Prankster's Champion - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter Seven

After the incident with Moody, Magnus had been sticking further away from the Gryffindor table, only talking to Fred and George when they'd come over to him. The way Ron and Harry had acted about Moody's actions made Magnus angry, though he wasn't entirely sure why he got so angry over it. He simply couldn't help but feel his blood start to boil whenever he thought about it.

Weeks went by and Magnus began to hate the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, with Moody as the professor. Though he was learning quite a bit about the curses and such, he disliked Moody's way of teaching and would oftentimes get into arguments with Moody about it. Even so, he excelled at D.A.D.A. His nonverbal spell casting and countercursing had quickly gotten top notch as Moody would send spells and curses at Magnus during arguments. Magnus had started hearing about how he and Moody's 'displays' had turned into some sort of amusement for the rest of the class. It got to the point that Magnus gave up arguing, instead taking seats in the back and writing notes whenever he heard something that he didn't know.

For once, Magnus had started to like potions class over D.A.D.A. He threw himself into studying the advanced potions, filling his textbook with notes and doing everything he could to make the potions even better. Snape was even surprised, and perhaps a bit perturbed, when Magnus started to change slight details in the creation of the potions. It got to the point where Magnus was held back for class one day, a surprise to even the other students as Magnus hadn't done a single thing to get yelled at that day. Fred and George, who'd been sharing potions class with Magnus for weeks, gave him a bit of a worried look as they headed out.

Once everyone had filed out, Magnus stood up and walked over to Snape's desk where the professor was standing. Snape stared down his long, hooked nose at Magnus for a silent moment, beady black eyes locked with Magnus's soft greys. "Show me your potions book," he said, voice low and even. His hand slid out from under his robes, palm up and waiting. Confusion was evident on Magnus's face, but he quickly pulled the textbook out from his bag and handed it over to Snape without a word.

Quietly, Snape looked over the outside of the book, as though looking for something, before he began flipping through the pages with a determined gaze. Magnus was beyond confused, and a bit worried, that the many notes of recipe changes or technique notes would get him in trouble. He didn't speak up though, simply watched as Snape flipped the pages of the book until he finally thumped it shut and looked back up at Magnus.

"You've made many changes to these potion instructions," he said, his tone flat and void of any emotion that might tell Magnus what was going to come next. "Why?"

Gulping, Magnus rubbed the back of his neck as he replied, "well, I've been finding that some of the things said in the book aren't the most efficient... Sometimes something you say in a lecture makes me realize there's an easier way to do part of a potion, or I'll just realize that cutting a certain way goes faster and has the same result." Magnus felt his cheeks heating up and he quickly stopped talking, not wanting to go on and on.

Silence fell over the two of them for a long moment before Snape held the book out to Magnus, an almost pleased look befalling the professor's face. It shocked Magnus, and he quickly accepted his book back and slid it into his bookbag. "It's been many years since a student started correcting the textbooks themselves," Snape turned and made his way towards the other side of the desk. "I expect you'll keep up this level of work from now on. Dismissed."

Magnus was frozen for a moment before quickly turning and hurrying out of the classroom, a look of bewilderment written all over his face. He found George and Fred waiting outside the classroom for him, both looking shocked as well, and he guessed they had been listening in. He nodded for them to follow towards the Great Hall and began walking off, letting out a long, heavy sigh. "That was... So bloody strange!"