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Chapter 24: First Day in Hogwarts
🕑 Added 2021-09-24 16:05:31 +0000 UTCHogwarts, 1st of November 1994
After I left Rose, I decided to enter the quarters the school has for guests in the castle. I don’t understand why both the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons delegations stayed outside the castle. Well, I can understand the French students preferring to stay in their carriage since it’s much bigger on the inside and it’s probably much as luxurious as the chateau in France. Ah it’s magnificent place, that kinda snuck in on me. I had no idea when it would be built but as soon as it was, I snuck in as a student. I think it was four hundred years ago.
It was created just after the International Statute of Secrecy was instituted and it was a response the muggle king’s Palace of Versailles. As in we can make a school just as luxurious as your king’s home. So yeah, even magical commoners were treated like royalty which kinda explains how indirectly pompous they act in Hogwarts. Of course, that idea backfired since magical commoners didn’t like having their luxury removed after their education while their comrades of noble lineage still had the same lifestyles. So, a century later they rebelled and abolished the premise of nobility in magical France.
Now the school itself offer a lot of courses that cannot be found elsewhere, including a NEWT class for the magical arts, an obligatory etiquette course, Fencing, Healing and even dueling which is more like a sport with an obscene number of rules than actual fighting. The now have an Alchemy class for NEWT students unlike Hogwarts that was abolished thirty years ago by Dumbledore due to a lack of interest. It’s funny how nobody noticed that the man had a monopoly on Alchemical elixirs, meaning that he controlled their prices and their availability.
Durmstrang on the other hand is a harsh place. It’s in Finland and you need to speak German to attend. It was founded about a century after Hogwarts became a thing since the wizard’s council did not allow anyone from outside Brittania to enter. It was the only ‘big’ institute that educated magicals in Europe before Beauxbatons was founded. It’s a pretty cutthroat place where if you excel, you’ll have a great education but mediocre students are expelled after two years. It also caters to the student’s abilities, meaning a second-year student can take transfiguration with fifth years.
It’s a harsh place but any graduate from Durmstrang is guaranteed to be competent, reliable but also dangerous. Durmstrang teaches battle magic, which is now called dark magic. In fact, it’s a center point of their education due to the abundance of Vikings and pirates at the time. Anyway, the ship they’re staying in is barely functional. It should be in a museum and it was very impressive and imposing when it was made but the enchantments are fading and its spells are lost to time so no one can recast them. Well, no one but me. They’re really better off just staying in the castle. They’re taking their classes there anyway.
It’s sad that the school I founded is the one with the worst magical education out of the three schools in the tournament but hey it’s not our fault. There are so many secrets here that still nobody has discovered. No matter how much Dumbledore wants to restrict knowledge, everything that ever entered this castle is analyzed and stored by Hogwarts.
Hogwarts itself is one of my greatest experiments, and I’m not speaking of the school but of the castle. With decades of planning, I created a consciousness in the wards of the castle. It slowly developed into having a soul of her own. It’s the ultimate defense mechanism, one that can think for itself and channel magic from the leyline to create spells of her own against attackers. We taught her to love the students, how best to help her and to manipulate the enchantments inside the castle. She moves stairs to help the students, manipulates space and time to make sure they get on time. She even arranges books to make sure they can find what they need as fast as possible.
For some reason her presence is somewhat muted and the wards are a lot weaker than before. I’ll have to check on that later. Anyway, I have class today. I wasn’t gonna stay here but I kinda want to get to know Rose, my new sister and somewhat student. She surprised me with an affinity over ice and illusions I haven’t seen for centuries. Even her magic is very refined for her age and much more powerful than most people of her time. She kinda reminds me of Myrddin, in term of potential.
So, after receiving a letter pretty much begging me to stay from Dumbledore, I agreed to take fourth year Hufflepuff classes. Mostly, out of boredom than anything. I’m kinda curious where things will be going and how much I can stir the plot. I look at the timetable I received when I woke up. I have double potions, yeah great, two whole ours with the wanna be Batman.
I walk down to the dungeons for my famous first potions class with Snape. Kinda excited to be honest, will he be asking me hard question. I kinda wanna tease him a bit. He was surprisingly silent last night. Probably from shock or something, he must have orders from Dumbledore on how to treat me so this will show me what to expect during my time in Hogwarts.
I enter the classroom, it was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. He’s really going with the whole spooky atmosphere. Kinda unsafe doing potion in such a closed of room, the fumes can be dangerous and it’s better to have a natural filtration system then an enchanted one. It definitely explains the greasy hair if he stays here for too long.
I look around, it seems to be a class of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. The classroom is divided in the middle, each house taking a half of the room. Snape isn’t here yet, probably trying to do his famous entrance thing. You know what they say, first impressions are very important.
The only empty desk is at the back of the class on the Hufflepuff side of the room. I walk there to sit down; everyone is staring at me. It’s really freaky, I don’t think that they’re even blinking. Did I do something wrong. I’m not wearing robes but I’m not a Hogwarts student so that shouldn’t matter. Well, leather jacket and Jeans might be pushing it a bit but it’s my look and I’m sticking with it.
It will be a nice change of perspective, as the first potion mistress of Hogwarts to experience what it’s like from the other side of the classroom. A few minutes later, Snape did his epic entrance, with the billowing cloak and everything. Feels like a Bond Supervillain or something.
Snape started the class by taking the roll call after which he finally noticed me.
“Ah yes, Jasmine Potter. Our unexpected guest…”
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. What a bunch of brats. Other than that, the entire class was silent. I have to give it to him.
I interrupt him, “Not to be disrespectful professor but my name is Jasmine Evanshade, not Potter.”
He didn’t even respond and continued.
“Since you’re new here let me test your competence in potions.” I can hear the entire Hufflepuff side of the room gulp at unison. Dear god, this is a potions professor not a fucking serial killer.
“How do you rate your competence in potions?”
I responded with a smile, “I would say it would be very high, professor.”
"I think a small test is in order then. Tell me, what does the Alihosty Draught do and why is it especially dangerous?" Snape asked immediately, his expression intent.
"The Alihosty Draught causes hysteria, and it's exceptionally dangerous because it does not need to be ingested, merely breathing in the fumes is enough to infect a person." This feels suspiciously like the test he gave Harry in the first book. Does he do this for every child of James Potter or something. I wonder if he did the same to Rose and Nathan. Damn, talk about an inferiority complex.
At least he didn’t ask the same questions from the book, might see some variety.
Snape's follow-up was quick and sharp at the response, "What color is the Dogbreath potion and what does it do?"
"It's purple and it causes the drinker to breath fire."
"Name a potion that uses salamander blood, lionfish spines, flobberworm mucus, and honeywater; and its use."
"Wiggenweld potion, and it's used to wake people up from a deep sleep, or from something like the Draught of Living Death." I replied with only a moment's hesitation. Funnily enough, I actually invented this potion. No one could find anything to reverse the effects of the Draught of Living Death and people were starting to use the potion as a weapon. I snuck into the hospital, more specifically the head healer’s office and left a piece of parchment with the recipe of the potion. They still have no idea who actually created this potion and so named it on the first person that was cured using it.
Snape ignored me and started the lesson. Rude.
“Today we will be working on the pepper-up potion. This potion is used to treat severe magical exhaustion and gives energy to the drinker. It is also a cure for the common cold so whoever was sick during the last few years, our resident Medi-witch, Madame Pomphrey would have given you a dose. One side effect is for steam to get out of the drinker’s ears. This potion is one of the most important ones for any who wish for a career as a Healer.”
Not a bad introduction… I honestly thought he was worse than this.
“Instruction are on the board, start brewing now.”
Wait is that it? He didn’t even explain the formula or the reactions for each potion. That means that students have to idea how to correct themselves if they do a single mistake. They won’t be able to improvise or modify anything. How is this a potions class. They might as well call this class Simon says.
I take my cauldron, that Tilly, my elf, graciously got for me from my lab in New York, and take a look at the instructions. Dear god, this is very bad. These are the instructions for a potion master not a Hogwarts student. Not only must the brewer be able to multitask but the reactions inside the potion will be so unstable that explosions are extremely likely. It’s the most extreme Do or Die I have ever seen in a potion class.
I start brewing my version of the potion. It took me about twenty minutes for me to complete every step and I have to wait for my potion to simmer for thirteen minutes.
Now that I finished early, I can clearly see Snape helping out the Slytherins while ignoring the Hufflepuffs. What a despicable teacher. The two Puffs, a redhead and a blond, in front of me made a mistake and forgot the frog blood and so their potion is red instead of purple. It’s also bubbling and I can tell it will explode soon. I throw in some nettles to stabilize the potion.
They both turn around to look at me. Both girls are sweating from the heat and throw me a grateful look. “How did you do that?”
“Basic Potions knowledge. The potency of the powdered unicorn horn had to be balanced by the acid in the frog blood. Since you forgot it, your potion was unstable. The nettles temporarily stabilized the potion. Now add some flower and seven counter clock wise stirs and then add in the blood. The potion should be salvageable by then. It won’t have the same potency but it’s still a passing grade.”
They were gaping at me.
“How do you know all that?”
“Um. Because it’s basic potion theory… You should know this.”
“It doesn’t matter, thank you.” The redhead said. “I’m Susan Bones, by the way. This is Hannah Abbot.”
“I’m Jasmine Evanshade.”
She opened her mouth but was interrupted by Snape’s cold voice.
“Potter, are you distracting other students.”
Before I could answer he continued.
“Typical Potter, disregarding the rules. You’re just like your pathetic father…”
“I have finished… “My voice died in my throat as I notice that my cauldron was empty, he must have vanished it.
“I do not accept cheater in my classroom, Potter. I ought to take you to the headmaster’s office for this. I don’t know where you got your Pepper Up potion from but…”
“Shut up, you obnoxious little man child. How dare you call yourself an educator with what you have been doing. No formulas, no theory, no reactions. Not one student used any safety precautions while brewing and what in the name of hell have you been teaching these past few years. And for the last time my name is Jasmine Evanshade not fucking Potter. Are you that insecure that you feel the need to belittle your students instead of actually teaching?”
I look up to his furious eyes and feel a probe attempting to breach her mind shields. Oh, so this is Dumbledore’s game. This will be fun…
Comments
athass_prkr
Nah! If someone dies they're staying dead. I'm not budging on that. She will not truly resurrect people, the most she could do is create inferi and summon souls to speak to them.
Asriels
Could she make like a gigai(bleach) for her?
athass_prkr
Yeah she's gonna see her. Probably in chapter 25 or 26. Definitely before the First Task which should be around chapter 27.
Asriels
*play evil sound track* "Ah. So this is your choice?" So is she going to see mordred's ghost?
