Melanie Granger?

Chapter 12: Superising Potions Master

'What do you mean?' Potter asked confused. 'I thought we weren't going to any teachers.'

'We're not.'

'Ok, technically she's not a teacher, but still! What makes you think that she will help us?'

'Because I know a spell....!  But we'll talk more about this tomorrow, we need to get some sleep before classes again tomorrow.'

'Ok....  Wait!  What about these?'  He held out the samples.

'Hide them.'

'Why don't you take them?!'

'Because.... I-'  I stopped myself.  'Because the girls sometimes get nosy and we don't want anyone finding them.'

'Ok fine.'  He nodded and held on to them as we walked up the stairs to the dormitories where we paused to say goodnight.  'Well I'll see you in the morning.'  He smiled.

'Yeah....  Night.'  I replied then we turned and each went into our separate dorm.

Once inside I quickly got changed into my pyjamas and went to bed, happy to go to sleep after such an eventful night.

The next morning things were quiet and uneventful, everyone did their their usual stuff and stuck to their routine, getting dressed, collecting books, some have early morning showers until we all went down to breakfast.

After that I discovered that our first lesson today was potions. Great. Not.

So all the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins went down to the dungeons where Professor Snape was waiting for us and as we came silently into the classroom I couldn't help noticing that he held is usual bored expression.  However, as always, I tried to pay attention as he drawled on about the wiggenweld potion, or at least that was what he talked about for the first half of the lesson, choosing then to talk about the 12 uses of dragons blood.

I already knew that Dumbledore was the one who had discovered the uses for dragons blood, but I had never found out what they actually were until now.  I couldn't help smirking to myself as I took notes, thinking that this lesson was rather ironic given what had happened last night. Heheh.... Still I did find the lesson pretty interesting and it made me wonder something.

Snape is without a doubt a very skilled potions master, his talent shows not only in how he teaches us but also the sample potions he brews, not to mention all of the time we all know he spends working instead of being friendly with the other teachers.  Where am I going with this?  Well....  Since it is clear is a somewhat unorthodox teacher I wonder if he would be able to help Harry and I with our samples.  The only question is, would he rat on us?

Oh well only one way to find out.

I stayed behind a little after class to talk to him, the look he gave me as I walked up to his desk instead of going out the door like the rest of the students were showed me that he really wasn't in the mood for a discussion, but I decided to talk to him anyway.

'What do you want, Miss Granger? I hope you are not going to be like your sister and start asking questions about things that are far beyond your year level just to try and impress me because trust me, it doesn't.'

'You would love it if that was what I was here for, wouldn't you?  Because then you would have sound reason to take points from Gryffindor, but that's ok.  You can even take them now if you want, I don't mind.'  I shrugged causally.  'But actually I came here to ask about blood.'

'Blood?'  He looked at me confused.

'Yes, blood. More specifically magical blood.'

'I see and what do you want to know about it?'

'I want to know if there's anyway to.... Well....'  I tried to think of a way to word the question.

'Spit it out girl, you're wasting my time!' He snapped.

'If there is any way to test it for unknown substance using a potion.'

'Yes as a matter of fact there is.'  He nodded while looking at me calculatingly.  'Why?'

'Curious.' I shrugged.

'Come now surely you can do better than that. After all curiosity killed the bat. Or the cat as muggles say.'

'Ah yes, but satisfaction brought it back!'

'Hm.' He smirked at my comeback before turning sour again. 'Now give me a straight answer, why do you want to know this?'

'Because I have a few blood samples I would like to have help testing.'

'Ah....  And you would like my help with this?'

'Yes sir.'

'What makes you think that I would help you?' He asked sneering.

'I don't know.... I just thought it was worth a shot, but if you can't help me....'

'Ha! It is not a matter of whether I can or can't, Miss Granger, it is a matter of should I?'

'Well I know if I try to persuade to then you would only say no, so it's up to you.'

'You know.... You are very different from your sister.'

'I was aware of that, yes....  So what's your decision?'

'I will help you.'

'Thank you sir.'  I replied surprised.

'It's only because I don't have anything better to do this afternoon. Now get out of here before you're late to your next class.'

'Yes Professor.'  I nodded.

I then turned and left the classroom, happy to see Harry had waited for me and I allowed myself to show him a brief smile.

'What did you talk to him about?' He asked curious.

'Lets just say we won't be needing Madam Pomfrey's help after all....'

'You got Snape to help us?!  He is going to do the- Ouch!'  He cried out as I punched him in the arm.

'Yes and keep quiet!'  I hissed.

'Sorry.'  He replied rubbing his arm.

'Come on, let's just go to our next class or we're gonna be late.'

He agreed and we hurried on.