The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part Two

228. Harry's Half-Blood Prince

"And that," Slughorn was saying, "is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson, one tiny bottle of Felix Felicis, enough for twelve hour's luck. From dawn until dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt. Now, turn to page ten. We have a little over an hour left to us, which should be time for you to make a decent attempt at the Draught of Living Death. I know it is more complex than anything you have attempted before, and I do not expect a perfect potion from anybody. The person who does best, however, will win little Felix here. Off you go!"

Althea excitedly turned to page ten, which she had just been examining the previous day on the train. She didn't give a fig about the prize, but she had been longing to brew something, anything. She hadn't gotten to do anything all summer. After her conversation with Snape the previous term about the flaw in the chemical reaction that causes an unpleasant burning sensation, she had gotten exceptionally curious about the flaws in the 'official' brewing instructions. She had even compared the instructions Snape gave them with standard textbooks and studied the differences, which were very extreme.

She had come to the conclusion that potion-making wasn't as clear of a science as she had thought it was, and spent her free time that summer studying different ingredients, methods, and modes of potion-making. The reason she had been spending so much time pouring over their potions book so far was to see if there were flaws in the instructions. She had found several. That was why she had written all over it. She worked quickly, following the notes in her small, looped handwriting and working almost as quickly as Hermione.

As she was working, however, she heard Malfoy say, "Sir, I think you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?"

Althea and Harry both looked up before they could think better of it.

"Yes," Slughorn said, not looking at him as he passed the Slytherin table. "I was sorry to hear he had died, although, of course, it wasn't unexpected. Dragon-pox at his age..."

Harry and Althea met eyes for a moment before turning, smirking, back to their books. Althea was trying, with extreme difficulty, to cut her sopophorous bean, but it was so shrivelled and hard that it just moved. Finally, she looked up to see what her friends were doing.

"Can I borrow your silver knife?" Harry asked her.

"Sure," Althea replied. "How are we supposed to cut this?"

"My book has a note that says to crush it," Harry replied with a shrug, taking her knife and quickly crushing the shrivelled bean.

Instantly, it began gushing fluid.

"That's brilliant!" Althea said excitedly, quickly adding the change to her book before doing the same.

Their potions instantly turned a bright lilac.

"I'm borrowing that book later," Althea said quickly, glancing at it and seeing that it had far more changes than even her own.

But for now, she decided to follow her own changes. She didn't want to have to rely on someone else's figuring when she could learn to do it perfectly well herself. She quickly began her stirring and although it didn't turn as pale as Harry's, it was a beautifully pale pink, just a few shades darker than Harry's.

"And time's...up!" Slughorn called the moment she had finished. "Stop stirring, please!"

He began moving along the tables as Althea glanced to see how Hermione and Ron had done. Ron's was tarlike and very thick while Hermione's was a deep purple. Only hers and Harry's in the entire dungeon were even slightly pale. He came to their table last, looking first at Ron's, then Hermione's, which he gave an approving nod, and finally, he came to Harry and Althea. A look of incredulous delight crossed his face as he looked between the two potions.

"Excellent, excellent!" he cried. "I can't even tell who should be-"

"Sir, Harry's is closer to the required colour," Althea interrupted with a smile. "His is better."

"All the same!" Slughorn said. "Yours is nearly perfect as well, Miss Black. I think I may have to declare two winners!"

"No, sir, I-" Althea began.

"Nonsense, nonsense!" Slughorn said dismissively, reaching into his pocket to pull out two small bottles. "This other one was meant to be for my seventh years, but I'll give them something else." Handing them over, he said, "Good lord, Harry, it's clear you've inherited your mother's talent. She was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was!"

Althea and Harry quickly slipped the potions into their pockets, trying to ignore the disappointed look on Hermione's face and the furious looks of the Slytherins, particularly Malfoy.

"How did you two do that?" Ron whispered as they left the dungeon a few minutes later.

"Got lucky, I suppose," Harry said, fully aware that Draco was still within earshot.

When they had sat down for dinner, however, Harry told them about all the notes in the copy of the book he had gotten. Hermione's expression got stonier with each word he said.

"How did you do it?" Ron asked, looking at Althea.

"Well, most of the alterations I'd already written down and figured out on my own, but I got the crushing the bean from Harry's book," she admitted.

Aggrivated by Hermione's dark expression, Harry said, "I suppose you think I cheated?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly your own work, was it?" Hermione said stiffly.

"He only followed different instructions to ours," Ron protested. "Could've been a catastrophe, couldn't it? But he took a risk and it paid off. Slughorn could've handed me that book, but no, I get the one no one's ever written on. Puked on by the look of page fifty-two, but-"

"Hang on," a new voice said suddenly. Harry turned, surprised to find the same flowery smell he had caught in the amortia wafting toward him. "Did I hear right? You've been taking orders from something someone wrote in a book, Harry?"

It was Ginny. She had sat down beside Harry and was looking very alarmed and angry.

"It's nothing," Harry said reassuringly. "It's not like, you know, Riddle's Diary. It's just an old textbook someone's scribbled on."

"But you're doing what it says?" Ginny said harshly.

"I just tried a few of the tips written in the margins, honestly, Ginny, there's nothing funny-"

"Ginny's got a point," Hermione said.

"Oh, come on, Hermione," Althea sighed. "Several of the things in that book are things I figured out too! It's nothing-"

"We ought to check that there's nothing off about it," Hermione interrupted, not even looking in Althea's direction. "I mean, all these funny instructions, who knows?"

"Hey!" Harry cried indignantly as Hermione snatched his copy from his bag and raised her wand.

Muttering under her breath, she tapped the book. Nothing happened.

"Finished?" Harry said irritably. "Or d'you want to wait and see if it does a few backflips?"

"It seems all right," Hermione said, staring at the book suspiciously. "I mean...it really does seem to be...just a textbook."

"Good," Harry said, snatching it back.

As he did so, however, it slipped from the table and fell open to the back cover. As Harry bent down to grab it, he found, scribbled into the bottom corner, the words 'This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince.'