Ophilia's Lesson

“I think it's a brilliant idea!” said Mercy. She was sitting with Dewey at the Hufflepuff table, while they ate lunch.

Dewey smiled. He was actually relieved to hear someone tell him it wasn't a stupid idea. “But how do we do it? I mean, I don't even know what to call it. And how do we convince anyone else to participate? Especially outside of Hufflepuff? With the way the houses are now?”

“Well, that's why we want to do it, right?”

Mercy was now wholly invested in the idea. Dewey smiled even more broadly at her use of the word “we.”

“Doesn't solve the problem, though,” he sighed.

She nodded.

“We could call it the Inter-House Cooperation Council,” Dewey suggested.

Mercy laughed, though it wasn't an unkind laugh at all. “That sounds like some musty old office you'd find in a basement at the Ministry of Magic.”

Dewey wrinkled his nose. She was right. He was beginning to appreciate Mercy's practicality.

“The Society for Friendship and Understanding Between Houses,” she proposed.

Dewey grimaced. On the other hand, Mercy's practicality could sometimes fall short. “No offense, Mercy, but I'm afraid most Hufflepuffs would gag on a name like that, let alone Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, and forget about Slytherins...”

“All right!” she replied, looking just a little bit put out, and making Dewey feel just a little bit guilty. “I see what you mean.” They both sat there thinking for a little bit.

“The real purpose may be to get first-years in different houses socializing with each other,” said Mercy at last, “but we don't have to be so direct about it, do we? There are other reasons kids might get together. Like you and your friends. You study together in the library all the time.”

Dewey nodded. “So, we propose it as a study group? Or... or trying to arrange tutors! There are always some kids who are better than others at some things.” He glanced at Sung-Hee, who was listening quietly, but as usual, saying very little. He wondered how much she was understanding.

“That's a better idea,” said Mercy. “But I'm afraid most students still won't be eager to be tutored by someone from another house.” She frowned slightly. “What do they have in common? It was Simon and Edgar who gave you the idea in the first place.”

“Yeah,” Dewey nodded. “I'll bet there are Muggle-borns in other houses who have the same problems adjusting to the wizarding world. It would be great for them all to be able to talk to each other. But I don't want to make it just Muggle-borns. The point is for us to understand them better, too.”

“That's what Muggle Studies is for,” Mercy pointed out, and her voice became quieter. Dewey knew she was thinking about her aunt, who had once been a Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts.

“Right,” he said, trying to sound cheery. “But it's different, learning about Muggles from a teacher, and learning about Muggles from kids who actually grew up as one.”

Mercy nodded. “We can do all that... inter-house friendship, tutoring, help for Muggle-borns, a way for us to understand them better... but we can't put all that on a poster, Dewey!” She put her head in her hands. “Oh, you're right! This is a great idea, but we need to figure out how to actually make it work! We can't just invite everyone to come to a meeting to talk about anything and everything!”

Dewey nodded. “'Let's all make friends' would sound daft even to Hufflepuffs.”

“Ice cream,” said Sung-Hee.

Mercy and Dewey both blinked at her.

“Beg your pardon?” Dewey asked.

“Everyone like ice cream,” said Sung-Hee, blushing nervously.

Dewey and Mercy looked at each other.

“Well, it's not as if we've come up with any better ideas,” Mercy said.

Dewey looked dubious. “An ice cream party?” He sighed. “I think we need to think about this some more.” Then he quickly added, with a reassuring smile for Sung-Hee, “But it's a really brilliant idea! I mean, compared to the Inter-House Cooperation Council, anyway.”

Sung-Hee smiled, but he wasn't sure she completely understood him.

“An ice cream social?” Kai said skeptically. “Oh, sounds really sweet!” Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had Potions class after lunch. Dewey had told Kai about his idea while they sat down.

Dewey rolled his eyes. “Funny. No, I'm serious! We can start small. Invite a few people who we think might benefit. I think I can talk Edgar and Simon into coming, and if you can bring Zirkle...” He looked over at the Muggle-born Ravenclaw, who was still fumbling to get his potions book out of his bag.

“Good afternoon, class,” said a voice that was definitely not Professor Slughorn's. Everyone looked up, and stared at the person who had just entered the room.

“For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ophilia Karait,” said the Slytherin Prefect, as she walked casually between the rows of desks, with all eyes fixed on her. “Professor Slughorn is otherwise engaged this afternoon. He asked me to substitute for him today. Since I am his top student in Advanced Potions, I assure you I can answer any questions any first-years might have. Now, please open your books to chapter seven. Professor Slughorn will be starting you off with a unit on poisons, so today you will learn a list of those poisons you will be expected to recognize, and their antidotes.” She walked back to the front of the room, sat behind Slughorn's desk, opened a box, and began pulling out small vials which she lined up on the desk. The vials all looked alike, differentiated only by the color of their stoppers. “In fact, I'll make a little game of it. Each of these vials contains one of the poisons on your list. Anyone who can identify one of them at the end of class, and tell me the correct antidote, wins ten points for your house.”

The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs looked at each other. Edgar, who was back now from his trip to see the Headmistress, was the first to raise his hand.

“Yes?” Ophilia asked, looking at the large Hufflepuff boy. “What's your name?”

“Edgar. Edgar Hargrave. Er, ma'am,” Edgar said, nervously. There were smirks and titters throughout the class, but Ophilia ignored them. “Umm, how are we supposed to identify them? They all look the same.”

“By taste,” said Ophilia.

The first-years all looked at each other again.

Kai cleared his throat, and raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Chang?”

Kai had already opened his mouth, but he paused, taken off-guard by the fact that Ophilia knew his name. He cleared his throat again. “Do you mean, you want us to actually drink poison?”

“None of them are immediately fatal,” said Ophilia calmly. She began arranging another row of vials on the desk. “And if you tell me the correct antidote, you'll be perfectly fine.”

Kai stared at her. “Are you barking?” he demanded.

Dewey winced. Not that he didn't agree with Kai. In fact, from the expressions on their faces, it looked like everyone in class agreed with Kai. But only Kai would say something like that out loud.

The Slytherin Prefect narrowed her eyes. “Twenty points from Ravenclaw. No, I am not 'barking,' Mr. Chang. In your NEWT-level classes, if you should be competent enough to get that far, you will have to identify many brews and concoctions by taste, and you will be expected to test your antidotes personally.” She sniffed, and twirled one of the poison vials between her fingers. “I assure you, it's perfectly safe. I've done this many times myself.”

“She's barking,” Kai muttered to Dewey, indignant about the twenty point penalty.

The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs buried their noses in their books, while occasionally glancing nervously at the front of the room, where Ophilia continued to sit behind the teacher's desk, idly shuffling vials about on the desk and watching the students read.

“So, anyway,” Dewey whispered to Kai. “There are all these kids, like Simon, and Edgar, and Gilbert, and Chloe, and Stephen, who if they just had had more people to talk to, maybe they wouldn't have felt so alone in their houses.”

“Wait, you want to invite Chloe?” Kai whispered. “Sure, put her in the same room with Teddy or Violet, that will go over really well!”

“Look,” said Dewey. “I know there's a lot of bad blood now, but it's no worse than –”

“Twenty points each from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff,” said Ophilia, from the front of the room. “Just because you have books in front of your faces doesn't mean I can't hear you whispering, Chang and Diggory.”

“Twenty points?” exclaimed Kai. “That's not fair! No teacher takes more than ten points for talking in class!”

“Another twenty points from Ravenclaw,” Ophilia said, inspecting her nails. “For insolence.”

Kai's mouth was open and he half-rose from his seat. Dewey thought Kai might be about to set a record for the most points lost by one student in a single class. All his fellow Ravenclaws began hissing, “Shut up!” He sat back down at his desk, with a glower at the Prefect.

Near the end of class, Dewey nudged Kai with his elbow, and jerked his head in Gilbert Zirkle's direction. Kai looked at his roommate, and saw that Gilbert kept glancing at Ophilia. He would read his book, then look up to stare at the Prefect. Every time the older girl lifted her gaze to sweep across the first-year students, Gilbert would look back down at his book, and then when he didn't think Ophilia was watching any more, he'd look back up at her.

“Oi!” Kai groaned, thumping his head on his desk. “What is it with him and snakey Slytherin girls?”

“Setting his sights on older women now, looks like,” Dewey snickered, and then covered his mouth – too late.

“All right, Chang and Diggory,” said Ophilia. “I'll give you a choice – I can penalize both your houses another twenty points, or you two can be the first to come up here and demonstrate how well you've learned your lesson.”

Dewey and Kai stared at each other. Then Dewey took a deep breath, pushed back from the desk and stood up.

Ophilia smiled. Kai looked as if he'd been sentenced to wrestle a troll, and with a grimace, started to stand, but Gilbert's hand shot up, and he said, “I'll do it, Miss Ophilia, ma'am!”

Kai froze, in the middle of rising to his feet, and Ophilia blinked. She regarded Gilbert for a moment.

“Very well, Mr...?”

“Zirkle, ma'am! Gilbert Zirkle.”

“Oh, so you're Gilbert Zirkle,” said Ophilia slowly, with an amused smile. Gilbert looked pleased that she had heard of him.

“Git,” muttered Kai. Obviously, Ophilia had heard of him from Nagaeena. He didn't imagine that what Nagaeena had said about Gilbert was particularly endearing. He looked at Gilbert, and said, “Your funeral,” and sat back down.

Gilbert walked to the front of the room with Dewey.

“Take your pick,” Ophilia said, waving her hand over the row of poison vials. Dewey looked at her, then grabbed one at random. Gilbert took another one, after more deliberation. The entire class watched, very quietly, as Dewey and Gilbert each unstopped their vials, and swallowed the contents.

Dewey closed his eyes, willing himself not to panic. All right, it tasted... icy? There was a sickly sweet flavor to it, and a pungent, slightly bitter aftertaste. He thought about the list of poisons he had read. He noticed that next to him, the brave smile Gilbert had offered Ophilia had vanished. The Ravenclaw was making a horrible face; apparently, he had been less fortunate than Dewey in choosing a pleasant-tasting poison.

As Gilbert made gagging noises, Ophilia gave him a disdainful look, and then stared at Dewey. “Well?” she demanded. “We don't have all day... or should I say, you don't.”

“Moonseed poison,” Dewey gulped. It caused a rapid drop in body temperature, and he could already feel his lips and fingertips becoming numb.

“And the antidote?” Ophilia asked.

“Crushed marigold petals boiled with ginseng,” Dewey replied.

Ophilia smiled and handed him one of the antidote vials. Dewey hastily unstopped it and drained the contents, which tasted spicy and flowery.

“Ten points for Hufflepuff,” she said.

“Ten points doesn't seem like very much for drinking poison, Miss Karait,” Dewey muttered. Especially after they'd been penalized twenty just for whispering in class.

“There are six more,” she suggested, pointing at the remaining vials.

Gilbert was still gagging, and his face was turning red.

“Do something!” Dewey said, concerned.

“Well, Zirkle?” Ophilia asked.

“Aconite!” Gilbert gasped.

“No.” Ophilia seemed completely unmoved by the fact that Gilbert looked as if he were about to keel over.

“Dragon poison!” Gilbert exclaimed.

“That's not even on the list!” she snapped.

This might have provoked laughter from the class, except that by now everyone was staring at the poisoned Ravenclaw with growing horror.

“You can't let him just die!” Dewey said angrily.

Ophilia did not react. She just kept staring at Gilbert, as if he were an interesting test subject.

“Are you insane?” Connor McCormack shouted. He rose from his seat, and so did Kai. Ophilia pointed her wand at them. “Sit down!” she said coldly.

They gaped at her, and then watched, horrified, as Gilbert fell to his knees, clutching his throat and making more awful gagging noises.

“You're out of your mind!” exclaimed Dewey, and he lunged across the desk to snatch up all the antidote bottles. He knelt next to Gilbert and unstopped the first one.

“You do know that some antidotes, in combination, become poisonous themselves?” Ophilia said, still with that same dispassionate tone and bemused expression.

Dewey stood back up, and felt rage building as he glared at the older girl. “You can't do this!” he shouted. “You can't poison students! You're going to go to Azkaban, you bloody insane lunatic!”

“No I'm not,” she replied smoothly. “None of those vials contained poison.”

Gilbert stopped gagging, and looked up at her, confused. Dewey's jaw dropped, and he stared at Ophilia, along with all the other students.

She picked up the vials and carefully put them back in her box. “You drank water. The taste came from a simple charm.” She smiled at the class, as the bell rang. “Professor Slughorn will be back tomorrow. Oh, and twenty points from Hufflepuff, for that 'bloody insane lunatic' crack.” She turned, and walked out of the classroom, carrying her box of poison-flavored vials of water, while Dewey and the rest of the class stared after her.

Teddy's thoughts were dark and gloomy when someone knocked on the door to his room. He hadn't moved since returning from the Headmistress's office. Tear tracks had dried on his face, and now he felt despair, anger, guilt, shame, and emptiness, all at once. If he'd been looking in a mirror, he would have seen that his face kept shifting from one mask of extreme emotion to another, but he wasn't, and he didn't care.

Now someone was pounding on his door, and the portrait of Edan's ancestor, still turned against the wall, yelled, “Are you going to answer that, boy?”

“Who is it?” Teddy asked, in a dull voice.

“Danny Boyle! You're to report to Professor Slughorn's office, Lupin,” the Gryffindor Prefect called through the door.

Teddy blinked. Slowly, he got up, looked in the mirror, and splashed some water on his face.

“Lupin!” yelled Boyle, and he was standing there with his fist raised to pound the door again when Teddy opened it.

“What does Professor Slughorn want with me?” Teddy asked.

“How should I know?” snapped Boyle. “I was just told to fetch you. Go on, then!”

Teddy walked down the stairs, all the way to the dungeons, and made his way to the Slytherin Head's office. He knocked on the door, and opened it when Slughorn said, “Come in.”

Slughorn was sitting behind his desk. He did not look as friendly and cheerful as all the other times Teddy had seen him. “Ah, Mr. Lupin. Close the door behind you, please.”

Teddy did, and then, when Slughorn gestured curtly at the chair in front of his desk, he sat down.

Slughorn folded his hands over his enormous belly and regarded Teddy with a beady-eyed stare. “Mr. Lupin,” he said, and Teddy noted that this was also a change from their previous meetings, when the Deputy Headmaster had simply called him “Teddy.” “I am offended!” He put emphasis on the last word, and Teddy winced.

“I'm sorry, Professor,” Teddy murmured, looking down, but Slughorn kept talking.

“I am offended that you told Professor Llewellyn such nonsense!” he went on. “Stole Paralyzing Potion from my office? Really, Mr. Lupin!”

Teddy blinked, and looked up at him. “But, I did, Professor,” he said. He raised a shaky finger, to point at the cabinet behind the Potions Master. Slughorn didn't even bother to look, just waved a hand dismissively.

“Yes, my boy, you noticed those, did you? You've got a sharp eye, I'll give you that. Maybe that's even where you got the idea for using Paralyzing Potion. But do you actually believe that you could get away with stealing something from me?” he scoffed. “I assure you, if you had tried to take anything out of that cabinet, you would not have gotten far. Really, to think that I would actually be that careless? Never mind that you and I both know that I have never left you alone in this room! Did you think Professor Llewellyn wouldn't tell me about your absurd story, or did you simply believe that we are both idiots?” He made a disapproving clucking sound, and then Teddy heard something whistling. There was a tea set sitting on a stand by Slughorn's elbow, within easy reach, and the Potions Master set two cups on his desk, and poured tea from his kettle into each one. He pushed one across the desk, towards Teddy.

Teddy's despair and numbness were being replaced by confusion and embarrassment.

“Have some tea, young man,” he said. “And then tell me why you told the Headmistress that cock and bull story about stealing a potion from my office. We both know you're no thief, Teddy.”

With a shaking hand, Teddy took the offered cup, and sipped the hot tea. It seemed to have a soothing effect, but when he lowered the cup, he remained silent. Slughorn was staring at him, and Teddy couldn't meet his eyes, so he dropped his gaze to his lap.

“Oh, Teddy,” Slughorn sighed. “Determined to be stubborn to the last, are you? You'd actually choose to be expelled rather than give up your partner in crime?”

That made Teddy look up, and now he saw that Slughorn was holding the little bottle that he had last seen sitting on the Headmistress's desk.

“This,” said Slughorn, peering at the bottle, “came from a fairly potent batch of Paralyzing Potion, but certainly not one I ever brewed. It took me a while to analyze it, because of the dilution, but I'd say it's the work of a seventh-year student, or possibly a very talented sixth-year.” The professor slapped it down on his desk and leaned forward, his eyes suddenly boring into the boy.

“Who made it for you, Teddy?” he demanded.

Teddy gulped, and looked down, shaking his head.

“Stubborn Gryffindor,” Slughorn sighed again. “I do admire your loyalty, if not your foolishness. Of course I expected it also. You're having trouble not saying the name, aren't you? That tingling in your tongue, the burning sensation in your eyes? That's the Veritaserum working.”

Teddy almost choked, and hastily set down his teacup. He'd just been about to take another sip.

“It only takes a few drops,” Slughorn went on. “You've already imbibed more than enough. Your deepest secrets will tumble out of you, no matter how strongly you desire to keep them to yourself.” Slughorn's voice was becoming soft, almost hypnotic. Teddy swallowed hard, willing his throat to seal shut. He clenched his teeth together, but already he could feel his swollen tongue loosening. He wanted to talk.

“You didn't really steal Paralyzing Potion, did you?” Slughorn asked.

Teddy shook his head, swallowing hard. “No,” he mumbled.

“You obtained it from someone who gave it to you, didn't you?”

“Y-y-yes,” he said, unwillingly.

“Who was it, Teddy?” Slughorn whispered. “Someone in my Advanced Potions class, most assuredly. Was it Jill? Maisie? Pierce? Ophilia? Garrick?”

Teddy tried to bite down on his tongue. He was sweating. “Please, Professor,” he moaned.

“Don't fight it, Teddy. Just tell me the name. It might have been Yusuf, he's talented enough. Or Annabelle, perhaps? Yes, it was Miss Jones, wasn't it? She's already being expelled, you know, Teddy. She can't get in any worse trouble. Tell me!”

Teddy shook his head violently, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Nobody!” he gasped. He was trembling all over. Finally, he opened his eyes, and saw Slughorn leaning back in his chair again, looking disappointed.

“Teddy, Teddy, what will Harry say? What about your poor grandmother?”

Teddy looked down. Suddenly it was as important not to cry as it had been not to give up the name of the person who had provided him with Paralyzing Potion.

“Fortunately for you,” Slughorn said at last, “Professor Llewellyn is not as easily fooled as you imagined she would be. You are guilty of lying to your professors, and that's very serious, and of possessing an illegal potion, which is even more serious. But, neither of those offenses falls under the Zero Toleration Policy.”

Teddy looked up, slowly, in disbelief.

“I... I don't understand,” he said.

“You're not a thief,” Slughorn said briskly. “You're a fool. An incredible, stubborn fool, and many other things, but not a thief.”

Teddy was so confused and shaken, he couldn't make sense of this. He wasn't quite sure he understood what Professor Slughorn was saying. And then, his mind latched onto something, a glimmer of a possibility in the biting lecture.

“Do... do you mean I'm not going to be expelled?” he asked, too dazed to actually feel hope.

“That's up to Professor Llewellyn,” said Slughorn. “It would have gone better for you if you'd told me who the miscreant is who gave you Paralyzing Potion. But I suspect you may escape expulsion, by the very skin of your teeth.”

Teddy's mouth opened and closed several times. He finally closed it and kept it closed when he realized he probably looked like a fish.

“That will be all, Mr. Lupin,” said Slughorn, in an abrupt tone. “You may return to your quarters. I expect Professor Longbottom will let you know your fate shortly.”

Trembling, Teddy rose to his feet, and walked to the door, not quite trusting his ears, or the rest of his body. Then, something else finally registered in his brain, and he turned around to face Slughorn, who was still seated behind his desk, regarding Teddy with a grave expression.

“Professor,” he murmured, afraid to ask but unable not to. “Why didn't you just make me drink more Veritaserum?”

“Oh, there was nothing but tea in your cup, Teddy,” Slughorn snorted. For a moment, his eyes were actually twinkling as they usually did. “Really now! We can't just dose children with Veritaserum without Ministry approval. That would be completely illegal!” He gave Teddy a shrewd look. “But you'd be surprised how often that trick works. Not on you though, you stubborn, foolish boy!” And he actually chuckled. Then his expression became grim and humorless again, and he said, “Now go.” He waved a hand, banishing Teddy from his office.