Must Have Done Something Right / Scorbus

Chapter 3 / Potions, Partners and Slughorn's Evil Plan

Having read ahead of the rest of the class, well into their textbook's next chapter, Scorpius found he knew most of what Professor Slughorn was drawling about as he twitted excitedly about the front of the classroom. Even still, his head was bowed, making notes, ears listening fixedly to the stumpy man at the front of the Potions classroom. Despite his attempts at full concentration, he could hear his two friends, Andrea and Claire, next to him, whispering about standard Hogwarts gossip.
"—I heard that she dumped him because he went around talking about her like a common slut," Claire was hissing harshly into Andrea's face.
"That can't be, Chris said that Olivia's friend Rachel heard it from Seth that Tom broke it off because Helen was becoming really clingy," Andrea responded, nodding fiercely.
Scorpius tried to hold the eye roll, but couldn't. They were unbelievable. Hogwarts was unbelievable. The rumour mill never stopped turning.
"Clingy?" Claire screeched.
"Shhh!" Scorpius replied. "Do you want Slughorn to give you detention?"
The girls rolled their eyes. "Scorpius, you can't tell me this doesn't interest you," Andrea prompted.
"Not currently. Tell me later, after classes," he whispered, trying to shift his focus back onto the professor, who was scrawling on the blackboard behind him in handwriting that looked like it belonged to a four-year-old.
"But it won't be as exciting—"
"Shhh!" Scorpius warned again.
"This stuff is easy!" Claire said, pointing to his textbook. "But go ahead, rain on our parade, like you always do," she huffed, pinching the pale skin on Scorpius' right arm.
Scorpius jerked, causing his quill to scratch a long thin black line across his page. "Ow, woman!" he cried out, drawing a few people's attention. He rubbed his arm, though the pain was already gone. "Why I put up with you two, I'll never know," he mumbled.
"Without us, your life would be terribly boring, admit it," Andrea said, smirking.
Scorpius rolled his eyes again and didn't answer. Mainly because he knew Andrea was right. They were his only friends in this school, and despite their differences, he genuinely liked them. He supposed knowing them since they were all three in nappies helped; he had grown up with them. The trio knew almost everything about each other, and Scorpius was comfortably aware that if times were dire, they would stand for him, and he them. They may well have been his sisters.
"...be very careful when adding the salamander scales, students," Slughorn was saying. "Measure it perfectly, and remember to stir clockwise while you mix it in to what should be a violet potion."
Scorpius became aware of his surroundings after the mini monologue in his mind, noticing that suddenly students were getting up and moving about the room. Cursing his inattentiveness, he rose also, hoping to follow the crowd. Andrea and Claire beside him hadn't even noticed and remained chatting animatedly about what Scorpius assumed was Tom and Helen's breakup. Honestly...he didn't even know who they were.
"Girls," Scorpius chimed in, grabbing their attention. "You might want to get—"
"Malfoy," he heard a girl say from behind him, tapping his shoulder hesitantly.
Scorpius quickly turned and frowned. What on earth was Melissa Gordon doing, tapping on his shoulder?
"Yes?" he said quietly.
"Well...come on then. Let's get the ingredients," she said, walking over to the supply closet.
Scorpius' first thought that the girl had gone completely insane; and that maybe she had mistaken him for someone else. But he dismissed the thought when he recalled her saying his name. Then he remembered his mind lapse. Perhaps Slughorn had assigned them partners while he was silently thinking about his friends.
His guess was confirmed when Slughorn piped up. "You must agree with your partner on who will do the chopping and who will do the stirring! Remember class!"
Scorpius doubted anyone else heard the short professor in the ruckus of scraping chairs and mindless chatter, but he rushed off after Gordon to help her collect their ingredients.

When Mel had heard her name being called out immediately after Malfoy's, she was a little startled. It wasn't that she didn't want to work with Malfoy, but that all she knew about him was that he was often the victim of many of Albus' friends' insults. She wondered why Slughorn would pair them up. She thought of Albus, wishing they were working together, but then she knew they would never get work done; not only because they would get constantly distracted, but also because they were among the weakest at Potions in the class.
Perhaps that's why Slughorn put me with Malfoy, she thought, as she and the blonde boy began working on measuring and chopping their supplies. With a quick glance around the room, she noticed that Slughorn had more-or-less, paired his stronger students with weaker ones.
Her eyes stopped on Albus from across the room and saw him frowning. She noticed that his partner was one of Malfoy's friends...Claire or Chloe...she wasn't too sure. The girl was chatting to him (though from this distance, Mel couldn't hear her), and Albus' forehead was creasing in confusion as he brought the textbook closer to his face, as if that would transform the words into English.
"Um ... hey look," she said, a little tentatively, getting Scorpius' attention up from the chopping board. "Albus is with one of your friends." Mel pointed.
Malfoy ducked his head up briefly and smirked at the pair of them. "Poor Potter," he mumbled, a smile almost gracing his lips.
"Why do you say that?" Mel asked. "Isn't she good at potions?"
"If she focuses on the task. She's been known to talk people's ear off," he said, watching them.
Mel didn't know what to say to that. She didn't even know if Malfoy was saying that in fun or out of resentment. He showed little emotion on his face, and his tone of voice never wavered. She watched as his head ducked down once again to the board in front of him. A small lock of light blond hair fell down the side of his face, in front of his eyes, but he payed it no attention, focused as he was on slicing the ginger root before him.
Mel thought the silence between them was awkward, but Malfoy seemed content with it. So she pulled her textbook a little closer and began measuring the bubotuber pus into a beaker. She retched a little. The yellow liquid smelled repulsive.
The class stretched on longer than usual, Mel was sure. Slughorn floated around the classroom, smiling absently, obviously pleased with his seating plan. Mel knew she shouldn't complain. After all, she was paired with the smartest boy in their year, but she just wished she could actually talk to him.
The witch took a deep breath. She was a Gryffindor, wasn't she? She glanced at the quiet blond. "So...you like potions?"
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After getting over the initial confusion that Melissa Gordon was indeed his partner, Scorpius frowned and steeled himself to survive the next hour or so of the lesson. He loathed it when the professors paired the students up, because it meant he would always work with someone he had absolutely no interest in...and more often than not, someone who didn't like him.
He sent a grateful prayer that he wasn't paired with a member of the Slytherin Quidditch team. He would rather fake a sickness and retreat to his dorm than spend more than hour at the mercy of Matt's horrible judgements. He supposed working with Potter would have been alright though, but, as he flicked his gaze over to Claire, he saw sure Potter had his hands full with her.
Gordon wasn't too bad. He could tell she was confused with him, but he was okay with that. She didn't need to know anything about him. He doubted he would ever speak to them again after their Memory Potion was complete.
But as it stood presently, the potion wasn't finished yet, and Gordon was making small talk.
"Yeah," he answered her question after a long silence. He didn't look up at her, and continued stirring.
"It's not too bad...I just wished I were better at it," she shrugged. "Must be a Gryffindor thing to be bad at Potions." Gordon smiled at her own comment.
Scorpius dispensed a breath. "If that's true, why is your boyfriend terrible at it?" He didn't mean for it to sound insulting, but his tone of voice made it so. Scorpius bit his inner lip, hoping her didn't upset her. The last thing he needed was another enemy.
Fortunately, his mind was overreacting, and he sighed in relief when he saw her chuckle. "He is, isn't he? But then again, he is a Potter. I don't care what his tie's colours are; you can't get more Gryffindor than a last name like Potter."
Scorpius found he was smiling at that. He remembered back to their first year, and the intimidating process of Sorting. Unlike his father, the Hat took a little more time Scorpius. It debated whether or not he should be placed into Ravenclaw, but his Malfoy genes carried through and he was put in Slytherin. But it was Albus Potter's Sorting that was more startling. Over at the Gryffindor table, they were already making room for him, when the Hat screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Scorpius had never heard the Great Hall more silent.
"Students!" Professor Slughorn yelled. "Before the period ends and you leave your cauldrons to simmer overnight—on a low heat, mind—I have a new assignment to give you," he said with a smile that was far too wide for the cause, as if his news was worth celebrating. His smile flipped when he heard the class groan.
"Sir, you can keep the assignment...we won't be offended," called out Potter, with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed smugly. The class laughed, some slapping Potter on the back for his crack. Scorpius' mouth quirked up as well.
"That's very kind of you, Mr Potter, but nevertheless, you will receive it," Professor Slughorn answered back. He turned to the apprehensive class and proceeded to outline the task. "Your assignment is to complete a thesis on the history, effects, implications, and future uses on Memory Potions, paying close attention to each individual ingredient. I want you to tell me exactly why ginger roots, or salamander scales are needed to complete the potion. Understood?" Slughorn paused. "Now, this is not a normal essay and will require more work and research and more time. Thus, I am giving you until the end of next term to hand in your final report. That will give you a couple of months at least." The class began mumbling and complaining already, the volume rising exponentially. Before it became too loud, Slughorn begged attention again. "I forgot to mention: you will be working in the pairs I assigned you to today. Dismissed!"
What?
No one made a move for the door, but spent a moment digesting Slughorn's last requirement. The students in the classroom were not happy, and suddenly they knew why the professor had paired them up with people they had never worked with before. This was an ongoing assignment, forcing people to expand their learning experience.
Scorpius swallowed and turned to see Mel giving him a small, fake smile, who looked as hesitant as he. He thought that Slughorn's attempt at getting the class to make new friends was going to be more difficult than writing the thesis itself.