Newt Level Potions Class: Amortentia, Veritaserum, and Deadly Draughts

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The first Potions lesson of the new term was an interesting affair. Six Gryffindors had scored the required E to study it at NEWT level, and we made our way down to the dungeons along with five Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs and three Slytherins, Gerry Stebbins looking rather disappointed once he realised Mary wasn't there. I knew that Charlotte had only just scraped into the class, but she was clearly thrilled to notice Remus had also made the grade.

Severus Snape made a beeline for Lily while we were waiting for Slughorn to open the doors, and tried to pull her away from the rest of the students. She stared up at him with disdain and then looked away.

"I told you, I'm not interested," she said, her tone acidic.

"But please," he begged, "I'm sorry. It was the wrong thing to say." From what I could see of his face through his curtain of greasy black hair he looked desperate, which I must say didn't suit him at all.

"Save it," she said sharply. "I've made my choice."

James had made his way over to them, his wand out. "Is he bothering you, Evans?" he asked lightly, though we could see the anger in his face as he looked down at them, standing so as to make the most of every inch of height (both of them!) he had over Severus.

"Thanks, Potter, but I'm fine," she responded, making a point of looking James full in the face and smiling at him, knowing how Snape would take it. If she'd had the guts and knew there would be no repercussions, it wouldn't have surprised me if she'd snogged him, just to see Severus' reaction. "Snivellus was just leaving." And she pushed past Snape without looking at him and made her way over to where Charlotte and I were standing. James looked mildly surprised and a little pleased as he walked back to Sirius and Remus.

Severus was watching her with a horrified look on his face. He looked from her to James, then back again, and we could see the conclusions forming in his mind as he started getting more and more worked up. Fury and resentment were leaching out of him in floods and I was expecting him to get his wand out at any moment.

The ensuing silence was interrupted by Professor Slughorn opening the door of the Potions classroom. "NEWT students, welcome," he said, grinning benignly at us as we made our way inside and seemingly oblivious to the increasingly angry Snape.

There were four tables inside each set up for four students, and we tried to work out the best seating arrangements. Eventually Charlotte settled at a table with James, Sirius and Remus, and Lily and I set ourselves up in front of them with Leda Madley and Al Jorkins from Hufflepuff. James looked distinctly unimpressed by the way it had turned out, as did Leda as a member of the Sirius Black fan club, but there wasn't much either of them could do about it without being obvious. I did feel sorry for Hector Bole, though, who was the Ravenclaw who had to share with the Slytherins, particularly as Snape was still looking daggers at James and had pulled out his wand.

Slughorn had started talking without me really noticing, and was indicating four shimmering cauldrons in front of his desk. It seemed he was trying to get us to name each potion based on its appearance and scent, and he was indicating the one closest to our table.

Lily had her hand up immediately. I noticed that Hector did as well, but he wasn't one of Slughorn's favourites so he was ignored as the Professor looked at our table expectantly. "That's amortentia," Lily said, going a little pink.

Slughorn beamed at her. "And what is amortentia, Lily?"

"It's a love potion," she recited, sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook. "The most powerful love potion in the world. It smells different to everyone, depending on what they find most attractive."

I leaned over and smelled the potion, which did indeed have the most seductive aroma coming from it – a combination of a bacon and onion fry-up, cinnamon, something rather musky and attractive that I couldn't identify, freshly ground coffee and – hang on, was that wet dog I could smell? That didn't seem right at all. Baffled, I shook my head and sank back onto my stool.

"Right you are, Lily," Slughorn beamed again. "Ten points to Gryffindor. And while it is a love potion, let me remind you that it cannot actually create love, just an infatuation. I believe this to be of the most dangerous potions it is possible to make." He looked at us and focused on some of the Ravenclaw boys, who were sniggering into their hands. "I am quite serious, Mr Stanley," he went on, getting Gerry Stebbins' name wrong – he obviously wasn't a member of the Slug Club. "Never underestimate the power of obsessive love." And it seemed to me that he glanced at Severus Snape before he went to stand by the next cauldron, which had a perfectly clear liquid bubbling away inside.

"And who can identify this?" he asked, looking around. Lily's hand again shot into the air, as did Severus' and James'. All members of the Slug Club – he'd have trouble showing favouritism with this lot to choose from.

"James?" Snape looked furious and was still fingering his wand.

"That's veritaserum, Professor," said James confidently. "Liquid truth. If you feed it to someone they are forced to tell the truth." His explanation wasn't quite as eloquent as Lily's would have been, but we all got the message fairly easily anyway.

"Very good, James," agreed Slughorn with a smile. "Another ten points to Gryffindor." He moved to the next cauldron, the contents of which were a little syrupy and had a greenish tinge. It looked like something that no one in their right mind would ever knowingly drink.

Again, Lily's and Snape's hands were in the air, and this time Slughorn chose Severus.

"Draught of the Living Death," said Severus. He was still casting malevolent sideways glances at James and I wondered if he was planning to slip some of the potion into his morning coffee or something. "It causes the drinker to fall into a deep sleep, so deep that it resembles death, and from which it is almost impossible to awaken." Actually, if that's what it did, he was most probably almost certainly planning to feed some to James somehow. If I was him I would certainly have been on my guard.

"Excellent, Severus," beamed Slughorn again. "Ten points to Slytherin. And the final potion?" he continued, indicating the fourth and last mixture, which was dark and gluggy and had a most unpleasant smell coming from it.

Again, Lily and Severus had their hands in the air, but also this time did Sirius, and to keep things fair Slughorn turned to him. "Sirius?"

"That's polyjuice potion," he said, looking at the cauldron appreciatively. "When you mix it with a part of someone, say a hair or a fingernail, if you drink it you'll turn into that person for an hour." Now I understood why he looked interested in that potion – it would be invaluable for one of their pranks.

"Thank you, Sirius, that is exactly right," agreed Slughorn. "Take another ten points. I have shown you these potions," he went on, addressing the class as a whole, "as they are the sort of potions that come up in NEWT classes. You will be required to prepare potions of this sort of complexity for your exams." We all looked around worriedly, and I wondered if I was quite cut out for this class. I mean, Draught of the Living Death? There was no way known I could make that.

As it turned out, that was exactly our task that day. Professor Slughorn didn't expect anyone to actually complete the potion, but he was clearly testing us to see how we would go with something as complicated as that. Fortunately I was sharing a table with Lily, Potions expert, and she kept an eye on me as I cut up the ingredients and tried to put them in the cauldron in the correct order.

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THE END