The Simple House of Duffrey

(11) Into the Dungeons

Finally, this year there was an opportunity to return to all mixed classes. It seems over the summer break a tranquility spell had been put over the dungeon potions lab which finally weakened the everlasting skunk spell enough so it could be neutralized. Unfortunately, this solution only spread as far as the chamber and not most of its contents. The affected tables, chairs and desk had to be burnt out in a pile in the back of the castle where it let off quite a fire display.

After the room, itself was scrubbed down on all four walls and ceiling to floor the same needed doing with everything else. A whole section of house elves had then been tasked with the special assignment of saving whatever could be salvaged of the preserved samples and instructional tools. Martha's Magical All-Purpose remover was bought in barrels for the task. The auxiliary chairs were brought from storage and slowly the room resembled the potions lab again.

Even though the dungeon was rather bare I could tell in the first few months of classes that the Slytherins were extremely comfortable. Indeed, they had clustered on one side of the room giving no chance to communicate with them. Finally, at his wits end over the performance of a certain club that favored the front row he forced us all to change our seats. The intention was that we would be moving from lecture to practice and thus requiring potions partners.

Though the Mulberry's were my usual group breaking off into pairs left me out alone. I also couldn't say that I really wanted to let my grades follow their method of study, because they had no method. The room now was a bit more blended. The Slytherins and Gryffindors still preferred each other but a few singles accepted each other as pairs. By the end there was only a few available partners left. I had taken my time watching everyone else scamper that I forgot to ask for myself...

There was a tall boy in back with porcelain skin and soft black hair. Though he looked as though he wanted to push the world away from him I had little choice in open seats. As our eyes met I was surprised by the warm chocolate brown pools that seemed to beckon me to understand what he was thinking. He had instead of choosing a partner elected to sit in back alone while everyone else paired off. If he was confident enough to prefer to work alone than he probably had a good work ethic. With that thought I was spurred on to take my place next to him.

We worked silently from the book on our simple draft. Barely uttering a word but "here or thank you". When we came close together I noticed that my eyes seem to line up perfectly with his very straight nose. Having spent so much time with my father at work and in my grandfather's company I was completely at ease with silence. There are people of all kinds after all and he was rather pleasant.

When he let me do the final clockwise stirs I began to wonder why he had separated himself from the other Slytherins. I hadn't noticed him before because he was always in the middle of a crowd. It seemed as though that wasn't something he had created for himself. Before the lesson ended our teacher came around to test the pairs draughts. The boy sat back on his stool apparently satisfied at our concoction.

"Oh, a perfect azure hue! My you two work well together...let's see Duffrey and Sayre." The teacher poured our elixir onto his shrubs where they correctly glowed in their own light. "Excellent, keep up the good work!"

At the bell, the brown eyed boy had already swept out of the room with his own things probably to avoid his fan club. While it must be nice to have friends, I wasn't sure that's what he really had. I went ahead and cleaned up our station after bottling the leftovers. The color of green lined robes appeared in front of my eyes as I knelt down for my bag.

"So, sucking up to 'the great silence' now are you Duffrey?" A Slytherin girl with blond hair addressed me suddenly. She was buttressed by another girl and a boy I wasn't keen on talking too. "Think you'll get favors from him just cause of your name."