YEAR 7 | Draco Malfoy

10.0 the fumes

The castle seemed less dark as Friday had finally arrived.

Students were happily roaming the halls now, some attending their last classes of the day and some already celebrating freedom.

Claire wandered the corridors from the West-Towers and headed down the big stairs, on her way to Potions.

On her way there, she admired the castle.

The tall ceilings and walls were covered with ancient paintings, some moving.

She noticed an announcement next to the doors to the great hall.

'Duelling club resumes. Please sign up here.'

Claire stood still in front of it, contemplating on signing up.

A few other students had joined her as well and began gossiping.

"I heard it's a defence from the teachers so we can learn how to stand up for ourselves."

"And against the Carrows."

The Gryffindor said to her friend before they both signed up.

It couldn't hurt to learn a few more spells, could it?

Claire thought to herself before scribbling her name and house on the admissions form.

She turned left and went down the staircase, entering the dungeons.

With Professor Slughorn as their Potions teacher since last year, she excelled and became one of the top students easily.

She had always loved Potions but with Snape, as a teacher, she had some difficulties following his instructions.

Always being around Parkinson and Greengrass who didn't care enough to advance to N.E.W.T. level Potions didn't help either.

Previously Snape had shown no interest in correcting their distracting behaviour but that ended last year.

Professor Slughorn valued academic achievements more than a green tie.

So Pansy and Daphne were held accountable for their actions and weren't able to attend the advanced classes for the seventh year.

Even though Professor Slughorn gave his classes with enthusiasm towards every student, Claire knew that he didn't want any association with Death Eaters.

She learned the hard way when despite excelling in Potions, she wasn't invited to his special club.

Nott and Malfoy shared the same fate.

She wanted to be mad and say that it was unfair but she couldn't.

Claire couldn't sincerely blame him.

So she continued to try her best and to her relief, Professor Slughorn didn't treat her any differently in class.

Now that he had become the head of Slytherin, she was curious about how he'd interact with her.

The advanced Potions class was one of her last classes of the day, just a few hours away from dinner time.

Claire relaxed as soon as she entered the dungeons, the dark halls contrasting with the yellow like glow that filled the rest of the castle.

It would be ten minutes until Potions officially began but she had nowhere else to be.

She walked through the round doorway that was drawn on with spells and was overwhelmed by the coloured fumes that hung in the air.

A slender girl was hovering over her cauldron while frantically trying to stop a potion from bubbling and smoking.

The Ravenclaw didn't notice Claire while she continued to freak out.