𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 || 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘

002. POTION STRUGGLES

CHAPTER TWO.

Hogwarts was a magical place, both literally and metaphorically. Emma adored the castle, every square inch, and all of it's hidden rooms and creatures. She was now in her sixth year and with the OWL exams and stress behind her, Emma had planned on spending this year having fun with her friends before she would have to start preparing for her seventh year exams. She had been back at Hogwarts for almost three weeks, and Emma felt even more stressed then she did during exams.

How on earth was she supposed to kill Albus Dumbledore?

Dumbledore was one of the most powerful and respected people in the entire wizarding world. How was Emma Cresswell, an almost seventeen year old, supposed to kill him? The only times Emma had seen him was during mealtimes, and Emma was not about to send a killing curse across the Great Hall while Dumbledore munched on his garlic bread.

"You've gone and zoned out on me, Emma," Theodore Nott chuckled during lunch. Emma stared at him for a few more seconds, still having not completely returned to reality. "I'm in the middle of my weekly rant about homework and you don't even have the decency to listen."

"Sorry Theo," Emma smiled, taking a bite of her turkey sandwich. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?" Theodore asked. Emma wouldn't call him nosy, but after having Theodore as one of her best friends for years, Emma knew he hated secrets and being lied to.

Her eyes scanned the hall quickly, landing on the teacher's table. "Slughorn. I really preferred Snape as our potions master."

Theodore shook his head, his curly brown hair swaying from side to side. "But Snape is so good at teaching defense. We're actually learning about the dark arts now."

Emma nodded and finished her lunch in two large bites. "We better get going," she said, the words coming out a little mumbled as she covered her mouth and chewed. "We've potions next."

Theodore nodded and fished up his bag from beneath the Slytherin table. The pair stood from their seats and made their way out of the Great Hall, bumping into a tall girl with dark skin on the way.

"Are you guys heading to potions now?" Daphne Greengrass asked, pulling her rucksack onto her shoulder.

"Yep," Emma smiled, nodding at her cousin. "We can't be late anymore, since we haven't got Snape as our potions master."

"I don't know how I'm going to survive another double class of Slughorn gushing over Harry Potter," Theodore spat as they left the hall and begun descending the staircase to the dungeons. "There is some obvious favouritism going on."

"That happens with Potter all the time," Emma said. "There's no point complaining. He's always going to be a favourite."

They had arrived at the potions classroom, which was relatively empty since not many people wanted to carry on the subject with Snape as their teacher. Since it was a small class, students from all four houses were present. But everyone only seemed to mix with their own housemates.

Emma sat down at the four-person Slytherin table at the back of the room. Daphne sat beside her, and Theodore was beside Daphne.

"He's not usually late," Daphne said, nodding at the empty chair that belonged to Draco Malfoy. "Unless he's skipping."

"I hope he's skipping," Emma mumbled absentmindedly.

"I'm afraid your wish is not my command, Cresswell." Emma hadn't even noticed Draco entering the classroom, for her head had been laying on the wooden desk. Draco lazily tossed his rucksack under the table and sat next to Theodore.

"I don't really understand why you two don't get on," Daphne said, turning from Emma to Draco while Theodore glanced at her, wondering if she wanted to start an argument. "You're both Slytherins, pure-bloods, and you do have stuff in common."

"Well he's a spoilt prick," Emma murmured, casting a look at Draco and noticing he was already glaring at her.

"And she's a stubborn bitch," Draco hissed back. Emma pushed herself off the table and opened her mouth to retort but Theodore held his hands up in the air to stop her.

"Alright stop you two before I drown you both in my cauldron," Theodore sighed. He lower his arms as Slughorn entered the room. "Look, class is about to start."

Slughorn called for their attention before anyone could utter another word. The man seemed to bounce around his desk as he explained the task of today's lesson; brew an antidote to uncommon poisons.

"You've an hour," Slughorn announced, checking the watch on his large wrist. "Go!"

Emma flipped open her Advanced Potions Making book to page 298, and began reading the instructions. Daphne had left her side to fetch the ingredients needed and Emma quickly followed, unable to bare the thought of being left at the table with Draco alone.

Once Emma returned with her arms full of random ingredients, she grabbed her mortal and pestle and began crushing the Graphorn horn. She threw the powder into the cauldron along with some crushed Billywig Sting and stirred twice. It turned a dull yellow colour.

Emma lifted her head to ask for Daphne's knife, but found that her cousin wasn't there, and neither was Theodore. Emma had a full view of Draco working over his own cauldron.

Emma watched as Draco picked up a Fire Seed before dropping it instantly, swearing under his breath while he shook his hand.

"It's a fire seed, Malfoy," Emma blurted out. "Did you expect it to be cold, or something?"

"I don't remember asking for your opinion Cresswell," Draco spat, his cheeks tinted red from the heat of the cauldron.

"It's not an opinion, it's a fucking fact," Emma seethed. "It has the word fire in its name and guess what? Fire is hot."

"You know what else is a fucking fact?" Draco asked, glancing at Emma's cauldron. "The potion is meant to be green, not the colour of piss."

"I'm not finished yet!" Emma growled, turning back to her potion and blocking out whatever Draco muttered under his breath. She continued her potion, though incredibly irritated, and ending up burning her own hand while adding the Fire Seeds.

By the time class ended, traces of that dull yellow were still floating around Emma's potion. Daphne and Draco had managed a pale green, while Theodore threw his potion down the drain before Emma could inspect it.

And of course Mr Harry Potter's potion was perfect and Slughorn gave him an endless amount of praise. Emma left the classroom as soon as they were dismissed, needing some fresh air before her head exploded.