CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE;

PROPERTY OF THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

At breakfast was the distribution of this year's times-tables for all of the sixth years. It was much more tedious than prior years, as Professor Mcgonagall had to first confirm that everybody had achieved the necessary O.W.L. grades to continue with their chosen N.E.W.T.s. Hermione was one of the first students to be cleared; she received her schedule with all of her preferred courses, and she shot off to first period Ancient Runes without so much as a goodbye. Neville took a bit longer to sort out. In the end, he managed Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Charms.

Next, Professor Mcgonagall turned to Cassie, who managed a nervous smile to her teacher. "Black," said Mcgonagall under her breath, shaking her head as she read over Cassie's chosen courses. Frown lines took place on her forehead and she almost seemed displeased for a moment, before nodding shortly. "Good work. Five O.W.L.s – one less, and you would have had to choose another job path.."

Cassie managed to keep her eyes from flickering to Harry, who had only managed four O.W.L.s.

"I am sorry to say that Professor Binns will not be seeing you in his class this year," said Professor Mcgonagall, though she didn't seem sorry at all – neither was Cassie, who was ecstatic to have freed herself from the boring binds that were History of Magic.

A few minutes later, Cassie, Ron, and Harry left the Great Hall, comparing their class schedules. "I've got Divination after lunch," she said, frowning because she would miss out on a free period with Ron and Harry. "But other than that, looks like it's going to be a good year."

"For you," said Harry, staring with faint horror at a long list in his hands. Cassie peered over his shoulder to read it. "Twenty-three hopefuls, and tryouts were only announced yesterday!"

"That's good!" beamed Cassie, pounding him on the shoulder. "We'll need a lot of people trying out – ever since Fred and George's year graduated, we've lost half our team! Oh, and Ron," she turned to the redhead, "you are still planning on trying out, right?"

Ron, who was now looking a slight bit pale, nodded and managed a smile.

"Bet Hermione's got loads of homework from Runes," Cassie continued as they walked down the hall to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

   "Shame," said Ron, now smiling genuinely, though it quickly sunk as Hermione approached from the side and he cleared his throat.

   "Oh, you wait," said Hermione, narrowing her eyes. "I bet Snape's going to give us loads.."

   No sooner had the words left her mouth than the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom swung open. Snape stepped into the corridor, his face frames by two curtains of greasy black hair. Silence fell over the hallway immediately. "Inside," the professor instructed.

   Cassie decided it would be better to follow his directions wordlessly and not manage a detention on the first day, so she took a seat at her shared desk with Harry and began to pull out her books, quill, and wand. Suddenly, a pale hand slammed onto her book cover as she tried to open it. She looked up to see Snape, raising an eyebrow challengingly. "I have not yet asked you to take out your books," he said. "I wish to speak to you, and I want your fullest attention."

He moved toward the front of the room, his robes swishing about his ankles and giving the impression that he were gliding across the tile floor. "You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe," he said, turning slowly to face the students. "The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible. Now..." He set off again, around the other side of the classroom toward his desk. "You are, I believe, complete novices in the use of non-verbal spells."

Cassie's insides twisted. The first and last time she'd managed a non-verbal spell was at the battle of the Department of Mysteries, and that had not ended well..

"You will now divide into pairs," said Snape. "One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Now."

Cassie stood, however shakily she did so. "Non-verbal spells," she repeated to Harry, though it sounded like she were only assuring herself. "Easy." The pair broke apart and stood an equidistant from each other, wands out and pointed – with a loose arm – to their adversaries.

   Harry furrowed his brow in concentration, but all Cassie did was think "Levicorpus," and she managed to knock Harry off his feet. He looked up to her, both in shock and admiration. She smiled and reached out a hand to help him up, when Snape approached and gestured for her to move aside. Instead of congratulating her like a small portion of Cassie's mind had somehow expected him to do, Snape merely stared down at Harry with contempt.

Harry stood as quickly as he could and drew his wand. "Pathetic, Black," said Snape coldly, eyes still on Harry, who seemed to be outraged by his marking.

"Pathetic? She knocked me off my feet without even opening her mouth!" he protested angrily. Snape gave Harry no reaction.

After a tense, silent moment (the entire class had paused their tasks to watch the scene at hand), Snape turned his wand on Harry so quickly that Cassie was sure the boy wouldn't have had time to react. Somehow, Harry managed to lift his wand in time and shouted "Protego!"

His Shield Charm was so strong that Snape was knocked backwards, nearly colliding with Cassie, who smartly moved to the side at the last moment, allowing Snape to instead make contact with a desk. The professor righted himself immediately, scowling to Harry.

"Do you remember me telling you that we are practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?" he drawled, black eyes narrowed behind the sheet of greasy hair.

"Yes," said Harry stiffly, just as angry as before.

"Yes, sir," Snape corrected.

"There's no need to call me sir, Professor," said Harry. Several people let out audible gasps, including Hermione, but Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Cassie grinned appreciatively. Harry was awarded with a night's detention, but it was definitely worth it to see the look on Snape's face.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Not a lot of people progressing to N.E.W.T. level Potions, is there?" Cassie muttered to Hermione as they approached the dungeons. Including Cassie, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, there was only a dozen students queued outside the door.

   "I expect most people aren't interested in being an Auror during these times," Hermione replied under her breath, both girls falling into line behind Theodore Nott. Blaise nodded to Cassie again, but Malfoy, Nott, and Parkinson all acted as though they hadn't seen Cassie. She didn't mind whatsoever.

There was a great crash from behind the door to the Potions classroom and the students snapped to attention, a few reaching for their wands skeptically, when Slughorn threw the door open, looking quite disordered. Nevertheless, he smiled warmly at the students and threw his arms in the air. "Welcome!" he cried, before swiftly ushering them into the room.

The moment she step foot inside the classroom, Cassie was once again overtaken with the immense amounts of steam and odors entering her sinuses. She coughed slightly and waved a hand in front of her face, before realizing that it was actually quite a pleasant scent. She inhaled through her nose and again was hit with the familiar aroma of her old house with Moony – an old wooden scent – but along with it, the unmistakable yet delightful smell of broom polish and cedar wood. A content smile took its place on her lips and she unconsciously let out a pleased sigh.

"Yes, yes," said the now soft voice of Slughorn, eyeing the students with a playful look on his wrinkly face. "I'm sure most of us enjoy the – ah, fragrances." His old eyes twinkled. Cassie watched in a slight daze as he moved to the counter, removing a lid from a few cauldrons and allowing their scents to mix with the lovely cedar wood and broomstick polish and Cassie coughed. "Anyway," continued Slughorn, using a ladle to stir one of the cauldrons, "for ten points to their respective House, who can tell me what these potions are?"

Hermione's hand, per usual, shot into the air. Slughorn smiled at her and nodded. Hermione said, "The first one is Veritaserum. It's an odorless and colorless potion that compels its drinker to tell nothing but the truth." At Slughorn's encouraging nod, she continued to the second one. "This is Polyjuice Potion. When taken, the drinker is transformed to look like their chosen counterpart, given they added a bit of their target's essence to the potion. And this one–" she paused, as she had come to stand before the cauldron emitting the lovely scents and seemed to be just as infatuated with the fragrance as Cassie was. "This one is Amortentia. It's the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumored to smell differently to each person, according to what attracts them. For example I smell freshly mown grass, and new parchment, and–" she cut off, looking embarrassed.

   "Brilliant!" said Slughorn, oblivious to Hermione's discomfort. He beamed at her and settled the lids back onto each cauldron. "Take ten points to Gryffindor. What's your name, dear?"

   "Hermione Granger," she replied, still slightly pink-cheeked.

   "Granger.. Granger! You don't happen to be related to a Dawlish Granger, do you?" he questioned.

   Hermione shook her head. "No, sir. I'm a Muggleborn, sir," she replied, going even redder at the sounds of the Slytherins' quiet snickers. Cassie shot them a glare, but Malfoy and Parkinson did not seem to notice. Theodore was only half-smirking and Blaise seemed extremely uninterested.

"Oho! 'My best friend is Muggleborn, and she's the best in our class!'" quoted Slughorn, turning to Harry and Cassie. "I can see why!"

Hermione's face could not go a shade darker of red.

"Anyway, anyway," said Slughorn, moving around the counter and back to his desk, "I'm hoping we can–"

"Uh, sir?" said the lone Hufflepuff, lifting his hand to point to the last vial of potion that Professor Slughorn had missed. "You forgot this one."

"Ah, yes!" said Professor Slughorn dramatically, swiftly moving to the counter again. "This, my friends," he unscrewed the vial from its pedestal and held it up for the whole class to see, "is Felix Felicies. Have you spotted it, Miss Granger?" He asked, as Hermione had gasped softly at the name.

"It's Liquid Luck!" she announced brightly. Everyone – even Malfoy – snapped their heads to the front of the room.

"Yes, indeed," said Slughorn. "In this tiny vial is a precious amount of Liquid Luck. One sip from this, and you shall find all your endeavors succeed – at least, until the effects wear off. This vial should be enough to last you from sunrise to sunset. Twelve full hours of nothing but good luck. And this vial," he screwed it back into place, "is what I offer to the student who, in the hour that remains, drafts the best Draught of Living Death. You have until class is over to work. You may start!"

While Harry and Ron bustled off to get themselves an old textbook (seeing as they hadn't brought any materials), Cassie and Hermione got to work on their Draughts of Living Death. It was tedious work and Cassie had sweat dripping down her temple within only a few minutes, but it was nothing compared to Hermione, whose hair had erupted to be twice the average size.

   "Cut the sopophorous bean to release juices," the instructions in her textbook read; so she did just that, only to have a single droplet of juice roll off the tip of her knife and into the cauldron. Cassie's potion wasn't even near the "smooth, black currant-colored liquid" mentioned as the ideal halfway stage. In fact it was quite the opposite, with clumpy white color and absolutely no spirally steam floating from the surface.

   Cassie risked a glance to the other cauldrons around the room to see who'd managed to make it to the halfway point: Hermione, but that was to be expected; Malfoy, and he even seemed much more into it than she'd have expected him to be; and Harry, whose potion looked exactly as described in the book. Cassie frowned. "How'd you do that?" she asked, flipping back through pages in her book to see if she'd missed a step.

   "Add a clockwise stir–"

   "But it says to stir counterclockwise," said Cassie, her eyebrows drawing together in frustration. Harry shrugged and continued what he had been doing, but this time Cassie watched his stirring patterns intently. He stirred once, twice.. seven times counterclockwise, as the book said, then paused before adding one clockwise stir. His potion slowly bled into the pale lavender color described in the textbook as the final stage.

   "Time's up!" called Slughorn after another moment. "Stop stirring, please!" He began to move slowly around the classroom, peering into cauldrons and giving few "hmphs" of validation. He reached Cassie and Hermione's table and squinted into their cauldrons for a moment, a slight frown evident on his face; Cassie had a feeling he had expected better of her. Slughorn soon moved over to Harry and Ron's table, where he let out a loud and excited laugh. "Oho! The clear winner! Excellent, Harry, excellent!" he cried, slapping Harry on the shoulder. "Here you are, then, here you are – one bottle of Felix Felicies, as promised, and use it well!"

   "How on earth did you do that?" Cassie insisted as they left the dungeons.

   "Got lucky," said Harry with a shrug, a smile playing at his lips.

   "Got lucky," repeated Cassie with a scoff. "Right, you're suddenly a genius at Potions because of sheer luck."

   "It's possible!" protested Harry, but he veered her off to a slightly less populated area of the corridor and pulled out his Potions book. "And I may have had some help."

   "Help from who?" Cassie eyed the book and took it from his hand, opening the cover to read 'This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince.' She raised an eyebrow and looked back to Harry. "This is practically cheating, you know, using old notes. I should turn you in."

   "But you won't," said Harry, tucking his book back into his bag, a slight smirk on his lips, "because I'm the Quidditch captain and if you turn me in I'll have to bar you from trying out."

   "Now wait a minute!" said Cassie, panicked, trailing after Harry, as he had begun to walk to lunch. "We can probably come to some sort of agreement or.. something!"