Dianthus Stories
Chapter Twenty One - If At First You Don't Succeed
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Anything you
recognize belongs to someone else, namely, JK Rowling.
the HP universe, characters from same.
Sadly, I have no hope of publishing this story outside the fan fiction
characters I’ve created. Feel free to
give me critical feedback, including flames and harsh criticism.
personal embarrassment, but I do promise to read it and incorporate it if I
feel it improves the story.
*****
This is Chapter
Twenty One. Smut begins in Chapter
Twenty Six, so if you’re only looking for that, feel free to skip ahead.
of the stuff in those later chapters if you don’t stick it out.
*****
Chapter Twenty One
– If At First You Don’t Succeed
Martine was almost
as excited as Dianthus to go to Potions on Thursday.
along with one unicorn tail hair and some spotted toadstools, to the potion.
said Martine anxiously at lunch. “Do you
think we researched those interactions well enough?”
“For crying out
loud, you spent the entire fall in the fucking library,” snarled
ouch, Di! – I mean, Potions teacher is there to save the day.”
Martine blatantly
ignored both
yank of
“And you let it simmer for an hour after we add the fringetree bark?”
“Yes, that’s
right,” said Dianthus. She was going
over the recipe in her head, as well.
“And then we add
the unicorn tail hair and the spotted toadstools.”
“Yes, that’s
right. And after that,
the miribilis.”
“And that’s when
it may blow up,” said
Melanie and herself, “will be very glad to be far, far away.”
“It’s not going to
blow up!” Dianthus snorted. “Before,
it’s just congealed and that’s that.”
“Yeah,” said
knowledgeably, “but that was before you started messing around with it.
volatile.” She looked hopeful for an
explosion to break up the monotony of her afternoon in Muggle Studies.
Dianthus wasn’t
worried. She knew the potion was going
to work this time. She’d gone over the
calculations at least a hundred times.
When they arrived
in the dungeon, they found the classroom door already ajar.
Farrell and Jenny White, and the two students were milling about, chatting
merrily as they unpacked their bags.
Snape sat behind his desk, grading essays with a decidedly listless air,
but he rose immediately when Dianthus and Martine walked in.
his eyes that told her he was just as interested as they were in the day’s
outcome.
When the class had
assembled, Snape immediately set them to work.
“Supplies are in the store room,” he barked.
grabbed their baskets. Dianthus snatched
up her basket and noted with some interest that most of her ingredients were
already prepared: the fringetree bark
was clipped into one-inch slivers, the toadstools were meticulously diced,
in wax paper. Only the miribilis had yet
to be chopped. She smirked at Snape on
the way back to her table. He gave her a
disdainful look.
Dianthus set her
basket on the table and walked quickly back to the instructor’s desk.
to ask a question, Professor Snape, sir.”
She was staring straight ahead of her, at the blackboard above Snape’s
head, and had to resist the urge to snap her heels together and salute.
He snorted,
“Please ask your question, Miss Brandywine, but note that I am sitting directly
in front of you. There is no need to
shout.”
“Yes, sir,
Professor Snasir,sir,” she said, lowering her voice only slightly.
would like to ask permission for her to assist me with my potion today, sir,
rather than brewing her own. She is
researching an ingredient vital to the success of my potion, and we both feel
her work would benefit from viewing the interaction of fringetree bark with the
other elements of my recipe, sir.”
Dianthus had
suggested to Melanie that they seek Snape’s permission to combine their efforts
for this class only. Martine was brewing
a much simpler recipe, to demonstrate the usefulness of fringetree bark in
healing potions. In fact, she’d been
making variations of the same concoction since Christmas.
Dianthus had heard her saying to Kevin Merrigold one
evening in the great hall. He had looked
extremely mystified.
From the bottom of
her peripheral vision, Dianthus saw Snape glaring at her in vexation.
slowly around his desk. He leaned back
against the edge of it and crossed his arms.
“Have you recently joined the military, Miss Brandywine?” he sighed,
looking up the ceiling.
“No, sir,” she
said, quietly. “But this is rather
important to me, and I want to be sure I have your attention.>
>
“Then put yourself
at ease, Miss Brandywine. You have my
complete attention. Yes, Miss
called. Martine looked up from her
basket, where she’d been rearranging her ingredients, stalling for time.
Miss Brandywine for this period. I will
expect twelve inches on Tuesday, outlining your reflections on the interactions
of the ingredients, and whether fringetree bark was a judicious choice to
include in this recipe.”
Dianthus said,
“Thank you, sir,” and hurried back to her desk to high five Martine.
from the climate controlled cupboard next to the store room and set it on the
table. Then Dianthus handed Martine the
plate of fringetree bark and said, “You do the honors.”
Martine
glowed. She took the plate and
painstakingly dribbled the fringetree bark into the cauldron as Dianthus
stirred the gelatinous ooze inside.
“Does it need more swamp water?” Martine asked, as Dianthus dragged a
wooden spoon through the jelly-like substance.
“Not until we add
the unicorn tail-hair,” breathed Dianthus.
She could feel the bark softening as she pressed the pieces against the
edge of the cauldron. “Turn down that
flame a bit, will you, Martine?” she said, as the brown sludge belched
once. “That’s better, thanks.”
Once bae bark was
completely dissolved, Dianthus took note of the time, and she and Martine began
writing down their observations. “It
didn’t smoke at all, and that’s a good sign, don’t you think?” whispered
Martine as she wrote. Dianthus nodded.
have any effect on the timing for the other ingredients?”
“I would say that
they would not,” said Snape’s voice from behind them.
case, the size of the pieces is merely for the convenience of the
potion-maker.”
“Yes, sir, I was
just about to say the very same, sir,” said Dianthun thn the smarmiest voice
she could muster, looking at him earnestly.
He raised his
eyebrows at her. “Are you deliberately
testing my patience, Miss Brandywine? Or
have you perhaps just come from the
at all impressed with his efforts.
“No, sir,” she
said, smiling sweetly. “I simply have a
passion for potions, sir.”
“I will be back to
check your progress shortly,” he sneered, and walked away.
“A
‘passion for potions’?” Martine asked, looking at Dianthus
dubiously. “You simply have a passion
for potions? What the fuck was that all
about?”
“I am in a
fabulous mood, Martine,” crowed Dianthus.
“I think we’re finally getting somewhere – look!”
color, we’re in business.” She h
observations, Dianthus carefully chopped the miribilis into tiny pieces.
Snape glided back
to their table in time to see them add the unicorn tail-hair and diced
toadstools. He brought a large flagon of
purified swamp water from the store room with him.
held it just out of her reach.
“May I?”
Dianthus beamed at
him. “Yes, sir!”
“Together, then?”
he suggested. She nodded.
as he tipped the flagon, she dropped the hair into the thick solution.
unicorn hair disappeared below the liquid.
They all stared at the cauldron in silence.
from its surface, and both girls cheered.
“So far, so good,
then,” Snape said with a nod, and he strode off to Vivian Greenback’s
cauldron. Dianthus threw the toadstools
in, and the cauldron spat and bubbled, then settled down to a simmer once
again. The liquid was getting quite
thin, and had turned silver upon the introduction of the toadstools.
Dianthus took a
deep breath. “Fifteen minutes to go, and
then we add the miribilis,” she said, nervously.
“I’m all sweaty,”
moaned Martine. “I don’t know if I can
take it if the bloody thing doesn’t go right.”
“You’re telling
me,” said Dianthus, and she picked up her quill to document the new
reactions. Keeping an eye on the flame
below the cauldron, she jotted down some steps she would take to improve the
potion, once it was completed. She
thought that she had perhaps used too much swamp water in the first phase, and
she was considering adding moonstone to improve what she suspected was going to
be a terrible flavor.
Snape almost
missed the addition of the final ingredient.
Althea Winter’s cauldron suddenly began
belching black smoke, as her latest attempt at a tooth-whitening potion
involving marsh mallow went dreadfully wrong.
“Stupid girl!” Dianthus heard Snape hiss, as he
rushed to the cauldron and pointed his wand at it.
bellowed, and the entire cauldron disappeared.
“Ten points from Hufflepuff, and twenty-four inches on your most recent
mistake!”
He left Althea to
whimper and sob, and moved quickly to stand behind Dianthus.
beyond her calculated fifteen minutes, but she held the miribilis ready over
the cauldron in case he didn’t make it.
As soon as she felt him approach, she threw the herb into the shimmering
liquid, and red red it gently. She heard
Martine panting slightly, and it seemed as though Snape had stopped breathing
as he leaned over her shoulder to get a better view.
As they watched,
the potion thickened. Dianthus continued
stirring, until Snape reached around her and put a hand on her forearm.
of the cauldron and then set it on the table.
The tension was almost unbearable as they waited for what Dianthus had
hypothesized would be the final indicator.
Snape’s grip tightened on her arm and Dianthus’ eyes widened as they
watched the potion slowly change from silver to the palest of greens.
her wand.
“You did it!”
Martine shrieked. “You did it, Di!”
down together. Snape let out a deep
breath and stepped back.
Soon the entire
class had gathered around the cauldron and was admiring the completed
potion. Dianthus shook everyone’s hand,
and they took turns congratulating her.
“You’ll be famous,” said Jeremy Kingfellow,
wonderingly.
“Let’s see if
works first,” said Dianthus weakly. She
looked around. Snape was gazing at her
from his usual perch in front of his desk, arms crossed, a
kind of fierce approval on his face that made her knees weaken.
“Class,” he said,
still looking at Dianthus, “if you are quite done admiring Miss Brandywine’s
accomplishment, back to your cauldrons, please.
We still have ten minutes. Miss
Winter, you may begin your essay.” The
students drifted back to their tables, and Snape rose from the edge of his desk
and walked to where Dianthus, still stunned, stood with Martine’s arm around
her shoulder.
“So,” Snape said,
and Dianthus noticed that Martine instantly disappeared to see what
“So,” she replied.
“Success at long
last,” he said, just a touch of mockery in his voice.
said.
“Oh,
really?” He looked down at her
cauldron. “The potion is behaving
exactly as you predicted it would.”
“Yes,” she said,
following his gaze. “But we still don’t
know if it works. We need a test
subject.”
“I will test it
later this week,” he said smoothly, and she stared up at him.
“Oh, no, hell, you
won’t, sir,” she whispered harshly. The
thought that she wouldn’t get to see how well – or if – the potion worked
infuriated her instantly.
“Language, Miss
Brandywine,” he murmured, his dark eyes dancing with laughter.
“Sir, you–”
“You are far too
easy to rile, Miss Brandywine,” he said smugly, and she sagged with
relief. “I will, however, consult with
the Headmaster about how we may best test your potion together.”
“I – I’ve thought
of a few changes to improve it,” she said hesitantly.
afterthought.
“I thought you
might be thinking along those lines,” he said, nodding.
see if I can get the ingredients in time for you to make one more batch, before
your N.E.W.T.s.”
“Thank you, sir,”
she said, feeling inordinately shy under his steady gaze.
“You’ve worked
diligently,” he said very quietly. “I
hope you’re as pleased as I am with the results of your effort, Dianthus.”
a cool compress on a fever, and she shivered slightly.
minutes. Please begin cleaning your work
area.”
The classroom
immediately filled with the sounds of rustling paper and muttered spells as her
fellow students began getting ready to leave.
Martine made her way back to Dianthus and whispered, “Well, that was a
tender moment,” before she reached for her stack of notes.
a flagon, capped it, and set it aside.
She looked admiringly at the pale green liquid for a minute before carrying
it to Snape’s desk. Then she, too,
gathered her quill and parchment, and she and Martine left for dinner.
The news of her
successful potion didn’t exactly spread like wildfire.
could a O.W O.W.L. year, and the triumph of one seventh-year was not
interesting enough to talk about. Still,
Dianthus and Martine carried the story of their victory into the great hall,
and Erin and Melanie were an excellent audience.
“Well,” said
expansively, “At least now you know the damned thing works, and we can all quit
worrying about it. Have you
“No,” said
Dianthus. “But I’m going to first thing
in the morning. He’s been asking about
it all term, and I kept telling him it wouldn’t be ready until today at the
earliest. Maybe I can write it tonight
and post it in the morning.” She
paused. “Do you think I should wait
until Dumbledore figures out how to test it?”
“Nah,