PRAETERITUS - 𝕊𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕦𝕤 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝔻𝕒𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕣

3 - Of Potions and Promises

꧁•⊹٭𝟹 𝙾𝚏 𝙿𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚜٭⊹•꧂

Olivia awoke in the closet to a stiff back and a headache. She unfurled from the cold stone floor and looked around the makeshift bedroom. She had definitely slept in worse places. She slowly dragged herself up and out the door, cursing at the cramps that ricocheted through her muscles from sleeping on the hard floor.

Glancing at the schedule she had collected yesterday, she noted she'd already missed breakfast and was half an hour late to her first class. Defence against the Arts with Mr Lupin. Perhaps it was better if she skipped, she thought, picturing the scarred man from yesterday. Sleeping in a supply closet and missing her first class, what a great start to the year, she thought sarcastically.

Instead she decided to go to the library. Thankfully, spare her smudged mascara and crumpled robes, she didn't look too worse for wear.

The library was magnificent. Shelves upon shelves of ancient looking books stretched back to a large quaint window. The ceiling was gold and thrived with antiquated flowers, curling into depictions of books and people. And it was completely quiet. Only two others inhabited the space, and were working diligently, much to Olivia's delight.

She spent the rest of the hour scouring the shelves, looking for books that could accustom her with the magic learnt by previous years. She knew it would be hard to catch up after being so behind, but she would do it or die trying. Academic failure was not an option to her. Back home it was the only thing she could control, the only thing that kept her afloat.

She left feeling lighter, carrying books on all her core subjects, and vowing to have finished them by the end of the week. After a quick stop at her dorm to drop them off (and to see it for the first time), she made her way to her next class. Potions with Mr Snape. 

She had grabbed the potions book on the way out and began to skim through it on her walk to class. While she had enjoyed making potions back home, she had no clue what these ingredients were and what they did. If they asked her to create a recipe for a healing potion she would have no clue how to make it with these strange ingredients. But with standard kitchen ingredients she would have found it easy, and could cure almost any ailment.

Nevertheless, she walked into the half full classroom and chose a seat in the middle, hoping there was no set seating plan. She continued to read, but the functions of ingredients continued to evade her. Instead there were only pictures of the ingredients and pre-made recipes. Maybe they did it differently around here?

She was jolted up when someone fell into the chair next to her. Side-eyeing the person that sat so ungracefully, she was unsurprised to see it was Fred, the lanky redhead twin from the train station.

"Hey Liv. I haven't seen you all morning. Get up to something interesting?" He waggled his brows at her.

"No."

The events of the day before had made her close in on herself. She didn't want to let anyone in; it gave them too much power to harm her. That, and her social tolerance was thoroughly battered. If one more person said another stupid thing she would blow. But it didn't seem to bother Fred, who continued talking as if she'd given him a full answer.

Until Snape walked in. Severus Snape was a harsh looking man, with greasy black hair curtaining his face and a hooked nose. Dark calculating eyes swept the room, as he kept his face emotionless. Olivia recognised something in him, the same thing that she had that cooled her features and sharpened her tongue. It felt that somehow she understood this man, that he had gone through something similar to her, not that either of them would ever admit it.