19 Years (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 19: Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Draco paused in his customary circuit round the room to look into a gently bubbling cauldron. "Tell me, if you please, Miss Leatherwood, what color today's potion should be?"

She glanced up at him, blowing her bangs away from her forehead, exposing suddenly-pensive eyes. "Er, lavender, Sir." She double-checked her notes, then peered anxiously into her cauldron. "It is lavender, isn't it, Professor? Only, I've just realized that I've never properly seen lavender before, and what if what I thought was lavender was actually, I don't know, teal or something, and - "

"Miss Leatherwood." Draco lay a gentle hand on her shoulder, feeling her tense beneath his palm. Perhaps he was too harsh on them. They were only children, after all. He concentrated, pitching his voice lower, trying to project calm. "Breathe, Miss Leatherwood. Your potion is a perfectly lovely shade of lavender - you've brewed it properly.

Her shoulders dropped as she abruptly relaxed. "Oh."

Draco offered her a careful smile. "Keep up the good work, Miss Leatherwood." He looked up, and his smile faltered.

"Mister Zabini!" he called out abruptly, striding forward. "What are you doing?" He cast a rapid freezing charm, breathing a sigh of relief as the violently bubbling potion solidified mid-explosion.

"You, Mister Zabini, are not color-blind," he said sharply, after taking a moment to bring his rapid breathing under control.

"No, sir."

"Indeed. Now. Tell me, Mister Zabini, how your lavender potion has ended up," he paused, at a loss. "What color is that, anyway?"

"Mud, sir?" Zabini's parter offered, creeping out from beneath the bench and casting a sidelong glance at the cauldron before sidling a bit further from it.

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Mister Finnegan. That's a rather apt description." He wrinkled his nose, vanishing the frozen... mud... explosion. "Go wash up, Mister Zabini. And for Merlin's sake, pay attention to what you're doing next time!"

Not for the first time, he felt a pang of sympathy for his former Potions Professor. Severus had been harsh, and brutally unfair, but really. Some of these children were absolute menaces.

---

As the chattering horde filed out of the room, Draco slumped over his desk, shifting the pile of essays awaiting marking. He groaned. He was almost tempted to stop giving homework altogether, except he rather suspected there would be twice as many explosions if he did.

Something hit the desk beside his head with a loud "thwack!" and Draco jumped, fumbling for his wand. He froze as he heard a giggle, and looked up into the amused face of Tilly Leatherwood.

"Sorry, Professor," she said, sounding anything but.

He eyed the small, unassuming yellow box in front of him, and then her green-and-silver tie with mounting trepidation. "What's this?"

She giggled again. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, of course, Professor. Says so right there."

"Yes, Miss Leatherwood, thank you. I can read."

"Why'd you ask, then?"

Draco sighed. "Perhaps the question I should have asked is why have you thrown a box of Bertie Bott's at me, Miss Leatherwood?"

She shrugged. "Didn't throw 'em, did I? Tossed 'em. Anyway, they're to say thank you, I suppose. It's loads better, being able to tell all the colors. Potions is dead easy now."