a Hufflepuff if he left a friend behind.
“Professor Snape has informed me about the potions class. He wants detentions for the two of you.” she said.
Arthur could see that Cedric wanted to argue so he tugged at his shirt.
Thankfully Cedric got the message this time.
Taking the lead he gave the professor his most innocent look and said pitifully, “Yes Professor.”
…
Arthur was starting to think that his innocent look might need some work.
It didn’t work on his mom and it sure as hell didn’t work on Professor Sprout.
The mountain of dirty dishes right in front of him provided strong evidence for his theory.
“Professor said no magic.” Blinky informed the two of them.
Cedric politely said, “Thank you Blinky.” and sent the elf away.
By the way it skedaddled they clearly weren’t getting any help.
“How do you want to go about it?” Cedric asked clearly intimidated by the task before him.
Arthur didn’t know how to answer the question.
Their moment of introspection was interrupted by a sound from behind, “Can we help?” Lucian, Teddy, Flora, Patricia and Anna, Hufflepuffs through and through, had come down to help them.
Fighting the smile forming on their faces Cedric and Arthur replied together, “YES.”
Now.
Where were the soaps and sponges located? or Did the elves just clean it with magic?