During lunch break, Draco left to work on the Vanishing Cabinet while Delilah worked on Slughorn and Snape's homework in the library. Slughorn's was easy enough. She finished it rather quickly. Snape's, however, was much more complicated, and she only barely finished it before the bell rang for her to go to Double Potions.
When she got there Harry, Ron, and Hermione were already talking.
"Mind if I join you?" asked Delilah.
Hermione smiled.
"Of course not. What do you think of Slughorn?"
Delilah paused. How did she phrase this?
"Well, he's not as smart as Snape" —she raised her hand to stop Harry's protests— "BUT he's a better teacher, since you know, he doesn't bully students."
"But he does have favorites," Hermione argued.
"True, but at least he doesn't act against those who aren't his favorites."
"I wasn't saying he's a worse teacher, I was just pointing it out."
Thankfully Slughorn opened the door, so she didn't have to figure out a response.
As they entered Slughorn greeted Harry, Delilah, and Zabini with particular enthusiasm.
"What did you do to get him to like you?" Harry asked.
"I impressed him in Alchemy."
"Wait, there's an Alchemy class?" Hermione blurted.
"Yeah, but-"
"I never took it! Why wasn't it an option in our third year? I'd have loved-"
Hermione took a breath and Delilah took the opportunity to interrupt.
"Because Snape had to approve the students and since he's a biased git he didn't invite you despite the fact that you would be amazing at it."
Though, it had been nice for Delilah not to have to deal with Hermione upping her again and again in a subject Delilah cared more about. Still, it wasn't fair that Snape hadn't given Hermione a chance.
Oddly enough, the dungeon was already full of vapors and odd smells. Delilah studied the bubbling cauldrons as shade passed.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked as she walked past him.
"To sit across from you."
She ruffled his hair and sat down, leaving Macmillan to sit awkwardly with the Slytherins. She loved doing that to Harry, but since he had his growth spurt she couldn't reach his head unless he was sitting down. It was rather annoying.
As she sat down, she studied the cauldrons. The one closest to them was obviously Amortentia, the addictive scents alone was enough to show that.
Delilah sniffed experimentally. She had always wondered what it would smell like to her, but she and Draco never had had the time to experiment with it. Oddly enough, the scents weren't too surprising. There was the smell of Draco's cologne, old books, and the café Draco had taken her to last year. Hopefully the next hogsmeade trip was soon, she really wanted some more of their french toast and hot chocolate.
She sniffed again and was surprised to find hints of Mrs. Weasley's perfume and Hagrid's hut. She'd need to visit him soon.
Just as she started studying the other potions, Slughorn turned to the class.
"Now then, now then, now then. Scales out, everyone, and potion kits, and don't forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making...."
Delilah pulled the needed items out along with the notebook with her improved potions recipes and tips.
"Sir?" said Harry, raising his hand.
"Harry, m'boy?"
"I haven't got a book or scales or anything — nor's Ron — we didn't realize we'd be able to do the N.E.W.T., you see —"
"Ah, yes, Professor McGonagall did mention... not to worry, my dear boy, not to worry at all. You can use ingredients from the store cupboard today, and I'm sure we can lend you some scales, and we've got a small stock of old books here, they'll do until you can write to Flourish and Blotts...."
Slughorn went to get Harry and Ron the supplies. Delilah took the time to investigate the other potions. The one nearest the Slytherins was colorless and odorless, so it would be Veritaserum. The one closest to the Ravenclaws was all too easy to identify. The mud-like substance was obviously Polyjuice Potion. That left the small, black cauldron on Slughorn's desk. The potion was splashing merrily; it was a beautiful molten gold, and large drops were leaping like goldfish above the surface, though not a particle had spilled. It was Felix Felicis, the luck potion.
"Now then," said Slughorn, returning to the front of the class and inflating his already bulging chest so that the buttons on his waistcoat looked like they would burst in a moment's notice, "I've prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kind of thing you ought to be able to make after completing your N.E.W.T.s. You ought to have heard of 'em, even if you haven't made 'em yet. Anyone tell me what this one is?"
He indicated the cauldron nearest the Slytherin table. Of course, Hermione's hand shot in the air. Slughorn pointed at her.
"It's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth."
"Very good, very good!" said Slughorn happily. "Now," he continued, pointing at the cauldron nearest the Ravenclaw table, "this one here is pretty well known.... Featured in a few MInistry leaflets lately too... Who can — ?"
Hermione's hand was fastest once more. Delilah knew the answers, but she'd rather have Hermione peak Slughorn's interest than herself.
"It's Polyjuice Potion, sir," she said.
"Excellent, excellent! Now, this one here... yes my dear?" said Slughorn, now looking slightly bemused, as Hermione's hand punched the air again.
"It's Amortentia!"
"It is indeed. It seems almost foolish to ask," said Slughorn, who was looking mightily impressed, "but I assume you know what it does?"
"It's the most powerful love potion in the world!" said Hermione.
More like the most powerful strip-people-of-their-own-free-will potion. Honestly, it was disgusting how many people thought it was alright to use it.
"Quite right! You recognized it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?"
"And the steam rising in characteristic spirals," said Hermione enthusiastically, "and it's supposed to smell differently to each of us, according to what attracts us, and I can smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and —"
But she turned slightly pink and did not complete the sentence. Delilah did notice her glance at Ron. It seemed Hermione had finally figured out that she liked him.
"May I ask your name, my dear?" said Slughorn, ignoring Hermione's embarrassment.
"Hermione Granger, sir."
"Granger? Granger? Can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"
"No, I don't think so, sir. I'm Muggle-born, you see."
Slughorn showed no dismay; on the contrary, he beamed and looked from Hermione to Harry, who was sitting beside her.
"Oho! 'One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and she's the best in our year!' I'm assuming this is the very friend of whom you spoke, Harry?"
"Yes, sir," said Harry.
"Well, well, take twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger," said Slughorn genially.
Delilah bet Hermione didn't dislike Slughorn now.
Hermione turned to Harry with a radiant expression and whispered, "Did you really tell him I'm the best in the year? Oh, Harry!"
"Well, what's so impressive about that?" whispered Ron, who looked annoyed. "You are the best in the year — I'd've told him so if he'd asked me!"
Oh boy. Apparently he liked Hermione, whether or not he knew it yet was another question. This would be an entertaining year.
Hermione smiled but made a shushing gesture, so that they could hear what Slughorn was saying. Ron looked slightly disgruntled. Yep, this would be fun.
"Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room — oh yes," he said, nodding gravely at Draco and Theodore, both who were smirking skeptically. "When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love....
"And now," said Slughorn, "it is time for us to start work."
"Sir, you haven't told us what's in this one," said Macmillan, pointing at a small black cauldron full of Felix Felicis standing on Slughorn's desk.
"Oho," said Slughorn again. Delilah was positive Slughorn hadn't forgotten about the potion at all, but wanted to be asked for dramatic effect. It was a good thing there wasn't a theater class, because Snape would have competition for being the teacher.
"Yes. That," Slughorn continued. "Well, that one, ladies and gentlemen, is a most curious little potion called Felix Felicis. I take it," he turned smiling, to look at Hermione, who had let out an audible gasp, "that you know what Felix Felicis does, Mis Granger?"
"It's liquid luck," said Hermione excitedly. "It makes you lucky!"
The whole class seemed to sit up a little straighter. Delilah turned and saw Draco sitting up, staring intently at Slughorn. It was obvious why he'd want some. It would speed up his progress on the Vanishing Cabinet a lot.
"QUite right, take another ten points for Gryffindor. Yes, it's a funny little potion, Felix Felicis," said Slughorn. "Desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong. However, if brewed correctly, as this has been, you will find that all your endeavors tend to succeed... at least until the effects wear off."
"Why don't people drink it all the time, sir?" said Terry Boot eagerly.
"Because it causes people to become more reckless and idiotic than they already are," Delilah answered, glaring at him. She still didn't like that idiot.
Slughorn, instead of being mad at the interruption, chuckled.
"Quite right. As Delilah so kindly put, if taken in excess, it causes giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous overconfidence," said Slughorn. "Too much of a good thing, you know... highly toxic in large quantities. But taken sparingly, and very occasionally..."
"Have you ever taken it, sir?" asked Michael Corner with great interest.
"Twice in my life," said Slughorn. "Once when I was twenty four, once when I was fifty seven. Two tablespoonfuls taken with breakfast. Two perfect days."
He gazed dreamily into the distance. Whether he was pretending or not, the effect was good.
"And that," said Slughorn, apparently coming back to earth, "is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson."
There was silence in which every bubble and gurgle of the surrounding potions seemed magnified tenfold.
"One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis," said Slughorn, taking a minuscule glass bottle with a cork in it out of his pocket and showing it to them all. "Enough for twelve hours' luck. From dawn till dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt.
"Now, I must give you warning that Felix Felicis is a banned substance in organized competitions... sporting events, for instance, examinations, or elections. So the winner is to use it on an ordinary day only... and watch how that ordinary day becomes extraordinary!
"So," said Slughorn, suddenly brisk, "how are you to win my fabulous prize? Well, by turning to page ten of Advanced Potion-Making. 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!"
There was a scraping as everyone drew their cauldrons toward them and some loud clunks as people began adding weights to their scales, but nobody spoke. The concentration within the room was almost tangible.
Delilah opened her notebook and started her potion, ignoring Draco trying to get favoritism from Slughorn.
She managed to get her potion to be the light purple and started stirring. To her surprise, Harry's looked just as good, though the instructions in the book weren't good enough for that. And, just like her, he was adding a clockwise stir after every seventh counterclockwise stir.
"How are you doing that?" demanded Hermione, who was redfaced and whose hair was growing bushier and busier in the fumes of her cauldron; her potion was still resolutely purple.
"Add a clockwise stir —"
"No, no, the book says counterclockwise!" she snapped.
"How'd you know that?" Delilah quietly asked Harry when Hermione was focused on her potion.
"The previous owner wrote instructions in the book, they seem to be working well."
"Ok, mind if I look at it later?"
"Sure."
Delilah managed to finish just as Slughorn called, "And time's... up! Stop stirring, please!"
She looked around the room and was surprised to see that the only person whose potion was as light as hers was... Harry's. She couldn't tell whose was better, but she had a shrinking suspicion it was his.
Slughorn moved slowly among the tables, peering into cauldrons. He made no comment, but occasionally gave the potions a stir or a sniff. At last he reached the table where Delilah, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were sitting. He smiled ruefully at the tar like substance in Ron's cauldron, gave Hermione's an approving nod. Then he saw Harry's, and a look of incredulous delight spread over his face.
"Excellent, excellent, Harry! It's clear you've inherited your mother's talent. She was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was! Oh my! It seems you have too Delilah, your potion is almost perfect, but Harry's is the clear winner!" he cried to the dungeon. "Here you are then, here you are — one bottle of Felix Felicis, as promised, and use it well!"
Harry slipped the tiny bottle of golden liquid into his inner pocket. Delilah smiled. She'd need to look at his book. She was curious what the old owner had done differently.
"How did you do that?" Ron whispered to Harry as they left the dungeon.
"Got lucky, I suppose," said Harry.
Delilah followed them to the Gryffindor table, taking care not to sit down.
"After dinner meet me in the library, I want to take a look at your book."
Harry nodded and Delilah walked away to sit with Draco.
"Do you know how Potter did so well?" he asked.
"I'm talking to him about it after dinner. Are you going to work on your project tonight?"
Draco nodded.
"Do you want help with your homework later?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"Also I've made a decision," Delilah declared. "I'm helping you."
"But-"
"Yes, it's dangerous. But I'm already on his watch list. Something to do with Harry being my twin."
"I'm not going to be able to convince you not to, am I?" he said with a sigh.
"Nope."
"Oh alright then."
But Delilah couldn't help but notice his smile.
After dinner Delilah met Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the library.
Wordlessly, Harry handed her the book.
"Oh, you won't let us look at it but you willingly give it to her?" Ron grumbled.
Delilah ignored him, flipping through the book instead, writing down all the notes the previous owner had taken and what page they were on in her notebook. It was a lot, but she could write quickly when she wanted. When she got to the page with the Draught of Living Death she saw what they had done differently.
"Oh that is ingenious. Instead of adding another cut bean, they crushed it. That is brilliant. More juice would come out, which would improve the lighter color."
She kept flipping through it, surprised to see some spells.
"Harry... have you seen these spells?"
"Spells?" Hermione grabbed the book, looking at the page in question.
"Yeah, there's Levicorpus, its countercharm, Liberacorpus, and a lot more. Be careful using them though, we don't know what they can do. If you need to figure it out, check out what they mean in latin."
"Latin?" said Hermione skeptically.
"Yes, most spells come from Latin, that's probably why they don't teach it so people don't go around creating spells that could blow up the castle."
"What do you think of the instructions?" Hermione asked.
"They all are legit, most are the ones Snape taught us."
"He never taught us any tricks like these," Ron protested.
Delilah rolled her eyes.
"No, but did you notice that he never had us use a textbook? He just put the instructions on the board. I have another notebook full of them. I checked them against the official textbooks and they were different."
Ron made a small, "oh" sound.
Delilah looked up as she heard footsteps approaching them.
"The library is closing soon and- wHaT dId YoU dO tO tHaT pOoR bOoK?!?!" Madam Pince exclaimed.
Delilah shoved the book into Harry's arms.
"Oh, sorry Madam Pince, we were just leaving. Sorry to bother you. Good night."
They hurried out of the library.
"Harry," Delilah said once they were out of earshot from the library. "I suggest you copy all of the previous owner's notes into your own copy once you get it. That way no one can get mad at you for using them."
"But it's cheating!" Hermione exclaimed, finally unable to contain herself. "At least you're good at Potions because you put work into it. I noticed how your potion ingredients were emptier than they should be, so you must have experimented with it. Harry on the other hand is stealing someone else's work!"
So Hermione was upset about Harry being better at Potions. It made sense, Delilah felt the same way at first.
"Harry still correctly did all the work. Just because he was using a different set of instructions doesn't change much. If it bothers you so much you could follow the same instructions as him and see who is the better Potioneer if it means that much to you."
"That's not- this isn't about-" Hermione stuttered.
Delilah quietly smiled. It wasn't every day she managed to beat Hermione in an argument.
"Anyway, we should head to bed. It's almost lights out."
With that she turned and headed to the Slytherin Common Room.