Unnoticed

Potions and Poltergeists

I was horrible at Potions.

There was only a week until school started, and I had done fine and caught up sufficiently in every class, including Arithmacy, which I decided to take. But not Potions. Professor Snape groaned at every concoction I made, and he seemed doubtful I would be caught up in time.

"No!" He snapped at me as I went to add something to my potion. "Read the instructions again!"

His voice echoed around the dungeon walls and I lowered my eyes to the book lying open in the seat next to me. I realized I had too much of the ingredient, so I remeasured and added it to my cauldron. I stirred it three times clockwise, and then once counterclockwise. The color of the steaming liquid changed from a pale green to a pale red. Not the deep red the book described, but better than some of my other potions had been.

"Turn it twice more clockwise," Professor Snape instructed. I glanced down at the instructions.

"But sir, the book doesn't-"

"Do as I say."

I wanted to hit him with one of the jinxes I had taught myself out of a few of the books in the library, but I just did what he told me too. The Potion turned the color it was supposed to be. I could practically feel Snape smirking in self satisfaction without once looking up at him.

"Now finish the potion, make the one on page one-hundred and fifty two, then you may go."

He went into his office and I groaned. This potion was going to take at least another half hour, and the next one would probably be just as long or longer. I had been sitting in here for over two hours already, and I wanted to leave. Get some fresh air on the grounds, preferably. I wiped the sweat off my brow that seemed to be omnipresent whenever I was sitting close to a fire putting crap in a cauldron like this. It was as if the classroom was either so cold you couldn't feel your fingers, or so hot you couldn't stop sweating.

I glanced at the door leading to Professor Snape's office with contempt. I liked all of my other professors and they all liked me. But not him. I could tell that he didn't like me right from the start. He radiated hatred. And during the time I was here, I had met the Gryffindor Ghost, Sir Nicholas, and he had informed me that Snape usually showed favor to Slytherins. I think I may be the first Slytherin in the world to be hated by him. I also learned from Sir Nick that I wasn't a typical Slytherin. Hagrid had said basically the same thing, and it made me wonder if the Sorting Hat had made a mistake.

I managed to finish the potions fairly quickly and as soon as I could I got out of the room. I put my things in the common room, and then started walking around the school. I did this a lot on my free time, and knew my way around really well. I had even found a few shortcuts around. I had grown quite accustomed to the empty castle, and found it hard to imagine what it would be like when it was teeming with other students.

As I was walking around aimlessly, I found myself at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Dumbledore himself had caught me up on that class, because the professor wasn't actually getting in until the students did. But there was something different about this professor- he was a werewolf! I knew I wasn't supposed to know, and that I couldn't tell anyone else, but I had overheard a couple teachers talking about how it might be weird having a werewolf on the premises. I hadn't known who they were talking about until one of them said something about him not arriving until the day school started, and the only professor that hadn't arrived was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

I kept walking, thinking about some of the spells I had been wanting to try out. They were mostly jinxes to use against people that I thought might be funny. I was wishing I had a place to practice as I was walking down a corridor I hadn't used very much. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the wall undulating, and when I fully turned around there was a door. I went up to it and opened it, peering into the room. It was a spacious room with a couple dummies on stands in the center of the room. Just what I needed to practice with.