What If? Year 2

Chapter 24

Hermione grabs my bag and leads me away from the boys.
"Where are you going?" Ron asks, starting to follow after us.
"Bathroom," Hermione answers.
"Do you both need to go?" Harry asks.
"Harry, you have two sisters," I tell him, "you should now that if possible, girls go to the bathroom in groups!" Harry and Ron's faces turn red and Hermione giggles.
"We'll come find you when we're done."
"We'll be in the Great Hall," Ron mumbles as Hermione and I walk off.
"We're gonna go to the bathroom closest to the Ancient Runes classroom," Hermione tells me as we start our walk, "then hopefully we won't run into anyone."
"Okay... are we sure there won't be anyone in that bathroom?" I ask.
"Umm..." she replies, "No... we'll just have to hide in the stall or something." I follow her straight into the bathroom and we go into the biggest stall.
"They're gonna... what if someone is in this stall?" I ask, completely dreading this. Hermione sighs and we get out of the stall.
"Here," she says, pulling me into a corner, "we'll do it here." I nod, nervously. She pulls out a necklace and loops it around the both of us.
"One turn is an hour," she whispers, "so... two turns. We'll be early." I nod and watch as she turns it two times. I watch as a few girls walk in and out in two times speed. We finally get to the right time, and we go on to Ancient Runes.

"I can't believe we have to ruin a perfectly good day with Potions," Harry complains, "I would be so nice to have a first day of school without a Potions class." I roll my eyes at him and Ron snickers.
"I don't understand why you two hate Potions so much," Hermione says, "sure the professor isn't very nice, but the subject is fun." I nod and Harry grabs me by my robes.
"I guess you're gonna sit with me then," he says to me, "Since you're so good at Potions." I groan, but follow him into the Potion classroom and sit down besides him. Ron comes to sit with us, his eyes narrowing at Hermione who is sitting with Neville.
"You did tell us not to sit with each other anymore." He rolls his eyes. Everyone settles into their seats, and I notice that a certain smug blonde is missing.
"He's really gonna milk that injury, isn't he?" I whisper to Harry, as Snape walks in, his robes swishing dramatically.
"Your Instructions are on the board," Snape says, as my potion's book magically flips to the correct page, "Shrinking Solution... something a third year should easy be able to produce." I see Neville's ears turn pink as Hermione helps him find the correct page. "Go." I get up and grab some roots from the shelves. Ron and Harry follow me, like baby ducks watching my every move. I start to cut up my roots, reading the extra notes in my book.
Make sure that the roots are all equal.
I have gotten rather good at cutting things in equal, so I am able to quickly cut the roots into equal cubes. Harry and Ron stare at me, mouths open in shock.
"Bloody hell," Ron swears, "how'd you do that?" I shrug and look at the next step.
"Practice." Snape comes sweeping over to us and looks down at my roots.
"Looks like your mother's skills in Potions only skipped a child," he sneers, as I get up to grab a shrivelfig. I quickly grab it and start back to the table, hoping Harry did not say anything horrible. Ron's ears are red with anger when I get back.
"Ara was right," Harry snarls at me, "you might even be able to give Malfoy a run for his money for being Snape's biggest brownnose." I ignore him, continuing to skin the fig. Just as I finish skinning my fig, Draco swaggers into class, a bandage around his arm.
"How is it, Draco," Pansy asks, her voice wavering, "Does it hurt much?"
"Yeah." Draco grimace and Harry shutters besides me.
"Settle down, settle down." Ron and Harry scowl at each other, muttering about how if they'd walked in late, they would get detentions. Malfoy walks over to us, setting his cauldron down between Ron and Harry.
"Sir," Malfoy calls, "I'm gonna need help cutting up these daisy roots... because of my arm."
"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him." Snape does not even look up. Ron's ears turn red as he grabs Malfoy's roots. I see where this is headed and grab his arm before he can continue.
"Let me do it," I whisper to him, "you saw how fast I finished mine."
"Weasley, you heard Professor Snape; cut up my roots!" I move the roots over to me and cut them up quickly, still keeping them in equal sections.
"I don't believe that you're name is Weasley," Snape snaps at me, as I pass the roots over to Malfoy.
"Sorry, sir," I answer, "but, Ron had just finished cutting his up, and since I can do it quite a bit faster, I thought it would be more helpful for Draco to have it done so he could continue and not stay to late." Malfoy snarls and Snape smiles at me.
"I guess I should have thought of that," he replies to me, "five points to Gryffindor, for quick thinking. Would you mind skinning his shrivelfig?"
"Of course, Professor. Draco?" Snape walks away and Malfoy hands me his fig.
"Told you," Ron snarls at me. I skin the fig, just like how mine looked and I toss it gently to Malfoy. After cutting up my caterpillars, I start putting in my ingredients and it turns a bright, acid green.
"Have you see you pal Hagrid as of recent, Potter?"
"None of your business," Ron snips back.
"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer... my father isn't very happy about my injury."
"I'm gonna give you a real injury..."
"Father's complained to the governors... And to the Minister. He's got a lot of influence, you know. And with a life altering injury like this... who knows if I'll every be the same."
"Hasn't seemed to fix your attitude," I whisper to Harry.
"You're trying to get Hagrid fired!"
"Partly, Potter... But don't worry... there are other benefits too." I look around, trying to ignore the bickering around me. I watch as Neville puts his ingrediencies in and his potion turns-...
"Orange?" Snape says, ladling some and letting it splash into the cauldron, "Orange! Tell me, Longbottom, does anything penetrate that think skull of yours?"
"He used two rat spleens..." I whisper, looking over at Hermione, "shift the portions so that he make two vials." Hermione sees me and agrees.
"Didn't you hear me say that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I expressly state that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What must I do to make you understand, Longbottom?" Neville is pink, his entire body shaking as the Potions Master goes on. Tears are collecting at the corners of his eyes.
"Please, sir," Hermione says, "I could help Neville fix it... it wouldn't be that hard."
"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," Snape shoots her down, making her turn just as pink as Neville, "At the end of the lesson... we will feed a few drops to your toad and see what happens. Hopefully that will encourage you to do it properly." Snape sweeps over to me and inspects my potion.
"See this color, Longbottom?" he asks, ladling it up and showing it to the class with a splash, "perhaps some lessons with your young classmate would do you some good." I feel my jaw tighten as he goes back to his desk.
"Help me," Neville groans to Hermione. I cut up Malfoy's caterpillars before handing them back and getting up to ask Snape something.
"Professor?" I say, softly, as I approach his desk.
"Yes, Miss Potter?"
"C-could I help Neville?"
"He needs to learn why it is so vital to do it correctly," he answers me sharply, "why don't you make sure the three boys at your table don't make the same mistakes?"
"But, s-sir... feeding it to his pet seems a bit cruel," I reply, even softer.
"No need for you to worry about it" he answers quietly, "wouldn't you think that I would have a potion that would reverse the effect of what every that monstrosity did?"
"Well... I guess I didn't think about that. Sorry, sir."
"It's is quite alright. Just so you know, I was not kidding about him taking some lessons from you. You have a gift."
"I would love to help him, but I don't think I'd be a very good teacher."
"I think you'd surprise yourself," he answers, "But I don't want to muddy up your schedule even more."
"I'll try to figure something out." I rush back to the table.
"Why is your potion brighter than mine?" Malfoy whines, "you cut all of my ingredient for me!"
"But I didn't measure your leech juice," I reply to him, looking at the dull acid green in his cauldron, "the more you put in makes it more dull."
"You all should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potions needs to stew before it can be drunk, clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..." Crabbe and Goyle laugh as Neville turns his potions anxiously. I quickly pack up my scraps for use later and clean my ladle.
The lesson quickly draws to a close and Snape goes over to Neville's cauldron, which now has a green liquid in it.
"Everyone gather 'round." I take a deep breath as he drops a small spoon of Neville's potions into Trevor's mouth. After a gulped there was a small pop and Trevor is a tadpole. The Gryffindor students clap as Snape's expression turns sour. He drops some of his own solution into the tadpole and he appears fully grown.
"Five points from Gryffindor," he snaps, taking the happiness from all of us, "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed!"