The next day was the first Potions class with the Brat and the rest of the first year Slytherins. Severus was prepared for anything. Every year, against Severus' explicit requests, Albus grouped the Gryffindors and Slytherins together. It was all he could do not to howl in frustration. The combined Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff class was, frankly, dull by comparison.
But this group . . . he had to watch them more closely than any other class. Untrained and prone to taunts and tricks, they were forty times more likely to blow up his classroom. He swept in, scowling, and set the tone immediately, his voice pitched so they could only hear him if they were perfectly still, with a hint of wonder, and a hint of madness, in it.
They all watched him, enraptured, as he went through his introduction, promised them glory, beauty, a stopper for death, if only they would apply themselves . . . all of them watching and waiting, eager young dunderheads that they were.
Abruptly, he began taking roll. He paused only once, at, "Harry Potter," letting the syllables linger in the air. "Our new . . . celebrity," he intoned, watching the Brat's expression carefully. Potter's head came up, eyes narrowed. Beside him, to Severus' surprise, Theodore Nott stiffened, his own gaze piercing. Severus suppressed a smile. Seemed Potter had a fan club already. Time to find out for certain, who he could count on.
When he was done with calling names, he snapped, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Potter glanced at Nott looked as stumped as he was. The bushy-haired girl, Miss Granger, was it? – who'd stepped forward on Potter's behalf yesterday, shot her hand in the air.
"I don't know, sir," said Potter, as Severus knew he would.
His lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything." He ignored Granger's hand. She wasn't going to aid his fact finding mission.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
The Granger crane stretched as high into the air as she could go without
leaving her seat, but Potter was obviously stumped. Behind him, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, were shaking with laughter. Interesting. He shot them a glare, and they subsided, but only barely.
"I don't know, sir."
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"
Potter flushed, and Severus knew immediately that the boy had not had access to his books before the term started in that house full of Muggles who disdained him. Still, the Brat held his gaze, not an easy feat for grown men, and even a couple of the Gryffindors looked put out on his behalf.
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
At this, the Granger chit stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.
"I don't know," said Potter quietly. "I think she does, though, why don't you try her?"
Nott shot him a look with wide eyes as a few people laughed, though none of them Slytherins. Malfoy's smirk was rather large, however. Potter's hands were shaking, and he folded them sharply together on his desk.
Severus snapped, "Sit down," at Granger. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite.
"Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Severus said, "And another detention for your cheek, Potter."
Potter nodded and continued to get his parchment readied.
As he ordered the students to follow the directions on the board to make a simple cure for boils, Severus hoped the special lesson had not been lost on the boy.
When class was over, he prepared a bin of black beetles for Potter to crush into powder during his detention tonight, with explicit written instructions, as he would not be there to supervise. Amazingly, he knew he could trust the boy to do his detention as assigned.