D.R.A.R.R.Y Supremacy

13 - Stopper Death

Professor Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. Harry seriously doubted Quirrell's claims about getting rid of a zombie, warding off a vampire, and receiving his turban from an African prince. Something about this professor's stuttering was a little odd as well.

Potions lessons was next, and once again, the Slytherins were with the Gryffindors from their year.

Snape started the class by taking the roll call and paused at Harry's name. He looked as though he were having an inner battle in his head.

Frankly, he hated Harry's late father, which should've given him enough reason to hate Harry as well, but as Harry was a Slytherin, a student under Snape's own house, that put him in sort of an awkward position wherein he didn't know whether to hate Harry or not.

Snape decided to move forward with the roll call, briefly mentioning Harry's name without so much of a quick glance at him before he continued calling everyone else's names.

"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death," Snape told the class.

Harry leaned towards Draco to whisper into his ear. "You can stop death?"

"Only in the magical world," Draco whispered back.

Harry gaped at Draco in amazement, excited to learn about how to immortalize himself. Living forever did seem very appealing to Harry.

Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils.

Harry was paired up with Draco, and as the two of them weighed dried nettles and crushed snake fangs, Snape criticized almost everyone except Draco, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Draco had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon.

Neville had managed to mess up again. Snape deducted fifty points from Gryffindor and sent Neville and Seamus to the hospital wing, then ended the class immediately after that.

"Let's go," Draco told Harry, standing up to leave.

"Wait," Harry replied. "I'm gonna go talk to Professor Snape. Wanna come with me?"

"What's this about?" Draco asked as Harry stood.

"I'm gonna ask him something," said Harry.

Draco shrugged and followed Harry to Professor Snape's desk.

"Excuse me, Professor," Harry greeted, "I was just wondering when you would be teaching us about putting a stopper in death."

Snape looked up from his pile of books and squinted at Harry. His eyes then roamed to Draco, scrutinizing him, then flickered back to Harry.

"What are you trying to say, Potter?" Snape drawled, eyeing Harry with suspicion.

"I was just wondering if you would be teaching us how to immortalize ourselves," Harry replied firmly.

"I see..." Snape snarled, making a mental note to tell the headmaster about this afterwards. "You know, Potter, there are only a few students who've ever been interested in immortalization. The last student who went around asking a professor about immortality, he grew up to become the dark lord."

"Interesting," Harry said tersely, not breaking eye contact with Snape. Draco, on the other hand, was looking worried.

"Yes, Potter, very interesting," Snape drawled, still eyeing Harry heavily. "To answer your question, Potter, I will not be teaching my students how to immortalize themselves. That branch of magic involves the dark arts, which is highly discouraged here at Hogwarts. I will only be teaching you how to prevent death by brewing up potions that can cure curses and diseases."

"I see," Harry responded, hiding his disappointment. "Thank you, Professor. Come on, Draco, let's go."

Harry and Draco turned to leave.

"Where are we going?" Draco whispered to Harry as they left the classroom.

"The library. There's something I need to see in the restricted section."