The Simple House of Duffrey

(24) Hogwarts, A History

I had decided that unless there was another major championship I would avoid games this year and settle for watching their practices. It was also because Sam had special permission for a gardening project this year. Unbeknownst to me she had to have special soil and atmosphere, so the hybrid plant had been placed at the foot of one of the Quidditch towers on the field. She had put it in as a seed just before frost had hit the grounds.

Also, I had made it into year two of my grandpa Henry's journals. Unlike me he had been extremely skilled in charms but he had favored Transfiguration above all. I guess favorite classes weren't hereditary which explained how much I wasn't enjoying Arithmancy. I had even asked our head of Gryffindor house, Prof. Muldoon Cragg, if I could change into something like Ancient Runes instead or even Muggle studies. He unfortunately refused as Muggle Studies was full.

I had a feeling he didn't offer me a spot in his course of Runes because he was annoyed it was a second thought. Of course, he told me to 'stick with it, apply my best, read more and wait to see how my OWLS went'. Rather everything about our encounter was improper since I had ambushed him near his classroom in the hallway. He was older now with puffed up white hair that came out the sides of his pointed hat, but he was mentioned in my Grandpa's journals as a new professor which meant he was nearly 80 years old or more.

At least I had a reliable time in all my other classes even Potions. It seemed to be the one course where Stephen refused to fall far behind. I knew of course it was because he favored it in skill as much as enjoyment. Though he had told me that he couldn't confirm my suspicions about why his Grandfather had come.

"What do you think they did for Thaddeus' birthday this year?" I asked dropping a pollywog kelp into our project cauldron. I looked at the next step and let Stephen take the lead on stirring.

"Yeah, they said he wanted a big cake made of all strawberries that he saw in a muggle shop" He kept stirring offhandedly up to the count of twelve strokes which turned our brew dark green.

"...did you grab the essence of wormwood?" he said looking around the table. I put it into his hand which made him smile. He measured two small teaspoons precisely and dropped them in our potion. Just then the teacher doing rounds of the class came to look over our shoulder.

"Come look everyone, they got the perfect pearlescent sheen of a properly brewed, Polywog poison. I wouldn't dare sip it though because while it may give one temporary cunning and mix seamlessly into Gilly Water...at the end without a cure you'll dry up like a fish out of water". He said this teasing the other students with the ladle.

He leaned into Stephen and whispered something to him, "Glad to see even the Ministry can't ruin my best student". To that Stephen gave an appreciative nod but he didn't really smile.

"It's still just until midterms, right?" I asked as we skipped saving a sample and destroyed the entire batch by dropping in an antidote.

"That's still the plan" He said stretching his arms out and putting away extra tools and supplies. I took this time and others like it for the next few weeks as a sign that whatever Stephen was doing he felt that it was worth the time. More importantly he had told me he had agreed before his Grandfather had brought him from Kerry.

The next week I spent as much time as possible catching up with my first best friend, Sam in Herbology and my newest, Grandpa Smith. During lunch, I had brought the third-year journal down with me out of the common room. Inside was a picture of my grandpa Henry and his friend, Sam Tulley, after they had used an engorging potion on grandpa's pet frog. The thing was so huge the two of them had to hold it up together. I started laughing before I could help myself, splashing the pea soup in my bowl.