The blessed girl's destiny (a harry potter fanfiction)

Chapter 6

Vanessa was late. No, scratch that—she wasn't just late; she was extremely late. It seemed like the universe was conspiring against her. Not only had she overslept, effectively skipping breakfast, but she'd also had to rush to the Great Hall to get her timetable from Professor McGonagall. And, as the final blow to her morning, she kept losing her way, courtesy of the blasted moving staircases.

She had a map, of course—McGonagall had handed it to her—but it was about as useful as a chocolate cauldron. A static map in a moving castle? Genius, she thought bitterly. By some miracle, Vanessa managed to find the Potions classroom, albeit ten minutes late, which, given the circumstances, didn't seem so bad. Unfortunately, Professor Snape seemed to disagree.

"Ah, Miss Taylor," he drawled as soon as she knocked and entered, his cold eyes boring into hers. "Decided to grace us with your presence at last."

Vanessa barely had time to open her mouth before he continued, his voice dripping with disdain. "Do you imagine, perhaps, that being the new student grants you the privilege of arriving whenever it suits you?"

"I'm terribly sorry, Professor," she said with her most innocent smile, the kind she'd perfected at Durmstrang. "But, you see, the staircases kept changing, and I—well, it's my first day, after all."

Her response, though dripping with politeness, carried just the right amount of defiance. Snape's eyes narrowed, his glare tightening, but he didn't seem to have a retort. His silence felt like a small victory.

"Sit," he spat, turning his back on her to resume his lecture.

Vanessa glanced around the room, searching for the twins, but to her dismay, there were no seats near Fred and George. With Snape's gaze still lingering over his shoulder, she quickly slid into the only available seat—unfortunately, next to three Slytherin boys who clearly thought themselves superior to everyone else. They gave her nothing more than fleeting looks of disinterest, except for the one on her right.

From the moment she sat down, she could feel his eyes on her. Cold, brown eyes. Dagger-like. He didn't say a word, but the heavy silence between them was louder than anything Snape was muttering at the front. She pulled out her potions book, determined to ignore him, and began jotting down notes. A few minutes later, an elbow knocked her quill out of her hand, sending it clattering to the floor.

Vanessa froze, her mind racing. Accident? Unlikely. She looked up, meeting the eyes of the boy beside her. He didn't blink. His lips curled into a small, condescending smile, and Vanessa understood immediately. He wanted her to pick it up.

But Vanessa wasn't one to play by anyone's rules. She held his gaze, unflinching, her own glare icy and unrelenting. When she made no move to retrieve the quill, the boy's smile faltered, ever so slightly. A twitch in his jaw betrayed his frustration. Clearly, he wasn't used to people refusing him.

Good, she thought. Let him be frustrated.

Without breaking eye contact, she turned her head back to Snape and continued the lesson, quill be damned. Moments later, Snape instructed the class to gather ingredients for their potions, prompting everyone to rise. As Vanessa stood and made her way to the front, she felt the boy's presence lingering close behind her, his shadow following her every move.

Each time she reached for an ingredient, his hand shot out just before hers, snatching it from the table with deliberate precision. She clenched her teeth, growing more irritated by the second. How immature could someone be? It was as if he found joy in making her day even worse.

But then it clicked. He wasn't even paying attention to what he was grabbing—he was just copying her.

Vanessa smirked to herself. Spoiled brat. Deciding to test her theory, she deliberately reached for the wrong ingredient, watching out of the corner of her eye as he mirrored her every move. Satisfied with her little trick, she returned to her seat, flipping her book to the wrong page. He did the same, looking increasingly confused as he followed her misleading notes.

After a few moments of amusement, Vanessa flipped back to the correct page and got to work on her potion, chuckling quietly at the boy's struggle. Eventually, she saw him catching up—his potion was decent, but nowhere near as polished as hers. She allowed herself a small smile as she stirred the final ingredient into her potion, watching as it turned the perfect shade of midnight blue.

Satisfied, she sat back, only to notice her potion suddenly shift to a sickly yellow. Panic surged through her—she had been sure her potion was flawless. Her eyes darted to the boy beside her, whose smirk was far too self-satisfied for her liking. He sabotaged it.

Time slowed as Vanessa considered her options. She shouldn't use her powers for something so petty, but then again... she was petty. With a subtle flick of her fingers under the table, she reversed the sabotage, fixing the potion just as Snape arrived.

He glanced at the midnight blue concoction, his lips curling in barely concealed surprise. "Passable," he muttered begrudgingly before moving on to inspect the rest of the class.

Vanessa grinned at the boy's bewildered expression. He clearly hadn't expected her to outmaneuver him so effortlessly. As the bell rang, she quickly gathered her things, levitated her quill into her hand, and shot him a wink before heading toward the door.

Fred and George caught up to her as she exited the classroom.

"Why didn't we see you at breakfast?" Fred asked, trying to match her brisk pace.

"Overslept," she replied, not breaking her stride.

"Oh no—wait, slow down! Why are you walking so fast?" George called, half-jogging to keep up.

"No reason," Vanessa said, her voice a little too innocent to be convincing.

"Right..." Fred said, suspicious. "You can't possibly be that excited for Charms."

"What are you running from, Vanessa?" George added, grabbing her shoulder to stop her.

She hesitated, then shrugged. "I'll tell you later. Do you know the fastest way to get to Charms?"

The twins exchanged mischievous glances.

"I think it's time we showed her, George," Fred said.

"Indeed, Fred," George replied, a grin spreading across his face.

They led her down a hidden passageway, and within moments, they were at the Charms classroom, well ahead of the rest of the students. Vanessa settled into her seat with the twins, but before they could question her, a loud boom startled the room. The twins exchanged shocked glances before their eyes settled on Vanessa with newfound admiration.

Vanessa merely smiled, knowing she hadn't just fixed the potion.

***

Author's Note:

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