The Snow Fox

Frozen Soup

She entered and saw an excited Willow sitting with a vacant seat next to her.

"Willow!"

"Venus! We have a class together, Yay!" The girl cheered.

A grim, pin faced man entered with sleek black hair. The potions master, Snape.

"Good afternoon, you are here to learn the art of Potion making, there will be no foolish wand waving in here, and little to no talking unless instructed. Am I clear?" The class all nodded.

"Now, let's see what I am working with, Ms. Snow, what would I get if I mixed Asphodel and wormwood together?"

Again? Venus mentally cursed the universe as she replied to a teacher's request for a second time that day. "You'd get a sleeping potion, known as the Draught of Living Death."

Snape gave her a sneer of approval.

"A point to Ravenclaw. Ms.Ciel, where can you find a bezoar?"

"Um, the stomach of a cow?" She replied nervously.

"The stomach of a GOAT. Ms.Ciel, not a cow. A point from Hufflepuff."

He asked another student a random question which the class was sure that unless you had started reading months in advance, you would not know the answer to. They proceeded to split into pairs and were made to prepare a simple potion to cure boils. Venus and Willow worked well together as Willow cut and prepared the materials to the exact grain as Venus read the instructions thoroughly. In the end, they got a stern nod of approval from their teacher which in their minds, given what they had witnessed was a good sign. As their class ended, Venus headed over to her next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Their Professor, Professor Quirrell was an odd man. He smelled of garlic and Venus knew he was lying when he said it was to keep a vampire away that he met in Romania. His turban as well, was too large for only his head so she kept her wares about him as a very odd class followed that day. Once their final class of the day ended, Venus took her books and headed straight for her dorm, to check on the plants from earlier.

She entered the room and saw the tray placed by the window as she examined each plant thoroughly. None of them were injured, she was relieved. She took a small dropper and cup and filled them with water. She carefully gave each plant a specified amount of water and placed each one in particular sunlight or shade.

She sighed and looked at the homework she was given. Time to start this.

Some hours passed and Venus put down the final piece of parchment and her quill, exhausted and hungry. She freshened up and headed to the Great Hall for a snack. Skipping and twirling cheerfully along the way, only doing it when she wasn't being seen by others. She sipped her tea and snacked on a scone as she read her book happily, feeling a tap on her shoulder.

"Hello Ethan." She said, keeping her gaze on her book.

"Hi. What are you reading?"

"Transfiguration book."

"But you don't have that class until tomorrow..."

"Doesn't hurt to get a head start."

"Fair. Say, have you seen Willow?" He asked her.

"Should be coming for a snack in 3, 2, 1." The doors opened and Willow cheerfully walked in.

"Wow, thanks." He said, as Willow approached the two.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey."

"Hi."

"I've been meaning to ask Venus, does your last name have anything to do with the Ice Witch?" Ethan asked her as the girl froze on her page.

She sighed and shut her book. "Yes it does, now please excuse me."

Venus got up and left the table hastily, trying to not look concerned. She headed through the main line of the great hall, staring at the floor as she bumped into a girl with a bowl of soup, spilling it all over her.

"Ew! Look what you did!" The Slytherin girl yelled.

"Pansy are you ok. Ugh, get away freak." One of the girl's friends said.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's burning me!" The girl cried as the hot soup stained blouse stuck to her skin.

"Please let me...." Venus blew on the fabric gently, cooling off the material with a slight frost and stopping the girl's complaints.

"H-how did you do that without a wand?" Pansy asked her, taking a step back. "Are you the ice witch? OH MY GOD, YOU ARE A FREAK!"

Venus' eyes widened and looked around her, her skin going cold and pale. Shit. Whispering faces and some loud comments of hate filled her head. She fell onto her knees and covered her ears. Draco was walking in and saw the girl being yelled at by his classmate, rushing to step in but Venus quickly ran off to the Ravenclaw tower and locked herself in her dorm before he could. She huffed, her chest rising and falling with each breathe as she calmed herself.

She rubbed her hands together to create some heat when she got in and noticed her window was open and a bright blue owl was perched on her desk with a rather large instrument case on it.