Frozen Lily

Chapter 6 - Playing the hero

"We're going to be planting and taking notes on some Murtlap shrubs today, so get your gloves on; it's quite odd when in solid form, Murtlap." Professor Longbottom pulled a pot of soil closer to him and took out an oddly shaped leaf, that looked like a green arrowhead.
Some of the girls in my class sighed romantically - at Longbottom, not the plant. I rolled my eyes.

"You're going to take your Murtlap cutting and just push the wider end into the soil like so, and then you're going to take the vial of Pepper-Up potion next to you - not the red one, that's for later - and pour it over the leaf. It's much more concentrated than the potion you'd find in the hospital wing, so I wouldn't try drinking some if you're tired, Victoria," he added, and Tori quickly set the vial back down.

There was a unified clattering as everybody planted their cuttings of Murtlap. I picked up my vial of potion and took out the cork, when I was interrupted by a voice from opposite me.
"Going to go back to Aaron straight after Herbology? Got no shame, sister?" Tori asked snidely. I looked up and glared at her. We may be third cousins, as with all pureblood families, but she kept going on with sister this and sister that, and one of these days I was going to slap her.
"I'm not going out with Aaron, Tori." I said through my gritted teeth. She smirked and continued, but I was determined to ignore her. I concentrated on pouring the Pepper-Up potion on the leaf. It immediately spiked up a few centimetres and a few smaller leaves poked up through the soil.

"Now we're just going to take some notes on the plant before we pour the other potion on it, otherwise it can get quite energetic when fed." Professor Longbottom continued from the other side of the greenhouse.

I began taking notes on the shape, colour etc of my plant. Out of the corner of my eye I could still see Tori smirking to herself and whispering to the Ravenclaw boy next to her; I think his name was Edward or Eric or something. I bent closer over my plant and put my quill to the parchment. Ammi Kaur, who was working next to me, nudged me and I realised I was holding my quill too tightly and it was close to snapping. I loosened my grip and nodded thanks at her.

I could feel their eyes on me and focussed harder on my notes.

The Murtlap plant has sharp, pointed lime green leaves that look quite like arrowheads...

I bet I could poke Tori with one of the leaves. Shame she'd have to go to the hospital wing.

The plant excretes a colourless thin layer of gel that covers its leaves, which although smells like Aloe, is very acidic and can burn skin on contact...
It has extraordinary healing powers, which can fully heal the ordinary graze or scratch in hours, and can numb the pain for other wounds, depending on size and severity...

***

After being let out a few minutes early from Herbology, I relaxed into one of the comfy armchairs in the common room and dropped my bag at my feet. A few minutes later, Mia skipped in and sat into the chair next to me.

"I just had Charms, it was awesome! Will sat next to me, with his friends of course, but still! Chloe and Jess were being really funny as well, and Professor Birchwell didn't give us any homework! So we can play exploding snap or sit outside or something before we have lunch!" She looked at me excitedly.

"Sure, a walk sounds good," I quickly wrapped a scarf around my neck (it was really cold outside) and bounded down the stairs, where Mia was waiting expectantly.

We hurried downstairs and out of the entrance hall, and walked to a nice spot under a tree that overlooked the lake. The sun was still high in the sky, but the cold air was crisp and the grounds looked as if they were turning orange and brown, with the fallen leaves blanketing parts of the grass entirely. Other students were also relaxing in the last of the summer sun and some were standing by the lake, skimming pebbles on the surface. Every so often a giant tentacle would come up and splash them, flicking icy drops of water at their faces and robes. A group of Slytherin girls were crowding around a first year Slytherin. I bet they were trying to get her to do something stupid.

"What are you going to wear tomorrow?" Mia asked nonchalantly. I looked at her confusedly.

"Tomorrow?" And then it hit me. "Of course! The Hogsmeade weekend! I'm going out with Alec!" I gasped and turned to Mia. "Where should we go? I don't really want to spend the day at Madam whatsherface's tea shop, way too pink..."

We discussed places all the way back into the castle and on the way to our seats at the Gryffindor table.

"... What about Zonko's? Ooh wait, the Shrieking Shack!" Mia carried on while pulling a plate of food closer to her. Chloe took a seat next to us and gave an angry sigh.
"Either of you know a drying spell?" She asked us.

"Try the hot air one - why'd you need one?" Mia replied.

"Peeves."

He wasn't in the great hall, but Peeves was known to wreak havoc on the students.
"Water ballooned us. Jess chased him down the stairs, dunno where she is now." Chloe continued, drying herself with her wand before pulling the plate of spaghetti closer.

After almost 20 minutes, Jess came storming up the table to us and sat down next to Chloe.
"Freakin' Peeves, water ballooning the entrance hall, then I got laughed at by a bunch of Slytherin sixth or seventh years..." Jess grumbled. "One of these days I'm gonna find a way to turn him into a frog..."

"Why weren't the seventh years here at lunch?" Mia asked seemingly nonchalantly.

"I ended up outside the entrance to their common room. They were all going on about how they could come up with something believable... Probably an excuse to why they weren't at lunch."

I looked over at the Slytherin table and noticed a few empty seats; Meredith and her friends. And one near the first years' end. My eyes scanned over the rest of the table and I saw Alec, who glanced up at me and smiled. Smiling back, I looked down at my food and felt a blush coming to my face. He smiled at me! I couldn't help grinning to myself.

"Lil? Are you done yet? I wanna go up to our dorm and write down a few things before we go to lessons..." I nodded and left my plate as we all left for our dorm.

In the entrance hall, we bumped into the group of Slytherins, who were all stifling a giggle. We walked straight past them and I could feel Meredith's eyes burning holes into my back.

"New info: Slytherins trying to make something believable..." Mia jotted down on the same piece of parchment as before. She folded up the parchment, after wiping it blank and stowed it away in a robe pocket.

"Got your bag?" She asked me, slinging her own over her shoulder.

"Uh, yeah - wait no, it's not here..." I added, after noticing its absence. I mentally slapped myself.
"I must've left it in the great hall, I'll go get it now."

"See you after CoMC," Mia said, as I ran down the steps, two at a time, and hurried into the great hall. I spotted it under the bench, exactly where I had been sitting. Picking it up, I ran back out of the hall and walked into the grounds, following the general hubbub of sixth year Hufflepuff students to the enclosure where we usually had Care of Magical Creatures.

As we passed the lake I noticed a first year flailing around in it, a little ways away from the shore. I paused.
They looked like they needed help.

I tapped the nearest student, a Gryffindor boy in my year called Jake, and asked him to please take my bag to CoMC and that I might be a bit late, before I ran to the lake.

"Help! Please I can't swim!" I could make out the first year's yelling.
I hesitated before wading in and pulling them out. The water wasn't that deep, not to me anyway. The first year girl panicked and splashed water everywhere. Surely she could put her feet on the lakebed by now?

I sat her down on the shore (away from the water) and pointed my wand at myself, drying my robes with hot air.

I pointed my wand at the first year and began to dry her off, when I heard a crack that sounded like ice breaking from behind me. I spun around and made out a blurry group of figures, before everything got covered in spots of the brightest white.