The Slytherin Magus

I gathered up my books, and got up, ready to leave for the first class of the day.

I wasn't expecting someone to be right in front of me so I clutched my books tighter so that they wouldn't go flying when I bumped into someone else.

I quickly stepped back, raising a brow as I looked up to see who it was that I had bumped into.

Roxana.

"Ah, sorry about that, I didn't see you there." I apologized in a low voice, making a move to walk past her.

"Wait!" She called abruptly.

I stopped and turned to her, waiting expectantly.

"Did uh… Did you get back on the team? Bruce promised that he would help you." She said earnestly, her light brown eyes dewy.

I was taken aback by this, it would explain a lot.

Well, Roxana was a causative reason I had gotten kicked out in the first place so it was only fair.

Still, I couldn't stand around and talk shop, I had a class to find.

"Thank you for your help," I said politely, walking past her again. This time she didn't stop me.

It was nice to be able to do whatever I wanted without having to worry about the system.

Potions class took place down in one of the big dungeons. I knew that much.

I had to head out to the Viaduct Entrance, it was on the ground floor and an archway opened up to a spiral staircase.

Slughorn Stairs

The stairs looked quite dangerous and although there were a couple of students here and there also trying to get places, it felt like I was going to have to fight a dangerous creature at the end of it.

It led to the Dungeon Corridor. It was just as gloomy as it was described in the book and shown in the movies.

There were ornately carved stone pillars on either side of the corridor, giving it a stifling air.

The Potions classroom was somewhere around here, I just had to find it. It wasn't difficult.

I finally got to the class, it was colder down here than up in the main castle.

It looked like a scene out of a video game, there were already a couple of students in the classroom, all Gryffindors.

In one corner of the room stood a basin into which ice-cold water poured from a gargoyle's mouth, and in the other corner stood a student supply cupboard. 

There was also a blackboard for the teacher to write on, and a teacher's table also in front, facing the class.

The walls were lined with jars of floating stuff, after a closer look, it looked like dead animals and bits of things.

Creepy.

It reminded me of the preserved animals in Biology, I wasn't a big fan.

The class quickly filled up. I kept my head down but I could still feel their stares on me.

Everyone blatantly avoided sitting beside me till the class was almost filled up, then I could hear the rustling of someone sitting beside me.

I looked up out of reflex, keeping calm when I saw who it was.

Hazel and Witter.

After the initial reaction when I first saw her, it was easy to suppress the emotions of the past occupant, with time they would probably fade away entirely.

I was reminded of the 5 SP I had gotten from 'Romantic moment lv1', and I frowned. I didn't like that.

It meant that I wasn't given a choice of who I fell in love with.

'I have a choice though'.

 It was not a requirement to level up the Romantic moment or whatever.

Granted, it was a way to get SP but I wouldn't be going down that route.

Hazel was an important tool for me to achieve my goals so she would work with me and help me out regardless of if we got together or not.

So I just calmly looked in their direction and turned away, dropping my head on my desk again.

There was still a couple of minutes before Professor Slughorn would show up and during that time, the class was quite lively.

It was the first class of the semester so there was much catching up, although I was also a main topic in most of the conversations.

"Hey, Professor Slughorn is here." Hazel gently nudged me.

I sat upright, noting that indeed Professor Slughorn was standing at the front of the class.

"Thanks," I muttered, I had somehow been so distracted that I didn't notice that the class had gone quiet.

"As we are about 21 in number, we'll be dividing into groups of three for this class." Professor Slughorn started off without preamble.

Murmurs started in the class as he said this. In the sixth year, students were given much harder schoolwork so the class was rightfully wary.

People shuffled slightly closer to each other as they found their groups, I turned to my side and of course, my group consisted of Hazel and Witter.

"If any of you actually bothered to look into your school books during the holidays, can anyone tell me our first topic?"

Several hands shot up.

I wasn't surprised, we would be learning how to make 'Amortentia' which was the most powerful love potion in existence.

So it was expected that it would be a fan favorite among the students.

I didn't bother raising my hand because there were so many people eager to be called upon.

I could hear some girls giggle as they whispered amongst themselves.

"Albeline? Why don't you give it a try?" Professor Slughorn suddenly fired at me.

The whispered giggles escalated into bold-faced laughter, everyone no doubt expecting me to fail the question.

The previous occupant would have, I was confident about that.

I reluctantly got to my feet, keeping a bland expression on as I stared past Professor Slughorn to the blank blackboard behind him.

"Amortentia." I drawled, settling back in my seat amidst shocked gasps.

Just how dumb had the previous occupant been?

"Er, well… Thank you for that Albeline. 10 points to Slytherin." Professor Slughorn regained his composure and resumed his teaching.

"Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world. It is distinctive for its mother-of-pearl sheen, and steam rises from the potion in spirals. Amortentia smells different to each person, according to what attracts them."

Professor Slughorn walked up to the board and wrote the ingredients we would be using on the board and in what quantities.

I found it hard to pay attention as did the rest of my group members because we couldn't help but overhear what the group directly in front of us was saying.

It was a group of three girls, all in Slytherin House.

"I-I swear I saw it right behind me when I was looking at myself in the mirror in the first-floor bathrooms." One of the girls was saying to her other two friends, she looked really pale and shaken up.

"Nonsense, Nellie!" The girl on the right exclaimed, looking unperturbed. "The only Basilisk was killed by Harry Potter before we even got into Hogwarts, there's no way you could have seen one." 

Nellie however was not to be convinced and she looked to her other friend. "You believe me don't you, Frankie?"

Frankie looked like she wasn't sure where to be on the belief scale. "I don't know now, Nellie. Jolene is right, there shouldn't be any Basilisks at Hogwarts…"

Nellie had already had enough of her friends invalidating her experience. "But I said I saw one!" She lost herself and exclaimed loudly.

Professor Slughorn paused his scribbling on the board to level them a stern stare, this shut them up quickly and they went back to concentrating on the class.

Subconsciously, I found myself turning to the rest of my group members as if to confirm that they heard what they said.

They both had the same thoughts because we all shared a knowing look but couldn't discuss it, till we were left to mix a particularly taxing ingredient.

"Do you really think she saw a Basilisk?" Hazel was the one to break the tense silence that we had all been working in.

I glanced up at her words. Witter just shrugged but I threw the question back at her. "What do you think?"

She looked shocked that I actually replied, Witter looked more horrified than shocked.

I dropped my head on my hand and leveled them a disinterested gaze. "Why are you so surprised? You asked a question, didn't you?"

Hazel recovered faster. "I'm sorry about that, it's just…" She trailed off, her eyes saying everything.

…The previous occupant wouldn't have replied.

 As a matter of fact, knowing him as well as I did, he would most likely retreat into himself while trying to get over the fact that he had gotten paired up with 'Celestial Hazel'.

Witter wasn't that tactful. "Because you're an asshole, you were supposed to insult us and tell us to not talk to you…"

"Weston!" Hazel whispered loudly, throwing him a look that showed her disapproval of what he said.

I sat up straight and shrugged. "People change. You didn't tell me what you think, Hazel."

She dropped her eyes to the mixing plate on the table in front of us, her bronze-colored hair obscuring her face.

"I don't know what to think." She finally spoke, her tone honest. "Nellie isn't the type to make that up but Jolene is right, there shouldn't be any Basilisks at Hogwarts."

Witter just scoffed, pulling the mixing plate closer to himself to occupy his hands. "Or maybe she was half asleep and it was a trick of the light." He casually dismissed Nellie's claims, his green eyes sharp. 

I didn't know what to think either. It was redundant to go running for a Professor over something as slight as that, it would explain why Nellie had been telling her friends instead of Professor Slughorn.

I couldn't give my opinion about it though because the bell rang to signal the end of the class.