heather; chapter six

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'BURN'
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♡

Despite the warm afternoon, Mina couldn't help but shiver a little at the iciness of the potions classroom. It was at the very bottom of the castle, amidst the dungeons, so the only windows were small and at the top of the cold stone walls.

This classroom always creeped her out with the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls, and the way that professor Snape sat at his desk like a bat in a cave. She remembered having nightmares of the potions rooms in her first year as a small, impressionable Hufflepuff, and although Mina had long outgrown those scary dreams by now, she still found the dungeon halls too eerie to walk in alone.

Aside from this, and the fact that Heather and her shiny blonde hair was just across the room, Mina was in a good mood knowing the Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's shared this class. It was the only class she had with Harry this year, and as she eyed the broadness of his shoulders from the desk behind him, she almost didn't realise Snape had entered the classroom until the door slammed shut and his familiar monotone voice filled the silence.

Initially, Mina drowned out his meant-to-be-intimidating introduction to the course, until some of his words caught her attention.

"This year we will have a seating plan," he drawled on from the front of the classroom, and Mina traded disappointed glances with Ella who was sitting beside her. Groans emitted from mainly the Gryffindors in the classroom, but given that it wasn't a big class, and that she had Ella, Josiah, Harry, Ron and Hermione in the same class, Mina figured the odds would be okay for her.

"When I call out your names, take your books, find a desk, and sit together. No swapping, no complaining. We have even numbers from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, so expect someone from the other house," he said, and although disappointed that this ruled out Ella or Josiah being her partner, Mina was content knowing that Heather wouldn't be seated next to Harry.

"Ella Freeman and Hermione Granger..." Snape read from the class list, and the two girls suppressed their smiles as they gathered their things so he wouldn't change his mind. After a minute or so of anticipation for when her name would be called, seeing over half the class had already transferred their books to new desks, Mina was starting to think she'd never get a new partner

"...Ronald Weasley and Zacharias Smith..."

"...Josiah Hoffman and Potter..."

She felt her heart drop.

"...Mina Lee and Heather Thompson..."

If she were a Gryffindor, maybe Mina would've openly shown her dismay. Maybe she would've groaned exasperatedly, or begged Snape to give her someone else, anyone else, but alas, she covered these feelings, gathered her books, and made her way to the empty seat beside Heather.

"Hi," Mina said as she put her things on the table, sitting down, and Heather turned around from a conversation with another Gryffindor to face her. "I'm Mina."

"Heather," she smiled a glossy smile, holding her hand out, and Mina shook it. She leaned a little closer, lowering her voice, and Mina got a whiff of her flowery perfume. "Is Professor Snape always like this?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Mina laughed a little, fiddling awkwardly with her quill as Heather turned back to talking with the Gryffindor girl on her other side. Looking up, she saw that her desk faced Harry and Josiah's desk from across the classroom.

The two were talking feverishly about something Mina couldn't hear, and she flickered her gaze away just as Harry looked her way. The two trios--Harry, Ron, and Hermione and Mina, Josiah and Ella--had become a bit of a larger friend group after Harry and Mina's friendship formed in third year, and although all six of them didn't hang out all the time, their varying personalities had perfect chemistry.

Ella and Harry had the stronger, more extroverted qualities out of them all, which was a stark contrast to Mina's more reserved personality, and yet they were the two she felt closest to. Ron and Josiah were easily the comedic duo of the group, and their quick banter and chatty nature were just about neverending. Ella and Hermione shared a love for their studies, and Mina was always a good ear for Josiah when he needed someone to listen to his rambles. The six were like pieces to a puzzle; completing and complementing one another. Everyone in the group knew of her feelings for Harry--except for the boy in question, of course.

"For...motivational purposes," Snape began, and the quiet conversations around the classroom stopped. "Detentions will be handed out if the potion you brew in the next hour is incomplete or ruined. You will be working independently on the sleeping draught on page 18...begin."

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Halfway through the lesson, Mina was waiting for her potion to boil. It was currently a thin, dark blue liquid, though would turn bright orange and thicken once boiled and bubbling. After that, she'd need to stir it three times clockwise and once counterclockwise, and then she'd be finished. It wasn't a particularly hard potion to brew, but rather just tedious and boring, so it was easy for her to zone out.

Snape had left the classroom, and across from her, Harry was determined not to land detention with the Potions Master, given that he seemed to have a grudge against the Potter. His brow was scrunched a little the way it always did when he was concentrating, and his glasses were a little too low on the bridge of his nose. In the dim light of the dungeons classroom, his facial features seemed to be even more defined, and she couldn't help but recall how close he'd been standing the previous night in the hallway.

Just as she began thinking of how the shadows had danced around his face, Mina's palm suddenly stung with pain. Looking down, she saw her potion was now orange and had started bubbling; its boiling, thick substance spilling over the cauldron and sticking onto her skin.

Mina withdrew her hand, wincing, and watched in horror as her potion began overheating--but just when she feared the worst, an arm reached over her and quickly stirred the liquid thrice clockwise and once counterclockwise, and instantly the potion stopped bubbling.

"Run some cold water over that," Heather said quietly, putting a hand on Mina's shoulder who's eyes began to well up. The orange potion was still stuck on her palm, burning her with every passing second, and she sucked in a breath as the pain became overwhelming.

Discreetly, Mina quickly stepped to one of the sinks in a corner of the room. Letting the cold water run over her palm brought temporary relief to the pain, but as it washed away the potion, she cringed at the raw skin from the burn it left.

"I can walk you to the hospital wing if you'd like?" Heather said from behind her, and Mina felt bad at being surprised at her sincerity. "I don't really know where it is, but I can try."

"It's okay," Mina turned around, smiling a little despite wanting to cry. "Thanks, though, for fixing the potion."

"No worries," she nodded before turning on her heel back to their desk.

Only after he checked her completed potion did Snape excuse Mina from class for the hospital wing. Overhearing this, Harry looked up as she walked past, but she dismissed his concerned gaze with a small smile, shielding the burn from his view.

♡

a/n:

hiiii

i have all the chapters planned out for this story so the next one won't be too far away!

what do u guys think of the story so far? do you have any ideas of what might happen?

ily

-g