Nightmare (Harry Potter OC Fic)

12. Failed

As much as Kei wanted to give her best friends space, she grew impatient with the two boys. Two weeks had passed since they had gotten the handcuffs off and despite constantly pestering Silas on how it was achieved, they said nothing of the sort. Not only was Silas withholding information from her, which Kei assumed, but Tiberius and Vic also ignored her in every way.

"Tiberius," Kei hissed as she mixed the contents of her cauldron.

Currently, the two friends were in Potions brewing some kind of potion she paid no attention to. Kei's attention was currently on getting her partner to talk to her about something other than the assignment at hand.

Tiberius hummed, "if you're going to talk, at least pass me an Ashwinder Egg."

Kei sucked her teeth and handed him the cracked egg and shells, "really, Tib? Just talk to me already!"

"Miss. Higgs, I'd appreciate it if you focused on your potion rather than socialize in my class," Professor Snape said, coming up behind the pair.

"Yes, Professor," Kei mumbled.

"Rather not take points off from a prefect," he hissed. Kei nodded once more and waited until Snape was out of range before talking,

"I reckon he's making us powder the moonstone instead of dissolving it to make the brewing time shorter."

"It is, and that is also why we have to add fewer rose thorns and peppermint oil; to dilute the brew," Tiberius commented. Kei practically groaned in defeat.

They continued to make their potion-making in silence, Tiberius only talking to Kei to ask to pass the ingredients or share utensils. Kei watched as the liquid turned from a grey-white to an opal colour, reflecting the light from the candles around the room.

"Ten minutes left," Snape called.

"Almost done?" Kei asked.

"It's actually finished, I believe," Tiberius said, turning off the flame.

Kei nodded and mixed the potion slowly, not wanting to mess it up, "what do you smell?"

Tiberius narrowed his eyes and cleared his throat, looking over to Vic, who was sitting at the table   behind them. Kei followed Tiberius' glare and cleared her throat, causing him to drop his gaze.

"Well, I smell cinnamon, burning wood, the pine forest, and. . . that's all I can smell," he sighed and narrowed his eyes at Vic once more.

"What's the last smell?" Kei raised her brow.

"I can't smell it thanks to Vic's strong cologne. I don't appreciate drowning in that stench," he scoffed.

Kei had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing at Tiberius. There was no way they would be able to tell Tiberius that Vic, in fact, stunk a bit and didn't smell like his usual cologne at all.

"That's fair," she mumbled, biting back a laugh.

"And you?"

She leaned over the cauldron full of Amortentia and breathed in deeply, softly smiling to herself, "honeysuckles, the pine forest, pecan swirls, and some kind of chocolate. I'm not quite sure on that last part— it could be hot chocolate or chocolate chip cookies. Hm, I want cookies. . ."

Tiberius let Kei ramble, as she usually did. He thought about Kei's amortentia and smiled to himself, shaking his head softly. He looked down at his best friend and missed them dearly. Of course, he was still upset over what had happened, but he couldn't hold it against her anymore. He was now somewhat civil with the Lestrange kid he "hated" so much.

"We can go to the kitchens if you'd like," Tiberius said, cutting Kei off.

Kei snapped her head up and gave him a large smile. She felt as though she'd won; Kei had gotten her best friend back. Tiberius smiled back at Kei, happy that they were happy again. Though Tiberius knew how much it hurt her to be away from him, he was afraid to blow up on her once more.

"Yes, of course, I—"

"Ten points from Hufflepuff for disrupting the class," a voice called through the room.

All of the students looked over to Kei and Tiberius' table. The two other Hufflepuffs in the class glared at Kei while their cheeks burned in embarrassment. Professor Snape looked over at the pair once more before continuing his lecture on the importance and danger of the potion in front of them.

Before dismissing the class, Snape passed out the exam they had taken the week before. He handed Kei her exam and upturned his nose before continuing down the aisle. Kei gasped softly as she glanced at her grade: An A.

"What did you—?" Kei cut themselves off as they looked at Tiberius' exam. He had gotten an O. "You lucky bastard," she cussed under her breath.

"How'd you manage an A?" Tiberius furrowed his brows.

"Reckon it's from not studying with you," she mumbled. "Gina's nice to study with but jokes around too much for my liking."

Tiberius sucked in a small breath, slight guilt eating at his chest. He knew it wasn't his fault but also knew how much Kei's marks meant to her.

"It's just one A. You'll get O's for the rest of the year," he tried to calm the Hufflepuff.

Kei shrugged, "I know. It just sucks."

Once class was dismissed, instead of going straight to the kitchens, Tiberius and Kei made a B-line towards Alastor's office. It had been a while since they talked to him outside of class. It was as though he had forgotten his own son attended the school he taught at.

The trek from the Potion's room to the Defence office was a short one and they made it just as the class ended. The odd thing was that Alastor was nowhere to be found. His room door was ajar and empty.

Tiberius called out to his father, but there was no response.

The candles were extinguished and it was as though no one had been in the office in ages. They both didn't understand where he was but thought nothing of it. Though Alastor wasn't the most social type of person, Kei blew it off as he was in the Teacher's Room. They weren't allowed there without a professor's escort.

"C'mon, let's just go to the kitchens," Kei sighed. "We can see him tomorrow after class."

"Yeah," Tiberius trailed off. "Yeah, whatever. Let's go. I bet the elves can make us some cookies and other treats."

Kei's previous foul mood lightened at the idea of sweets. She squealed and grabbed onto Tiberius' arm, pulling him out of the empty office.

Well, they believed the office was empty. The hidden figure in the shadows heard their entire conversation and vowed to watch them closer, not liking their nosiness.