From friends to this -Year six (re-uploaded) Book 1/4

Chapter 19

Over a month had passed since Tara had told Fred one of her deepest secrets, and he had kept true to his word, not telling a single soul. The day the foreign students were due to arrive came, and everyone was excited. The week before a notice had been posted in the entrance hall, causing everyone to loose their minds because it meant finishing classes half an hour early.

After a particularity giggly breakfast, Tara and Fred were separated and so she was sat with Mitchell, who was by himself at the back of the room, since she was also banned from being with George and Lee.

This didn't start the class on a good note, maybe she should've seen her difficulties coming for the remaining hour and a half. She should've known when Snape announced they'd be brewing a draught of living death.

"Why're you so giddy today?" Mitchell asked, as the two went looked through the supply room in the middle of class to get sloth brains, an ingredient they both purposely forgot so they could chat in an occluded space later.

"I wish I could tell you." Tara answered with a grin, "I'm confused too."

"Mr. Everard, Ms. Tonks." Professor Snape's voice made them groan internally, "I highly doubt that it takes this amount of time to retrieve your ingredients, and last time I checked you only have five minutes to let the potion sit...not seven."

Mitchell turned and nodded, "Sorry, Professor."

Tara followed her team mate out of the supply closet, apologising to Snape reluctantly as she passed him.

"Someone kill me." Tara whispered to Mitchell, making him laugh quietly, as they sat back down.

"Poor sloth died for this class." Mitchell tutted, taking it from his little supply bag and sighing. He looked at it pitifully before dropping it into his cauldron.

"Oh... shit." Tara cursed under her breath.

"What?" Mitchell asked, looking at her confused.

"I didn't cut the sopophorus bean!" She whisper shouted.

"It's impossible," he told her, "I'm going to throw the whole bean in and pray." He looked at the bean, one last time and threw it in carelessly with a shrug.

Tara frowned as she looked at her potion, I should be smooth with a black current colour by now. Undoubtably the extra two minutes of sitting didn't help as it looked a bit too thick to be considered smooth, not lumpy or bitty, but textured and the colour was a little on the light side. She shook her head, "I'll just do it now."

"Good luck" Mitchell scoffed, "Took me forever at the start of the class and I didn't even do it."

She ignored him and got a knife from the drawer in the desk. She put the knife to the bean and pushed down to cut it. The bean slipped and went flying to the left. Tara gasped and quickly reached to her left to catch it, nearly falling off her stool.

"Ms. Tonks didn't I advise you to prepare your ingredients ahead of time?" Snape asked from the top of the class, his arms were folded and his eyes narrowed.

"Sorry." She apologised before going back to this damned bean.

She tried three more times, the first re-do, she almost blinded her right eye, the second, she almost sent it into a ravenclaw's cauldron and the third she had almost cut her own heart out, her knife slipping with the force she used to cut it. She groaned before throwing the knife down, thankfully the scrambling from the rest of the class covered it up. She had just wasted another two minutes and her potion was growing even lighter. Mitchell looked at amused before going on with his own potion-he was already putting in valarian root. Sure his potion was not clear as water-as the instructions stated, in fact it was more a light blue-but it looked better than hers.