Denying Draco

6 - Veritaserum

'Ah, Miss. Dumbledore!' The whole class turned quiet and looked right at Poppy as she entered her Potions class the next day to find Professor. Slughorn beaming at her. 'I see you made up your mind about Potions!'

'Sure did, Professor,' she replied, feeling herself blushing as the rest of the class watched on. She caught eyes with Draco as he stood at a table with some other Slytherins and his face remained stoic before he looked away.

'I'm very glad to see you again, Poppy,' Slughorn said, with a genuine smile. 'Come along now, join the class.'

Poppy rushed forward into the room and spotted Harry who smiled and signalled to a space by him. Poppy was relieved to have someone she knew to work alongside, as much as having Draco in her peripheral vision for the next hour and a half was certain to make concentration more difficult.

'Okay everyone, today we will be talking about a very controversial potion...Veritaserum!' Slughorn announced, before turning to Poppy. 'Which is...Poppy?'

'A truth serum,' she answered.

'Correct!' Slughorn stated.

'Are we going to be making it ourselves?' Draco asked, impatiently.

'Yes, Mr. Malfoy, you will be given a chance at brewing some yourself,' Slughorn chuckled. 'It does, however, take almost a month to make so patience is key!'

'Can we get on with it then?' Draco muttered.

'Of course,' Slughorn responded. 'After we discuss all of the important health and safety details first.'

The class groaned and Poppy and Harry looked at each other and chuckled.

'Now Veritaserum is extremely advanced level potion making and I will be very surprised if any of you should brew it successfully but with approval from the headmaster, and it being the day of the new moon, I look forward to giving you all a chance at putting your Potions skills to the test,' Slughorn laughed, wholesomely. 'If done correctly the potion should be colourless and odourless - just like water.'

After a run down of health and safety details, a quick history of Veritaserum and a discussion of the dos and donts, Slughorn provided the class with the recipe for starting their Veritaserum.

'It's quite mad isn't it,' Poppy said, as Harry returned to the table with some supplies for the recipe.

'What is?' he asked.

'That we are actually brewing up Veritaserum,' Poppy laughed. 'I mean, it's not even used by the Ministry at trial to prove innocence or guilt because of the doubts that still surround it. It's mind boggling that Slughorn is trusting a bunch of seventh year students with it.'

'I suppose Slughorn is assuming we will all fail at it anyway,' Harry replied, with a chuckle.

'I have a feeling we will,' Poppy stated, as she and Harry laughed again and got to work.

As Poppy poured some Standard Potioning Water into her cauldron, she locked eyes with Draco again across the room. That look from the Room of Requirement was back; narrowed eyes with his tongue in his cheek and a look of curiosity. She responded to his gaze with a smile, but ensured it was as menacing and mysterious as he looked at that moment. It caught him off guard and he blinked rapidly, turning back to the short-haired brunette girl that was talking to him. Poppy eyed up the way in which she continuously placed her hand on Draco's arm and she realised right away that he was clearly in a relationship, leaving her feeling embarrassed over her flustered reaction to his behaviour the day before.

'You alright?' Harry asked, as he passed her a vial of Ptolomy. 'You've gone quiet.'

As her potion water came to a simmer, she took the vial from Harry and poured in the contents, stirring anti-clockwise before allowing it to simmer again.