"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." His voice had turned to disgust at the end, and it was not hidden in the slightest fashion. Somehow, she wondered what sort of school experiences made a man so bitter about teaching children.
Silence followed this little speech, and the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws looked ready to throw themselves under their desks to escape the eyes of Professor Snape.
"Clear your desks," Professor Snape said. He moved to stand at the blackboard and gazed down his nose at them. There was a sense of relief among the class when he called roll, even if each name was said with disdain or disgust. Sometimes he paused on a name to make a small grimace.
When he arrived at her name, he paused.
"Ah, yes," he said softly after she had answered with a simple "Present", "Alexandra Potter. Our new – Dark Lady." His voice was charged with derision, transferring perfectly how little he believed her to be dangerous.
After Lisa Turpin waved her hand to indicate her presence, the professor began to pace the length of the class.
"Smith," said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Zacharias's face took a livid colour, and after half a minute he barely managed to articulate "I don't know, Sir."
Professor Snape sneered. "Not only were you late, but you haven't bothered to open your Potions book before coming, have you, Smith?" Given the growing red spots on Zacharias's face, the assumption was likely to be correct.
"Let's try someone else. Potter! Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"In the stomach of the goat, Sir," Alexandra replied. It had been one of the first things written in the first chapter of the potions ingredients book.
"Correct." The voice of her professor was disgruntled, giving her the feeling he believed Alexandra had a stroke of luck. Which was alas not far from the truth. She hadn't known the answer to Zacharias's question after all.
"Corner! What is peeled shrivelfig most commonly used in?"
The Ravenclaw boy at the first rank crumbled in his seat "No idea ... Sir."
The next ten minutes were a true academic massacre. Alexandra had read twice the two needed books for the class, which were One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore and Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, and while she far from remembered their complete content, she was able to say the questions of their Potions Professor decreased in complexity as the minutes passed, not that her housemates from Ravenclaw or the Hufflepuffs seemed to notice. No one except her had managed to answer correctly a single question.
"Finch-Fletchley, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"One is a red flower, while the other is yellow?" said the black-haired Hufflepuff boy, in a tone which gave away he was absolutely not sure of his answer.
"Then explain me Finch-Fletchley, how the same plant can have two flowers of different colours?" Seeing the Hufflepuff staring open-mouthed, Professor Snape snarled "Close your mouth and take notes!" at Justin.
"For your information, Finch-Fletchley, monkshood and wolfsbane, are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."
"Eleven points from Hufflepuff and ten points from Ravenclaw for not coming prepared in class!" added Snape. As there were eleven students of each House in the room, Alexandra figured, it was quite likely her good answer had avoided Ravenclaw to lose one more point. A small victory for her.
Alas, things didn't improve for the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws as the Potions lesson continued. Professor Snape ordered them to work in pairs, clean the cauldrons and their workspace, and told them to prepare a potion to cure boils, the instructions to make the potion magically revealing themselves on the blackboard with a flick of the Potions Master's wand. As no Ravenclaw wanted to be associated with her and there was an uneven number of students in her House, Alexandra found herself partnered with Zacharias Smith.
The Professor revealed himself hard on the nerves of the student making the potion: like a Nazgul, he swept around the cauldrons in his black cloak spreading an aura of terror, and made disparaging comments and critics about every potion. When it came to her, Snape's reaction was...weird. For a moment, it looked like the teacher wanted to scream at her, but the fury in his eyes vanished quickly transforming into an unfeeling mask, and he simply whispered a "Passable" before going to torment another Potion duo. A fortunate thing, seeing as Zacharias Smith had revealed himself to be completely useless in helping make the potion. The haughty Hufflepuff with blond hair and brown eyes refused to touch the snake fangs or the horned slugs, and when Alexandra gave him instructions, he tried to begin a debate if the move was justified, as if the instructions were just for fun and Zacharias was sufficiently knowledgeable in Potions to judge a Professor incompetent. In the end, she ended doing the entire potion by herself, with Zacharias Smith sulking in his corner and whispering unflattering comments she tried her best to ignore.