The Potions Master's Daughter (Book One)

Chapter 40

I smiled at the thought, "Well I didn't actually make one. He tricked me. It turned out he just wanted me there because he was evaluating Blake. Speaking of Blake he's coming to the meeting so I don't want anyone to be annoying him."

"Why would they annoy him?" Harry asked.

I sighed mad at myself for forgetting they didn't know Blake, "Because he's a Slytherin."

"And you're friends with him?" Ron asked.

I nodded and said, "Yes. He's really nice and he's great at potions. He was there when I ran into Malfoy and Wilkes so I know him pretty well now. I swear he's not that bad you'll love him."

Hermione shrugged, "If you like him I'm sure he's fine. I am freaking out about tomorrow night. I can't believe we agreed to this. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight."

"You'll need it. I feel the same way even though I'm barely going to be teaching anything," Harry added.

Ron and I nodded and Hermione said, "Well I'm going to go to bed for the night. We'll need a little extra sleep for tomorrow."

She stood up and I followed her lead, "I think I'm going to turn in too. We'll see you guys in the morning before breakfast."

Harry and Ron stood up as Harry yawned, saying, "We'll go to sleep now too. See you tomorrow morning."

The two of us walked upstairs and I was annoyed to see all the other girls sitting in a circle chatting away while they played with their hair. I rolled my eyes at them to Hermione as we went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Once I was in bed ready to go to sleep I tried to block out all their talking. I got tired of trying and put up a spell so I couldn't hear them. Hermione followed my lead and eventually we both fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up late, well late for me, which meant I woke up at about 6:45. Looking across from me I saw Hermione must have already been up. The other girls in our dorm were still sound asleep so quietly I went into the bathroom and sure enough Hermione was in front of the mirror trying to sort out her hair.

When she saw me she stopped running her hands through her hair and smiled, "Hey sleepy head."

I scowled at her and asked, "How long have you been up?"

She tried to keep a straight face but failed, "For about 10 minutes."

I nodded, "Okay. Let me get ready then we can go down to see if the guys are up yet."

"Okay. I'm going to try to sort out this mess," she replied.

In a few minutes I was dressed in my robes and had straightened my hair. I brushed it back into a high ponytail and secured it with a hair band. I turned to Hermione and I almost laughed at the sight of her hair. It was even more curly than usual because she kept trying to brush through it.

"Why don't we straighten it a bit?" I questioned.

She sighed, "Yes could you?"

I nodded and with a wave of my hand her hair flattened out, "Is that good, or do you want it a bit straighter?"

"No this is great thanks Jessica."

I smiled and said, "Shall we go see if they have gotten themselves in any trouble yet?"

"Sure let's go. Are you sure I look sophisticated enough to be teacher a dueling club?"

I nodded, "Yeah you look fine. Before the meeting I can touch it up if it would make you feel better."

She nodded eagerly, "That would be amazing."

I smiled as we walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs. Ron and Harry were sitting on the couch fully dressed wrestling each other.

Hermione and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes at the two boys. We walked over to them and stood waiting for them to notice us. When they finally noticed us they stopped wrestling and smiled at us sheepishly.

"You see Harry messed up my hair so I messed up his and it got a bit out of hand," Ron said to defend himself.

"You shouldn't be wrestling, you could get hurt," Hermione chastised.

"Okay Mum I'll stop," Harry teased.

Her face reddened as she said quickly, "So do you guys want to go over what we are going to do one more time?"

Suddenly they were all business as Ron said, "Well I was going to introduce everyone then Harry was going to explain why we're here and why we wanted to start it. Then he was going to bring up you to prove we know what we are doing. After that we were just going to teach them a bunch of spells."

Harry asked, "When they are practicing the spells we all will be going around checking on the groups and critiquing them right?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah that's the plan. Just make sure you don't come off as though you think you are better than them or they might get offended. Just put it in a way so they can get better and still have good self-esteem."

"Yeah that's really important or they won't want to come back," Hermione added.

I nodded. I heard a noise behind me and looked to see Neville coming down the stairs. When he saw it was us he smiled and started to walk over.

"Hey guys," he greeted.

"Hi Neville," we chorused.

"So are you guys nervous about later tonight? I can't wait even though I know I'm going to do terribly. Failing is better than not learning anything at all."

"You're not going to fail. I'm sure you'll do great!" I responded.

He shrugged, "I hope so but it's not likely. What kind of spells are you planning to teach?"

I said, "We were going to teach a little of everything starting with the basics. Is there anything in particular you want to learn? We'd love to hear everyone's suggestions."

He said, "Well I've always wanted to know how to turn invisible. I think that would be so neat."

I nodded and thought about it, "What do you guys think?"

Hermione said, "I think it would be a hard spell for some of the younger students to learn like our age, but I'm not opposed to trying it out."

"Great! We'll find time to teach a disillusionment charm to help turn invisible," I told Neville.

He nodded and replied, "That's great, thanks guys."

"It's no problem. Do you want to head down to breakfast with us?" Harry asked.

He shook his head, "No I'm going to wait up for Seamus and Dean; they are still getting ready. I'll see you guys down there."

"Great we'll save you guys seats next to us," Hermione said.

He smiled, "Thanks."

The three of us walked down to breakfast. At breakfast Hermione and I weren't eating but Ron made up for it by eating two times the usual amount of food he eats.

Harry asked concerned, "Hey are you two okay?"

I snapped into focus and said, "Yeah I'm fine, just nervous I guess. I can't believe I have to get through the entire day before I can get this club over with."

"I'm freaking out over what everyone will say," Hermione admitted.

"It's okay, I'm sure you'll both do great," Harry comforted.

With his mouth still full Ron said, "Yeah you guys are amazing, you'll do great. Stop worrying."

Hermione looked disgusted and said, "Easy enough for you to say. You aren't going to be teaching a bunch of older kids magic."