The Empty Chamber (Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction)

Chapter Eleven: Lydia

Lydia couldn't stop thinking about that lousy, worthless, good-for-nothing James Potter, and the fact that she was one of two people in the entire school who knew how he gained his new and quite dramatic limp (he would have told Fred, of course), and the fact that she was the only person in the school who was there when he got it. And also how he'd gotten it because he had failed in his murder plot against her, and therefore she had no sympathy. Only rage and bad memories were associated with James Potter. However, as she couldn't stop thinking about him, she was constantly in a rage, and Scorpius was constantly telling her to walk slower because, "Great gorgons, Lydia, you're storming through the halls like you're leading an army to battle." Not that Scorpius would know anything about battle, but Lydia could tell he was proud of his analogy so she didn't critique him.

Even Albus, who usually looked at Lydia with what was either reverence or fear and therefore never corrected her, told her off for it. "You're giving James way too much power over you," he said in the Great Hall one morning for breakfast through a mouthful of scone.

"It's not power over me if I'm plotting revenge," Lydia said as she jabbed her fork at her plate, spearing assorted fruits.

"If you try to get revenge, you'll end up with a limp," Scorpius said, clearly annoyed. "You won, so let that be the most recent thing in his mind."

"Are you some sort of psychologist?" Lydia asked, but she was laughing. They were safe, as this wasn't thinking-about-James-and-ready-to-stab-something-Lydia, this was just Lydia. She put on a posh accent, "the most recent thing in his mind..."

Scorpius tried to sigh dramatically, shaking his head, but he dropped his fork and had to shuffle awkwardly to grab it off of the floor, ruining the effect.

Lydia's saving grace was her schoolwork, something she didn't like to have to say. Hogwarts was more than a series of mini-adventures and bonding moments, contrary to popular belief, and this meant that Lydia had to stop sulking about James to focus on tasks such as learning and completing homework assignments.

Potions was Al's favorite class. It was only a short walk from the Slytherin common room, which in Lydia's eyes was one of its few positives, but Al seemed to be quite talented, and therefore he found it far more enjoyable than Lydia did. The Potions professor was a very old man named Atticus McCleary from Ravenclaw house. He had a thick Scottish accent and often forgot what he was saying in the middle of his sentence, and yet it was clear he was brilliant in his field.

His classes usually consisted of a lecture: "The way in which one prepares their ingredients is, er, c-cr-crucial, to the success of the potion. It is a," pause, "meticulous task. I knew a man once, aha! Yes," his face lights up as he recalls a story, "I knew a man once who elected to carelessly chop his caterpillars as opposed to mincing them, as was wise, and he nearly killed his sister." The students share terrified glances and he says quickly, "None of you will be testing your own potions, of course, so no worries. I can't think of a Professor who would be cruel enough for that. That'd be pretty low..." He chuckles, and he is the only one to do so. "Alas!"

This would be followed by a demonstration: "Watch as I neatly slice this - oh dear, where has my knife gotten off to? I must have -" "It's behind your cauldron, sir." "Yes, of course, of course." And finally, an opportunity for the students to try potion-making themselves. He always watched from the safety of his desk instead of whisking around the room, and he was usually wringing his hands in what could only be interpreted as anxiety.

There were several reasons that Lydia didn't like Potions, the first being Al was better than her. It's not that she was jealous, it was that she didn't enjoy investing her emotions in places where she was second best. She also didn't like the cutting-up-dead-insects part, or the fact that the classroom was always bloody freezing. Also, they had Potions with Gryffindor, and that would have been fine, except for now Al was terrified of interacting with Rose. So instead of fine, it was awkward.