The dungeons were cold and dim, with a chill that seeped through robes and torchlight. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seventh years had been combined for double Potions, and the result was a crowded, echoing space filled with low murmur of nervous conversation.
Gilderoy took his usual station near the back of the room because it kept him away from Slughorn's eyes, as the professor always looked at him with disappointment because Lockhart had not brewed a single potion correctly after the time he had brewed a perfect Draught of Living Death.
The stone floor beneath his feet was worn from decades of students shuffling back and forth, and the cauldron in front of him was standard pewter, blackened and dented from years of use.
Amelia settled beside him while Pandora and Xeno claimed a station near the back. Across the room, the Hufflepuffs were settling in, including Alex, Beatrice Greengrass, and the rest, with their voices blending into the general hum of the dungeon.
The door swung open and the beefy form of Horace Slughorn waddled in. His large belly preceded him, and his cheerful expression was at odds with the grim setting of the dungeon.
"Good morning, everyone. I trust you are all prepared for a special challenge today." He waved his wand, and instructions appeared on the board in neat, flowing script. "Today, we will be doing something different because you will be brewing the Aegis Draught."
A collective groan rippled through the room because the Aegis Draught was a complex and unforgiving NEWT-level defensive potion that required precise heat control, multiple stages, and ingredients that had to be added in exact order.
Before anyone could begin, Slughorn raised a hand. "Now, this potion might come up in your NEWTs, so it is better to be ready to run. But before you all rush off to ruin perfectly good cauldrons, I want to advise you."
He began to pace slowly in front of the class with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Please read the instructions in the books carefully before you add any ingredient. You were here for seven years, and I do not want a melting and broken cauldron again when it is your last potion class of Hogwarts."
He paused and turned to face them.
"The most common reason students fail this potion is not lack of skill but lack of attention. They sometimes skip instructions or follow them blindly without thinking or observing. They add ingredients too quickly, stir in the wrong direction, and do not notice the warning signs until it is too late."
"So I will repeat again." He gestured toward the board and toward their potions book. "Read the instructions carefully. Observe your potion at every stage. Follow the instructions exactly because this is not the time for creativity."
He smiled. "You have one hour. Begin."
Chaos erupted almost immediately. Blackthorn logs were lit, and smoke and steam filled the air within minutes while the dungeon became a symphony of bubbling, hissing, and the occasional curse.
Cuthbert Digby, seated near the front, added his Powdered Dragon Claw too quickly, and his potion curdled into a grey sludge that smelled faintly of burnt hair. He stared at it in disbelief. "What? How? This is impossible!"
Gilderoy grinned as he recalled that his own first attempts were quite similar.
Slughorn scrunched up his nose at the curdled potion. "You added the Dragon Claw too quickly, Mr. Digby. You must be patient because patience is everything in Potions."
Silas Smith refused to follow the stirring instructions and stirred randomly, first clockwise, then counterclockwise, then in a figure-eight that made no sense at all. His potion turned a violent orange and began to smoke. "This Dragon Claw is defective! It is not my fault!"
"Mr. Smith, I supply all my ingredients from the finest shop in Diagon Alley," Slughorn replied. "Do not blame the ingredients. Perhaps you should try following the instructions."
Raphael Goldstein worked methodically with precise movements and careful timing, but when Gilderoy glanced over, he noticed the amber colour of Goldstein's potion because he had forgotten the Graphorn Horn entirely. The potion would be useless for its intended purpose without the main ingredient.
Helena Marchbanks was quiet and focused while her potion remained transparent and shimmering, on track with no signs of failure.
Cressida Warrington watched Gilderoy from across the room and tried to copy his technique without understanding it. She misunderstood the direction in which he was stirring because she was on the opposite end, and her potion turned cloudy.
Gilderoy kept his eyes on his own cauldron as he worked. He was already halfway into making the potion, so he added a pinch of Dragon Claw while stirring clockwise. The potion remained clear.
He glanced at Amelia, who was working with the kind of quiet efficiency that came from years of disciplined practice because she had already added the Dragon Claw and was now reducing the flame while she waited for the potion to turn the correct shade.
She caught his eye and smirked as if to say, I do not need your help.
He grinned back at her antics and turned his attention back to his own cauldron.
A few stations over, Alex Summers was struggling because his potion was thick and lumpy from the Flobberworm Mucus being added too quickly. He was stirring frantically and trying to break up the lumps, but the motion was making it worse.
Gilderoy walked over. "Fully lower the flame first," he said as he pointed toward the stove. "Then stir clockwise, slowly because the lumps will break up on their own."
Alex looked up at him, grateful. "Thanks, man."
He followed the instructions by reducing the flame and stirring clockwise slowly and deliberately. The lumps began to dissolve and the potion smoothed out.
"Better," Gilderoy said as he clapped him on the shoulder. "Keep going."
Pandora's potion was a disaster. It was bright purple, smoking slightly, and she was stirring in the wrong direction because she moved the stirring rod counterclockwise and agitated the brew instead of calming it.
Gilderoy stepped behind her. "You are supposed to stir clockwise," he said quietly.
Pandora tilted her head back with her lips curving into a smile. "Am I? I must have missed that part."
He placed his hand over hers on the stirring rod while her skin remained warm beneath his fingers. He guided her hand in the correct clockwise motion while his chest pressed against her back, and he could feel the warmth of her body through her robes.
Pandora leaned into him while her bum pressed against his crotch, and she shifted her weight slightly as if she was adjusting her stance.
"You are very good at this," she murmured.
"You are not following instructions," he murmured back.
She tilted her head with her lips near his ear. "Maybe I need more hands-on teaching."
Gilderoy stepped back and released her hand with a smirk. "Sorry, but you need to vanish this potion before Slughorn comes here and start again because you messed up."
Pandora panicked as she vanished her own potion and started again before she fake-frowned at Gilderoy. "Go away. You are certainly not helpful."
The class continued while the failures mounted.
Audrey Abbott froze when her potion started smoking because she stared at it with trembling hands and did not know what to do. Amelia walked over and lowered the flame with a quick Flamma Minuo.
"Breathe," Amelia said. "You are fine, so just keep stirring."
Audrey nodded with her eyes wide and resumed stirring.
Beatrice Greengrass produced a near-perfect potion that was pale, translucent, and shimmering. She looked surprised at herself, as if she had not expected to succeed..
Edmund Fortescue gave up halfway through after failing once and set down his stirring rod before he watched the others with a resigned expression.
Slughorn wandered the room and peered into cauldrons.
He praised with a jovial pat on the shoulder. "Excellent work, Miss Greengrass. Excellent. Five points to Hufflepuff."
Slughorn peered into Amelia's cauldron and saw a light silver shimmering potion. "A near-perfect potion, Miss Bones. Five points to Hufflepuff."
He paused at Gilderoy's station. His potion was perfect, pale silver-blue, translucent, and shimmering. The surface caught the torchlight and reflected it back like a mirror.
Slughorn stared at it before he looked at Gilderoy. "Mr. Gilderoy, a perfect potion! How? You were not able to brew a single potion perfectly after you had brewed that Draught of Living Death earlier this term."
Gilderoy felt embarrassed as Slughorn made him recall how he had struggled with potions over the year. "I started studying more,".
"Studied?" Slughorn's eyebrows rose. "Did you get any help?"
"Yes, sir, from Professor Snape."
Slughorn's expression flickered into delight. "What! You studied under Severus? And he was willing to teach you?"
"Yes, sir."
"How strange." Slughorn wondered what reason might have been behind Snape willingly teaching Lockhart. "Well, I could not name a better professor than Severus himself because if you learned from him, I expect you will get Outstanding in your NEWTs."
"Anyways, ten points to Ravenclaw for a perfect potion."
The bell rang.
Most students had failed or produced mediocre results while only a handful had managed acceptable potions, including Gilderoy, Amelia, and Beatrice.
Slughorn addressed the class one final time. "Today was a lesson in observation and precision because those of you who succeeded did so because you paid attention, and those of you who failed did so because you rushed, or you did not follow instructions, or you did not observe the warning signs." He paused. "Learn from this because it will serve you well in your NEWTs."
"Also, good luck for your NEWTs, and it was lovely teaching you for seven years," Slughorn continued as his voice carried a warmth that had been missing during the lesson. "Also, you are the last batch I will teach because I will be retiring from the post of Hogwarts professor next year."
The room went quiet.
"You are retiring?" Rosamund asked from the front, her voice carrying genuine surprise. "But you have been here forever."
Slughorn chuckled. "Not forever, Miss Birch, though it feels that way sometimes. But I have been thinking about it for a while now. Time to enjoy the quiet life. Perhaps travel. Taste some new wines. Correspond with old students."
"You will be missed, Professor," Beatrice said as she stoppered her potion with careful hands. "You have always been kind to us."
"Kind, yes. Indulgent, perhaps." Slughorn smiled. "But you have been a good batch. Some of you more talented than others." His gaze flickered briefly to Gilderoy, Amelia, Beatrice and few other students before moving on. "But all of you memorable in your own way."
Alex spoke up from the back. "What will you do? Where will you go?"
"I have a small villa in the south of France," Slughorn said with a wistful sigh. "I have been meaning to visit it for years. Perhaps now I finally will."
"Enough sentimentality," Slughorn said as he waved a hand. "You have exams to prepare for. Go on, now. Study hard. And if any of you ever need a letter of recommendation, you know where to find me."
The students rose and began to file out of the dungeon. A few lingered to shake Slughorn's hand or share a final word. Cuthbert Digby thanked him for the lesson, even though his potion had been ruined. Beatrice gave him a small, awkward curtsy. Even Silas managed a grudging nod.
Gilderoy waited until the crowd thinned before he approached.
"Professor," he said as he extended his hand. "Thank you for everything."
Slughorn shook his hand looked at him with an expression that was difficult to read. "You have surprised me, Mr. Lockhart. More than once. First with that Draught of Living Death, then with your sudden disappearance from my lessons, and now with this perfect potion." He took Gilderoy's hand and shook it firmly. "Whatever miracles you have been doing, keep doing it."
"I intend to, sir."
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