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“Should you not be with the Slytherin students, Miss Tilly? Unpacking.”
“Oh, no Professor. I’m sure they’ve found their way in my stuff already. Don’t bring any valuable stuff since my second year.”
Sally strapped on her goggles and smiled up at the professor.
“I’ve been writing up this recipe all summer Professor Snape. May I use your cauldron?”
Severus grumbled, looking away from the student. He was technically supposed to be at his post as well, helping the new students and old student alike. But he was here, away from the noise.
“I see your eyebrows have grown back.”
“It’s a charm!” She smiled, bright white teeth shining up.
“I hope you haven’t been us in that charm on break?”
“Of course not.”
There was a moment of silence as the Potions Professor considered this danger to his peace, yet he knew very well, after 2 years with Sally Tilly, that there was no stopping her obsession with potions.
“Very well. You will have access to one cauldron, like last year. No more. This year’s batch is particularly large and I haven’t enough cauldrons to be giving out.”
With a gleeful smile and slight giggle, Sally spun around and quickly got to work shuffling through drawers and cabinets.
“You’re going to use my stock as well?”
“Mhm” she mindlessly responded, leaving Snape to turn back to his desk and return to the list of new students.
Both parties continued in relative silence, save for the irregular bubbling of potions and scratching of parchment. The silence was a comfort to the both it would seem. To Tilly, the silence meant there were no Slytherin girls around. A Slytherin herself, but hardly if you were to ask any of her house mates. A notion Professor Snape would likely agree.
A sharp pop came from her cauldron as Sally gasped.
“No!” She shrieked, dropping her spoon before quickly placing a lid on the cauldron.
“What was that, Tilly?”
“Nothing. A hiccup. A fluke. I got it handled..” she scratched at the ends of her goggles with an uneasy smile fixing her face. Snape didn’t look up from his papers, at the very least he could trust Sally’s potion skills.
No more than 5 minutes later did Sally stand up from her stool and present a foamy liquid inside a glass bottle.
“Little faster than I presumed but..” she pulled the goggles off to reveal a slight pink indent on her face. “Looks about what it should look like. The foam is odd.” She spoke mostly to herself even as Snape looked up with an indifferent gaze. As soon as she got his attention she drank the potion without hesitation. Nothing came about immediately but as she sighed and moved to set the glass down her skin began to shine.
Sally smiled wide, until that smile turned into a heavy frown as the light dimmed and reveled her normally tanned skin to be a sickly bright yellow.
“Eugh.. what the hel-heck..”
“Was that the intended effect?”
“Definitely not- I-.. I hope it goes away soon. I can’t go back to the dorm looking like a banana..”
“Yes. It is rather late, if you want to make it back in time for curfew you’ll need to leave soon.”
“Didn’t- didn’t you just hear me, I can’t- can’t go back like this! They’ll.. they..” she was out of breath, trying desperately to catch it. She messed up, and would be throughly laughed at for certain. The words ‘Silly Tilly’ rang through her ears and she felt rather choked up.
“Quit sniveling.”
“S-ss-“ she tried to speak but the sounds seemed trapped on her tongue. Professor Snape grunted his annoyance as he searched a few containers.
“Drink this”
“I-“
“Don’t try again, quite grating sounds you’re making.”
Sally brought the glass to her lips and drank it swiftly, wiping a sleeve to get rid of the drop that fell on her lip.
“Wha- what is that?”
“Wiggenweld.”
“Why is it so sweet?”
“I’ve been asked to.. adjust the taste for new students. A tedious act.”
“The taste? That must’ve taken ages.”
“It did. Now, return to your dorm.”
Sally look down at her arms to find her skin to be all back to normal besides a few blotches of yellow easily covered with her sleeve.
“Thanks..” she whispered, not quite sure what to say to her professor.
“I say go,”
“Right!” She grabbed her bag and skipped out the room quickly.
-
“I believe you are supposed to be in Herbology, Miss Tilly.”
“Yes sir. I’m not going back there though, not with Louise in the mood she is.”
“Trouble with your classmates?”
“She’s cruel!”
“We’ve had this discussion before. Have we not?”
Snape checked the time and shushed the girl as she tried to continue her response.
“The first years will start their class in ten minutes. If you wish to stay here you’ll stay silent, and no touching your cauldron. It’ll be loud enough with all their whispering not yet taught out of them.”
“Yes sir..”
She grumbled, pulling out a book from her bag and flipping through the pages flippantly.
When the time reached 8 minutes to class, the first of snape’s new students walked in dawning her Gryffindor robe and bright brown hair.
“Good morning Professor Snape!” The girl bowed her head far too low to be appropriate, looking up with an astonishing nervous face. “I’m Hermione, Granger. I’ve very excited for today’s lecture”
“Find a seat then.” He hardly looked up at the girl, just continued flipping through what Sally presumed to be his pre lecture notes.
The Slytherin girl quickly beckoned the new student closer, gathering a stool for her to sit on.
“What are you doing here? You’re not a first year.”
“You’re from a non-magical family yeah?- wait don’t be offended. I am too. It’s all very.. fascinating yes? I remember my first year.”
“Wh- how could you tell?”
“Your eyes, it’s as if you can’t get enough of everything around you. Like you’ve never seen a cauldron like this before, maybe as a Halloween decoration.”
“I- I love it here.” Hermione whispered, looking at the professor before turning back to Sally. “But still.. why are you here?”
“I’m Professor Snape’s assistant for today. I’m very talented with potions.” Sally liked talking to first years, especially before they could hear anything about her. They’re all very sweet.
As the rest of the students trickled in Hermione moved seats to find one of her friends, leaving Sally to the stool closest to Snape’s desk. The professor stood up and dropped a clip board on her lap.
“You’ll do roll call.”
The students didn’t seem at all different from her own class, or the second years between them. Another Weasley, which she snickered at silently. Would this be the last one or would three more appear out of thin air. Sally had the.. misfortune of meeting this one’s older brothers. George and Fred loved playing jokes on her, hardly left her alone last year before suddenly deciding one day she was far too boring to mess with anymore and found a new victim.
Hermione Granger was an interesting girl, she seemed to know the answer to all of Snape’s questions even despite the professor so clearly only calling on Slytherin students.
Draco Malfoy also knew quite a bit, and seemed to take to the class almost as quickly as Sally had her first year. His eyes reflecting back what Sally imagined her own to be when a new recipe entered her mind. A Slytherin too, maybe a friend?
But what would her classmates say if she made friends with an 11 year old boy? No, she shook her head, going back to her Herbology book.
Once class ended Sally sat behind with her bag held tight to her chest.
“You could make your bias towards Slytherins a little less obvious Professor.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Did you know that Malfoy kid?”
“Yes.” Snape moved behind his desk and started grabbing at papers.
“He seemed to like the subject..”
“Another potions fanatic, just what I need yes?”
“Could serve to liven this room up whenever a class isn’t happening. You’re always so quiet it’s scary.”
“Scary, is that last word I’d use to describe the quiet.”
“Well- it’s not just.. quiet. It’s dead silent.”
Professor Snape finally looked at her, with half his attention on the watch on his wrist.
“Making friends with first years?”
“that- you-“
“It’s not a bad thing, but it seems to me you’re only giving your dorm sisters more ammunition for your.. torment.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Life hardly is. Now, you need to go to charms. Can’t skip two classes in a row, no matter how far I put my neck out for you.”
“Yes Professor.” She grumbled, standing up with a sudden thud.
-
“Tilly? You’ve got detention?”
“No, Fred.”
“I’m George-“
“Hey I’m Fred!”
Only two seconds after walking into the room and Sally already felt dizzy. The Weasley twins had apparently managed to get detention on the first week of school, the twins leaned over a bubbling cauldron with a gleeful smile.
“Where’s Snape?”
“Dunno-“
“Walked out on us!”
“Besides look,” Fred, or.. George? Beckoned Sally further, before suddenly stretching a hand out to stop her approach. The liquid in the cauldron bubbled up and up, leaving a foamy surface before it completely flooded and soaked the desk it stood on. Not a very.. reactive potion, but the lackluster result made the twins holler like they’d just seen the most fascinating thing.
“That all?”
“Think-“
“You can do better huh?”
Sally wasn’t sure why the twins spoke like that, didn’t even seem like they were always as in sync as they portrayed themselves to be. Nevertheless the Slytherin pushed her way between the Gryffindor boys, picking the cauldron off the fire and letting the liquid cool down.
“We’ll need a clean cauldron.” She stepped to an adjacent desk, already getting to work grinding a certain aggressive fungus down into a powder.
“Get me some water please?” With her words, and the prospect of a bigger explosion, the twins quickly got to work gathering all that she asked for- including three pairs of goggles that went on their faces.
“Safety first” she said, smiling at their eyes rolling at the same time.
“Now- Fred- actually I’ll just call you number 1 from now on.”
“What! I’m number 1!”
She ignored number 2 and while smiling continued.
“Number 1, hand me the spoon please. With the fire on we have to maintain a steady motion. Too fast and the potion will react too early, leaving us with something similar to what you did earlier with that.. dud.”
“Where’d you learn all this stuff?” On of the twins leaned over her shoulder, curiosity lacing his tone.
“Books. Practice.”
Sally set the spoon down, stepping back and grinning at the twins. Their consistently excited face bloomed once more as she essentially gave them the signal. With precise movements she left her hands above the cauldron.
“3, 2… 1!”
She clapped above the liquid and jumped back, all at once the liquid bubbled up audibly. After what felt like forever to the twins, and not nearly long enough to Sally, the bright red liquid jumped up with a deafening shriek.
The twins cheered, watching as the foamy substance fell back to the desk and ground, even getting their hair in the mess- but not their eyes. Once the reaction was done Sally gave the twins an even bigger grin.
“Now.. hope you enjoy cleaning this up!”
“You’d really leave us with this?”
“Not kind, Tilly.”
“Professor Snape wouldn’t even know I was ever here.”
One of the twins gasped- “you wouldn’t!”
She giggled, “get to mopping!”
“Evil woman!” They shouted, among other despairingly humorous words.