The chill of the Potions dungeon struck them the moment they left the warmth of Greenhouse One behind.
Pickled creatures floated inside murky jars along the walls, and the narrow tables left little room between students or cauldrons.
Professor Snape entered the room the moment the heavy wooden door shut.
He didn’t offer a greeting.
He swept down the central aisle, his black robes billowing behind him, and immediately took attendance.
He paused when he reached Harry Potter’s name.
Snape’s dark eyes locked onto Harry, and he delivered a soft, mocking introduction about Hogwarts’ “new celebrity”.
Without giving the room a chance to breathe, Snape began firing rapid, complex ingredient questions directly at the Gryffindor table.
Harry sat completely frozen, unable to explain where to find a bezoar or identify the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane.
Beside him, Hermione Granger practically vibrated in her seat, her hand thrust high into the air as she desperately sought to answer every single question.
Snape ignored her completely.
His cold gaze swept away from the Gryffindors and settled deliberately on the Hufflepuff side of the aisle.
“Mr Clarke,” Snape drawled softly.
Adrian looked up from his brass scales.
“I recall you asking an unusual number of questions about ingredient prices at the apothecary,” Snape said.
“Let us see whether your reading extended beyond their cost.” “Since you were listening, Mr Clarke, perhaps you can supply the answer Potter could not.
Monkshood and wolfsbane?” “They are two names for the same plant, sir,” Adrian answered calmly.
Snape’s expression did not change.
“And which part of the plant is used in the preparation of a standard beginner sleeping draught?” Adrian had read through the first-year text, but his focus had been on basic safety and utility charms.
He did not know the specific preparation requirements for the sleeping draught.
“I do not know, sir,” Adrian admitted plainly.
“An admission of ignorance,” Snape said quietly, “is marginally less dangerous than confident stupidity.” Snape turned sharply toward the blackboard, flicked his wand and ordered the class to begin preparing a Cure for Boils.
Students hurried toward the ingredient trays.
Brass scales clicked into place, knives struck wooden boards and the first cauldron flames appeared along the tables.
Susan had claimed the seat beside Adrian the moment they entered the dungeon.
Without needing to discuss it, they divided the work naturally.
Adrian took the heavy silver knife and began crushing the dried snake fangs, while Susan carefully monitored the flames beneath the cauldron.
Adrian weighed out the dried nettles; Susan double-checked the written sequence on the blackboard.
The silver knife remained steady in Adrian’s hand, and the snake fangs gradually broke down into a reasonably even powder.
He still checked the blackboard before measuring the next portion.
Two tables away, Neville Longbottom was trembling as he rushed through several preparation steps, while Hermione kept craning her neck toward Harry and Ron’s table, clearly resisting the urge to correct them.
Snape moved constantly between the tables.
Every time his robes passed behind them, several students forgot what they were holding.
A sharp hiss erupted two tables away.
Neville had added the porcupine quills while his cauldron was still over the flame.
The potion surged acid-green, ate through the bottom of the pewter and spilled across the stone floor.
Several students jumped back while Snape vanished the spreading liquid and began tearing points away from Gryffindor.
Adrian looked at the next instruction and reached toward his own dish of quills.
Susan caught his wrist.
“Off the flame first,” Susan said.
Adrian stopped.
Their cauldron was still sitting over the burner.
He lifted it from the heat, set it securely on the stone worktop and only then added the porcupine quills.
The mixture hissed but remained inside the cauldron.
The final instruction appeared beneath the others on the blackboard: Stir clockwise ten times.
Maintain an even pace.
A pink screen appeared above the cauldron.
[PERVERTED MISSION] [Feel and squeeze Susan Bones’s bare ass through all ten clockwise stirs.] [Bonus: Make her press back for more without disturbing the potion.] [Reward: Potion Precision Fragment ×3 and 35 PP.] [Failure Penalty: For seven days, every touch from a woman will make you moan in a high feminine voice.] Adrian glanced toward Snape, who was still dealing with Neville’s ruined table.
“The next stage needs ten stirs,” he murmured.
“I want to keep one hand under your skirt while I do them.” Susan finally turned from the cauldron and looked at him.
“And what do I receive for risking the potion?” “One favour.” Susan considered it briefly.
“During History of Magic, you follow my instructions before asking what I intend.” “Nothing dangerous and nothing that gets us expelled.” “Agreed.” Susan checked Snape’s position near Neville’s ruined table.
Then she shifted closer to the workbench and turned slightly, placing the back of her skirt within Adrian’s reach.
Adrian took the wooden stirring rod in his right hand.
He lowered his left hand beneath the heavy wooden edge of the table and slipped it under the rear hem of her skirt.
Warm skin met his palm beneath the skirt.
He followed the back of her thigh upward until his hand closed around one ass cheek through the silk of her panties.
Adrian completed the first clockwise stir while his left palm closed around Susan’s ass through her panties.
He squeezed firmly enough to feel the cheek compress beneath the silk.
Susan’s spine straightened, but she kept her eyes on the ingredient list.
During the second rotation, Adrian kneaded the soft cheek once before tracing the waistband with his thumb.
On the third, he hooked two fingers beneath the elastic.
The fourth stir carried the rod smoothly around the cauldron as his hand slipped fully inside her panties.
Warm bare skin filled his palm.
Adrian spread his fingers across the curve of her ass and squeezed slowly.
Susan drew a sharp breath through her nose.
She did not move away.
As Adrian began the fifth rotation, she shifted her hips backward and pressed the bare cheek more firmly into his hand.
His thumb rubbed over the warm curve during the sixth stir.
Susan lowered her face toward the recipe and covered the small sound in her throat with a cough.
Snape entered the neighbouring aisle as Adrian began the seventh.
His shadow stretched across their worktable while he inspected an incorrectly sliced root two seats away.
Adrian kept the stirring rod moving at the exact pace written on the board.
Beneath Susan’s skirt, his fingers tightened and slowly kneaded her ass again.
During the eighth rotation, Susan pressed back harder.
The stirring rod grazed the inner rim of the cauldron, but Adrian corrected the angle before the rhythm broke.
His fingers began moving inward during the ninth stir, tracing the curve toward the cleft between her ass cheeks.
Susan’s thighs drew closer together beneath the table, but she continued watching Snape.
Adrian completed the tenth rotation just as the tip of his middle finger reached the upper edge of her ass crack.
Susan caught his wrist.
“Ten stirs means ten.” Susan whispered, her voice barely carrying over the bubbling liquid.
Adrian stopped instantly.
Susan kept her hand around his wrist.
When he made no attempt to move farther, her grip loosened and she guided his hand out from beneath her panties and skirt.
She released him only after his hand was back above the table.
Colour had risen into Susan’s face, but her expression remained controlled.
Susan checked the colour while Adrian lowered the flame and watched the final bubbles settle.
By the time Snape returned, the potion had reached the blue shade and smooth consistency shown on the board.
Snape stopped beside the table and examined the mixture.
“Miss Bones has somehow prevented this table from becoming entirely useless,” Snape said.
“Clean your station.” As they packed their bags and walked out into the cold stone corridor, Susan bumped her shoulder against his.
“I saved our potion,” Susan reminded him quietly, “and your dignity.” “I only misplaced one of those,” [MISSION COMPLETE] [Bonus condition fulfilled.] [Potion Precision Fragment ×3] [35 PP] [PP Balance: 355] Susan walked several steps toward the main staircase before looking back.
“Tuesday.
History of Magic.
Back row, and sit on my left.” Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“What are you planning?” Susan continued up the stairs.
“You agreed not to ask.”