The Summer Lands

Chapter Nine

2:45 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time

TUESDAY

Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Charms

9:55 am till 10:40 am: Free Time

Class 2: 10:50 am till 11:35 am: Defence Against the Dark Arts

12:55 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time

WEDNESDAY

Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Potions

9:55 am till 11:35 am: Free Time

Class 2: 12:55 pm till 1:40 pm: Transfiguration

1:50 pm till 3:30 pm: Free Time

Class 3: 3:40 pm till 4:25 pm: Flying

4:35 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time

THURSDAY

Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Charms

9:55 am till 11:35 am: Free Time

Class 2: 12:55 pm till 1:40 pm: Magical Theory

1:50 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time

FRIDAY

Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Potions

Class 2: 9:55 am till 10:40 am: Potions

Class 3: 10:50 am till 11:35 am: Herbology

12:55 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time

Class 4: 12:10 am till 12:55 am: Astronomy

SATURDAY

Quidditch Game: 2:45 pm till end of game.

SUNDAY

Free Day

Strange indeed, she thought.

'How is miss Morgie Pie?' The hissy voice of Nagini asked the young Shelby girl. Morgan smiled turning to the snake.

"Wonderful Nagini, and how are you?" Morgan asked her, as she allowed the beast of a familiar to slither up her body, curling around her shoulders. Morgan stroking her head happily as Nagini hissed in satisfaction of being on a warm body, her Tommyling ignoring her as he was sorting his mind out. Possibly about the young girl she had decided to claim as her Morgie Pie. 

'I had a wonderful nights rest, then I found some rats to feast on as well.' Nagini said to the young girl as Morgan ate her breakfast. Morgan had listened intently to the snake, a smile on her face as she did enjoy the stories the serpent had to tell. Like the one about the strange man with a suitcase. She liked that story. 

"Angel, we have to get to class now." Draco said to his cousin with a smile on his face. Morgan grinned as she sadly let Nagini go and started making her way to her first lesson. Potions.

The Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder there than up in the main castle and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. Taking a seat next to Draco, and away from the Weasley boy, the Slytherin's remained quiet waiting for their Professor.

And as soon as he came in he started with roll call. But he paused on her name. Morgan had a sinking feeling that Snape believed that Morgan may be James and Lily's daughter.

"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Morgan Shelby. Our new – celebrity." He tutted looking at the girl. She didn't react like he thought she would, seeing how she couldn't be bothered with the students looking at her like she was an experiment.

Draco and his friends Crabbe and Goyle smirked at Morgan the three waiting to see what she would do. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like her papa's, but they had none of papa's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word. Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses....I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

More silence followed this little speech. Morgan almost rolled her eyes seeing that Ronald wasn't paying attention and Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

"Shelby!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand had shot into the air. Morgan sighed. "Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death.

"Let's try another. Shelby, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons." Morgan replied, her tone bored. He was asking the same questions again, so of course she was bored.

"What is the difference, Shelby, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"Monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite." Morgan sighed. "Come now Professor, give me something more difficult." Morgan giggled; her eyes alight. She of course was not going to play fair with the man that got her parents killed no way in hell.

"Well? Why aren't you all copying this down?" Snape snapped as he glared around the room. There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment.

And just like the first time things didn't approve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy and herself, seeing as they had paired together. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus.

And so Neville was taken to the hospital wing and Draco and Morgan were the only two to receive points for their house.

"Well that was entertaining." Morgan muttered to her cousin as the pair went to their free period.