Words Could Never Say It

Chapter Three - Poetic Potions

Malfoy and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, were the first to arrive at Professor Snape's potion class, and were waiting outside the door as the other students began to conjugate and prepare for their classes. Of course, the only topic of conversation was the new student, Emily Rose Matthews, and whispered questions as to what happened to her voice. Many speculated her wearing that scarf had something to do with it, and it made sense that her throat would be scarred if she couldn't even speak.

To many people's surprise, Emily soon came among the Gryffindors and Slytherins waiting to enter Snape's dungeon classroom. From what he gathered from Granger talking near him, she had been moved to this period because it was considered the most difficult potions class of her year. Draco looked a bit intrigued and impressed... Emily had sought out the hardest class available to her, and she hadn't even had a single class with Snape yet. He idly wondered if she had done the same for all of her classes.

He didn't have much time to contemplate on it, as Snape opened the door of his dungeon, and quickly showed them all inside. Emily took a seat near the front on the class, the only open desk there was, on the Slytherin side, but she didn't seem to take much notice. She had her book and a parchment prepared for usage and in her hand, she held a solid silver quill, her inkbottle already open.

Professor Snape arched his back as the students gathered and settled down, and he eyed Emily as the rest of the students took their places. "Today," he said coolly, "we will be preparing a potion called Societas Principa Potion..." he paused. "Can anyone tell me what this potion is used for?" Unsurprisingly, Hermione Granger's hand rose quickly into the air. With a slow sigh, seeing as no one else raised their hand, he called on Hermione begrudgingly.

"Societas Principa refers to the combination of the effects of water and fire when combined, and with exposure to the oxygen after fermentation to create a screen of white steam... A fog potion, in essence," Hermione answered, pleased with herself, as usual.

"How very predictably textbook," Snape slightly sneered, and paused, noticing Emily writing quickly on her pad. Before more than a few seconds had passed, she quickly looked up, shocked to see he was looking at her, and blushed. "Do you have something to add, Miss Matthews?" he asked slowly and dangerously. With a darker blush, she tore off the parchment she'd been writing on, and handed it to him. Snape looked it over quickly, and looked relatively surprised. More surprising to the students, he smiled rather broadly, not in his usual sneer, and then began to read aloud.

"Societas Principa is the coupling of two strongly repelling elements and their alignment to create this potion used by escape artists, thieves, Aurors and other crime fighters and committers. Essence of fire and ice mingle in the presence of the air to create a billowing cloud of mist and fog, blocking the user from the sight of their enemies to allow for an easy escape or extra cover against spells."

Snape looked at her again. "Very, very good, Miss Matthews, I must say I am impressed. Rarely even my Slytherins have something so poetic to say about a potion, even one so complex. Five points to Hufflepuff."

The other students looked at each other in astonishment, but of course, without a word, not wanting to ruin Snape's rare good mood Emily had put him in. Professor Snape NEVER gave points to any house, spare Slytherin of course, and Emily seemed to have noticed this, her cheeks a deep crimson as Snape handed her back her parchment, and went back to the black board to write the process of making the potion. Draco watched her closely from his seat a few places back. She looked much like she had this morning, except her scarf now bore the Hufflepuff bronze and yellow, as did the select portions of her school uniform, and her hair was now tied in a yellow ribbon.

"You have one and a half hours to complete your potions," Snape said, turning quickly to the class, his black robes moving in the breeze he created in the same motions as his curtains of greasy black hair. "That includes fifteen minutes of stewing before the potion's final ingredient is added and the potion is to be bottled. Remember - after the final ingredient is added, the potion must be bottled within a minute, or it will be ruined. You'll find all the necessary supplies," he waved his wand a little idly toward the wooden supply cabinet, "in the storage cabinet, and in your potions supply kits. Work in pairs. Begin."

Draco scrambled rather quickly out of his chair, and hurried to the front of the empty chair beside Emily, as apparently several others did as well. He smirked back as Granger paused mid-stride, seeing Draco move beside Emily, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Get lost, Mudblood," he growled darkly, quietly enough so no one else would hear, his mouth twisting into a smirk. Hermione bristled, and she snarled an unspoken insult at Malfoy, before turning and taking a place beside Neville Longbottom, a Gryffindor idiot who wouldn't know a fog potion from a bottle of water.

"So," said Draco as he turned to Emily, who looked up from her potions kit at his words, "it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Emily Matthews," he said as he held out his hands to her. Smiling broadly, she took it, squeezing it a bit harder than a normal handshake, and nodded her head, apparently, her way of saying 'a pleasure,' and went back to gathering her ingredients, pausing to sketch a note on her parchment.

*What is your name?*

Draco smirked. "I'm Draco Malfoy, of the Malfoy family? Surely you've heard of them," he said, looking pleased and important. Not many people have not heard of the Malfoys; they were, after all, one of the most rich and powerful families in the Wizarding world, anywhere on Earth.

Emily paused, looking at him for a moment, and then replied, *I'm sorry. I've never heard of them. What makes them famous?* Draco was surprised and a little distressed, and the sniggering behind him told him the Mudblood could see it in him. So much for using his family as a factor in Emily's view of him...

"The Malfoy's are the best bred wizards in England," he said with pride. "We carry the best lines of Wizarding blood and have for centuries." He smirked slightly and leaned down a bit. "I've heard of the Matthews line from America... Good breeding, too." But Emily did not answer. She just paused, and then kept collecting ingredients. "What was your mother's surname?"

At this, Emily paused fully, her eyes turning to Malfoy, and he was again surprised. She looked... well, rather angry. She scribbled on the pad again, and quickly went back to work. Her handwriting wasn't so neat anymore; it was rushed and somehow seemed irritable. *I'd rather not talk about my family, if it's all the same to you.* And Malfoy, seeing her aggravation, decided to not push his luck.

Throughout the hour, Emily and Draco worked on the Societas Principa potion in relative silence. She hadn't even looked at the board, but she didn't seem to be having much trouble at all. She worked rather feverishly, and added more ingredients than what was dictated. Malfoy watched her pinch a small red dust into the mix, and touch her mixing ladle with her wand, making it glow a strange red. "What's that for?" he asked quietly, glancing around to see no one doing the same.

Still stirring, she scribbled, *A pinch of dried powered fire ants and an infusion of heat into the mixer during the first phase increases the effect of the fire portion, making it faster acting.* Indeed, it steamed thickly for a moment, and it bubbled ominously, but soon settled and looked a sharper red than any of the others.

With his pestle and mortar, Draco powered together an artic fox's canine tooth, dehydrated blubber of a beluga whale, a small patch of skin of a spotted seal, a bit of calcium, and a few splinters of white quartz. He moved to pour it into the cauldron, but she stopped him, taking it back, and adding three white petals and a few small white hairs into the mix, taking it back and grinding them in. "What are you doing? Those ingredients aren't on the board," he said quickly and softly, re-reading the ingredients.

She kept grinding, and when she was finish, wrote, *The petals of the Himalayan snow-blooming rose and a few hairs from a snowshoe hare make the potion thicker, meaning thicker, better fog.* Draco wrinkled his nose as he looked into the potion, watching her softly tap the ladle with her wand to make it glow white, and she began to slowly stir in the power. The liquid slightly turned purple, and then it split into two distinct colors that would not mingle - red and blue, swirled together, never mixing, and small wafts of steam bubbled up now and then that smelled slightly of sulfur and ions.

Draco looked nervously about. No one else's potion looked like theirs... the closest was Hermione Granger, who's potion was not completely lavender, and Neville Longbottom looked somewhat relieved when she assured him it looked just like the description Snape had put up on the board. Malfoy felt an anger boil up inside him as he watched the potion in Emily's cauldron bubble, and the satisfied look on her face as she packed up her supplies, letting it simmer as needed. Draco glanced up, gritting his teeth as Snape began to head toward their table.

"Damn it," he growled angrily, turning to Emily with his eyes burning. "Our potion doesn't look anything like the description, what the hell did you do to it? Snape is going to chew both of us out." Emily looked at him in surprise, noticing his angry glower, and narrowed her brows at him. She didn't write anything on her parchment, and kept her final ingredient at the ready in a small bottle - dry ice.

Snape swung about to gaze into their potion cauldron, and his eyebrows raised as she dropped the ice in, and immediately ladled it into the prepared bottle. The liquid steamed as it was poured in, and she quickly corked it, setting it carefully on the table. "Look at what we have here," said Snape in a murmur, lifting the bottle and gazing at it in the light.

"She didn't follow the directions on the board," Draco said quickly and in an accusing tone. Snape turned quickly to him, cocking one brow higher than the other. "She added some other ingredients, and made her ladle different colors." Snape immediately turned to Emily with a look of shock. Emily, however, was merely smiling with a little pleasure in her eyes.

But to Draco's shock, rather than scold her, Snape chuckled low in his throat. "Fire ants, snowshoe hare fur, and Himalayan white rose petals," he said slowly as he looked over her notes upside down. Emily nodded stoutly. "Ingenious," Snape slightly murmured, smiling wider than before. "I am going to have a talk with Professor Sprout and the headmaster about moving you up a class level in potions. I have experimented with this potion intensely, as I have with all of my potions, and I never thought to add fire ants to the concoction. Quite ingenious of you. Ten points to Hufflepuff."

Draco left the potions class hotter and angrier than he had ever been. Emily Rose Matthews had made a fool of him in front of his own head of house, in front of his entire class. The ringing laughs of the Gryffindors followed him toward the Great Hall, Crabbe and Goyle still faithfully at his side. "That bitch'll pay for this," he growled darkly, and Crabbe and Goyle glance at each other, unsure of what to do to calm Malfoy's continual growing temper.