Potions Homework (Draco Malfoy X Lyra)

  Lyra sat in an empty classroom, quickly jotting some corrections to a potion down. Groaning in frustration, she stood up and walked over to the only cauldron in the room that was in use.

  It currently had a blue hue to it and was simmering on a low heat. Lyra grabbed some bat wings and added them to the mixture. The brew turned red and began frantically bubbling.

  “No, no!” Lyra backed away quickly as the potion spewed its contents everywhere.

  “Having trouble Vega?”

  Lyra turned to see Draco Malfoy standing behind her. “Oh, hi Draco. Yeah, a little.”

  Draco swept over to the cauldron, peering in. “What were you trying to make?”

  “I was trying to make an Expansion Potion. Sometimes I think Snape is tying to make our homework impossible to do.”

  She looked at Draco and saw a ghost of a smile cross his face. Lyra shook her head and turned back to the desk and grabbed her notebook. “Have you figured out the homework?”

  Draco snorted. “Of course, it was easy.”

  “Oh.” Lyra turned back to her notes, hiding her embarrassment. Of course he had figured out the homework.

  Snape had given his students the task of finding which potion had the wrong ingredient in it. There were three fairly simple potions, but the problem was in finding the one potion with the one wrong ingredient.

  Lyra set her notebook down and pulled out her wand. With a quick flick of her wand, the mess was gone and the cauldron was empty. She sighted, frustrated with herself. She had been in here for hours trying to figure this out. While she was fairly confident that she had the correct potion, the incorrect ingredient was just beyond her reach. Turning back to the cauldron, she began again.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco pick up her notebook and look in it.

  “Draco, if you already know the answer, why did you come here?”

  Lyra didn’t turn to see if he was there and, for a second, she thought he had left.

  “I was heading to bed when I saw you walk down the stairs with your bag. I was surprised you hadn’t figured it out. You’re one of the more competent people in our class.”

  She turned and saw Draco set her notebook down, closed. He was looking at her, with a soft expression on his face.

  “Goodnight Lyra, see you tomorrow.”

  “Goodnight Draco.”

  Lyra let out a shaky breath when he finally got out of sight.

  ‘He called me Lyra!’

 Quickly picking up her notebook, she flipped to the page she was last on. Off to the side of her scribbles and notes was a note from Draco.

 

‘Lyra, don’t give up. You’re closer than you think. Here’s the wrong ingredient, but you’ll have to figure out the right one. You’re smart, I’m sure you’ll get it. Unlike every other git in our class, there’s a brain in that skull of yours.

                                          -Draco

   P.S. (Don’t tell anyone, I don’t want my Father to hear about this.)’



  Lyra looked and sure enough, one of the ingredients was circled. It was the right potion, but she had the ingredient wrong.

  “Frog eyeballs…why is that wrong?”

  Lyra thought about it and realized that it was toad spleen. Of course! The potion had a blue hue to it before she had added the eyes. Since the potion needed to turn green, it would only make sense to add a dilutor.

  She quickly brewed the potion and, to her delight, it came out right.

  “Yes!” She turned to put her notebook away and saw a figure quickly leave. “Thank you, Draco.” She whispered.

  The next day in Potions, she handed Snape her finished analysis. He briefly scanned it and looked at her.

  “Well done, Ms. Vega. You seem to possess some skills in Potions, but don’t let your head swell too much from your success.”

  “Of course not, Professor. Thank you.”

  Lyra turned and headed to her seat. She glanced at Draco and saw he was smiling at her. He nodded once, as if to say: “I knew you could do it.”

  The rest of the class was uneventful. Snape had them take notes on the uses of Dragon Blood. Lyra was happy when Potions ended. She gathered her things and headed to Transfiguration.

  “Can I walk you to your next class?”

  Lyra turned and saw Draco side up next to her.

  “Don’t you go there too?”

  “Yeah. And?”

  Lyra shrugged.

  Draco opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it.

  “Got something to say, Malfoy?”

  Draco cocked an eyebrow at her. “Malfoy, I thought you called me Draco?”

  “I thought I’d follow your lead and try something new.”

  To her delight, Draco blushed.

  As they approached the Transfiguration room, Draco finally spoke.

  “Want to sit with me?”

  “Don’t think I can figure it out on my own?”

  “No! …I just want to sit by you.”

  Lyra softened up a bit. “Okay.”

  A smile flashed across his face. “Cool.”