Harry Potter and the Green Snake of Slytherin

12.

The Potions practice

Since her very first day at Hogwarts, Avara had been Professor Snape's favourite student, outgrowing by far her cousin Malfoy. That was one of the reasons why the teacher had given her the fifth-year lessons schedule, which she had studied thoroughly. She used it to prepare the upcoming classes, suggesting Snape or the other students other useful related potions, or ways to increase their efficiency.

As far as she could remember, she had been waiting for the potion on tomorrow's schedule all her life and was very excited to be able to do the exercise with Harry.

Severus Snape had allowed them to borrow his office in the dungeons, where they could find all necessary ingredients. He would be retiring to his private chamber a few corridors away.

Harry really enjoyed doing his homework with his green-eyed Slytherin friend. She was undeniably as good as Hermione, perhaps because she trusted her intuitions more than lifeless books. Besides, Avara seemed to be the perfect mate for potions. He still had something to get mended after all the annoying questions he had asked her at the banquet about her supposedly evil family.

When they entered Snape's office, they realized that candlelights were still glinting in the room, casting flickering shadows on the shelves, bringing dozens of translucent jars holding the most appalling creatures to a sort of half-life.

In front of the shelves stood Snape's desk, a large oak table covered with a thin coat of finest dragon leather. The Potions Master had left a note:

"You should find the Wiggentree Bark in one of the drawers on the right. As for the Pavot Nectar and the Devilberries, they will probably be on the second shelf from the top.

Good luck,

Severus Snape"

In the middle of the room, a massive cast iron cauldron was standing majestically, waiting to come to life with fine heating and powerful mixtures.

Avara examined the cauldron to check if it was solid enough to brew one of the most potent potions known to mankind. She turned towards Harry:

"Make yourself ate ease, give me your cloak, I'll lay it on Snape's desk and fetch the ingredients," she said, taking off her green winter cloak, revealing a fine black satin robe.

"Oh, and we have a guest star tonight, his name: Malachius" - She pulled the still sleeping snakelet out of her sleeve - "I fear we'll have to wait past midnight until that lazy git wakes up!" she said, half smirking half ashamed of her pet's lethargy and lay him on the desk. There he coiled over himself, moaning.

Without reading Snape's note, she moved toward the shelves and took the necessary ingredients for the potion:

"Ah...here are the Devilberries", she said, taking a jar full of dark red, spiky, pimento-shaped fruits and that black liquor... I'll be damned if it is not Pavot Nectar! Take them, Harry, I bring the Wiggentree Bark chips"

Harry put the three ingredients on the working bench while Avara fetched a suitable ladle among Snape's belongings.

"So, Harry, tonight we will be brewing the Seventh-Sense potion. This is a very strong concoction indeed, whose purpose is to extend each of our six senses; this is commonly used by spiritual communities to get closer to their deity."

"Aha... sounds interesting. Have you already prepared it before?'

"Yes, about a good dozen of times. It will be perfect, believe me." She seemed very self-assured. Then, using a low, mysterious voice, she said, her eyes glinting oddly "An interesting fact about the Seventh-Sense potion is that it makes a very good foundation for other fascinating draughts..." she sounded more enthusiastic than Snape himself.

"I trust you, Avara" replied Harry, not quite sure whether he meant it.

"No, no, no, Harry, you ought not to trust me. Listen to the warnings that have been issued to you. Beware of the ill-famed Avara von Argentum of infamous lineage!" she said, smirking with a fainted threatening look in your eyes. "Back to serious things, can you please grind the Devilberries while I blend the mixture with the Pavot Nectar? We have to add them at the end"

"Alright, young lady" said Harry, who began to squash the red and spiky Devilberries into smaller chunks. The smell of those fruits he had never seen in his life before was quite interesting, like a mix of chocolate, raspberry and hot spice. When he got a fine powder out of them, he handed the bowl to Avara, who decanted the powder into the quietly boiling potion.

One hour later, the Seventh-Sense potion was ready. It was a translucent red and the Devilberries had conferred it that typical sweet and spicy smell, which was not unpleasant.

"Very well" said Avara "we have succeeded in brewing that extremely difficult potion in...let me check...one hour and eleven minutes...not bad...what do you reckon, Harry?"

"I am truly impressed, Avara. I would have needed at least five tries to figure out the right proportions."

"Or maybe more!" she grinned "I for myself find that a little frustrating you know. I can feel the right ingredients mix immediately, and thus what I like in potions is when you discover new combinations, you realize that wellness is so close to death, that a hurricane can be caused by a butterfly, that your senses can be trapped by the most inoffensive powder, that you can turn poison into cure by enunciating the right spell... That is rewarding!"

As she spoke those words, Harry could feel exactly what she meant, although she did not seem to be scared by those powers.

"See the Seventh-sense potion - this is a good one by the way - we may need it to reach a much more gratifying, and yet more difficult goal..." she said mysteriously.

"Ah...I think Malachius must be awake now...Let me check the little fellow..."

She hovered fluidly in her black robe towards the desk. Indeed, the tiny Gem Snake had opened its silvery eyes and was slithering on the thin dragon leather cover on Snape's oak table, doing his nightly muscle training.

"Are you alright, dear?"

"Never better" hissed Malachius in Parseltongue. Avara rolled up her left sleeve and let him coil around her arm. She headed up for the shelves and climbed up a wooden ladder. The young Gryffindor asked her "What are you looking for Avara?"

Not saying a word, she climbed down the ladder, holding a small dark vial in her hand. Its label was almost completely washed out but one could still read "powdered root of Asphodel", an ingredient usually used in sleeping potions. She put the dark vial on the working bench, along with a yet smaller vial filled with some viscous silvery substance.

"Well, I had told you that the best things you don't learn in books, Harry. Let me show you what I haven't learned at Hogwarts"

She added three drops of the scintillating silvery substance to the Seventh-Sense potion, two spoonfuls of Asphodel, and stirred the resulting mixture for a few minutes. Harry was looking at her awestruck: she really knew what she was doing, not even needing a single Potions breviary to find the right proportions.

"Harry, could you please keep tabs on the cauldron while I get the last ingredient? It's important the potion be a dark, emerald green, alright?"

"But what are we brewing?"

"You'll know when it is ready" she said with a smile on her face, avoiding further questioning

Harry tried to keep an eye on Avara and the potion at the same time, which was not easy.

"Look over there, Harry, my slithering friend is about to be milked"

She was now rolling up her sleeve completely, revealing the most delicate skin Harry had ever seen: her porcelain completion let her look so fragile and yet he could feel her incredible strength. She used Parseltongue to speak to Malachius "I'm ready, you can do it. Now!"

The snake seized her wrist swiftly in his fang and bit her. Green droplets of venom where dripping from her hand. A strong feeling of guilt and fear was now overwhelming Harry; what if something went wrong? Why didn't he prevent her from acting so dangerously? He was trying not to think about the detention Snape would be granting him with. But suddenly he remembered what Avara had told him about Malachius being a Gem Snake. If it was true, she would not be harmed.

Indeed, she came back grinning with a few Malachite stones in her hand. Malachius's silvery eyes were now a pale translucent grey, he was feeling completely drained and fell immediately asleep.

In contrast, Harry had never seen the snake's mistress so beautiful and so tranquil as she was now: her long jet-black hair was now thousands of thin, shiny satin threads alike, and her eyes expressed a mixed feeling of ecstasy and satisfaction. If Harry had not known her so well, he could have thought it was an evil contentment, like the one that comes over you when someone you hate gets harmed or dies. But Avara would never feel anything like that with him.

"Oh yes, Harry, this is truly Malachite, I hope you remember what I told you about my serpent"

"Sure" lied Harry "So...What are those ingredients for?"

"The Inmentus Potion. Probably one of the most potent and difficult draughts in the history of witchcraft and wizardry"

"Aha...and... what does it do?" asked Harry, manifestly impressed.

"It extends your mind and consciousness. The feeling is greater than anything you can imagine, perhaps because it alters the way you imagine. As such it reaches way further than the Seventh-Sense potion...But Snape would never have let us distill it. If you mix it wrong, you can be blinded to death" she said, turning the Malachite stones to powder with her bare hands as if there was nothing more natural. She decanted the fine powder into the dark emerald liquid.

Harry looked bewildered at the result : the potion began to sparkle vividly and turned to a bright green, with purple fumes. It dispersed an ensnaring scent which reminded him of figs, spice and pepper...

***

Meanwhile in the Gryffindor dormitory, Hermione and Parvati Patil were the only girls still awake, finishing their homework about coffee mark divination. Professor Trelawney's classes were by far the ones Hermione disliked most, being unable to find suitable answers in the Library. But Parvati was feeling tired and decided to go to sleep.

Hermione put on her pyjamas and did apparently the same. When she made sure that everyone was deeply slumbering, she pulled out from under her bed a roll of parchment that Moody had given her early in the evening with the results of his research.

She walked silently into the boy's room to wake up Ron, and the two of them took a seat in front of the fireplace. A few logs were still glowing faintly.

"Look, Ron! That's what Moody found out about dark ways to Mind Control. He told me that one of the topics had required Professor Dumbledore's help because only he could enlighten Moody on this singular matter."

She began to read:

"The three ways to Mind Control using Dark Arts,

~The Imperius Curse~
belongs to the Three Unforgivable Curses. Effects: allows the wizard to take possession of the subject's mind. Clues: The subject shows dilated pupils, the wizard must keep eye contact on the subject. Difficulty: middle to long practice with the Dark Arts. Remedy: Psychic resistance.

~The Compatio Potion~
belongs to a series of harmful mixtures known as the Potiones Tenebrarum or "Dark Draughts". Effects: The subject behaves as if following his own desire would make someone he loves suffer the most atrocious pain. Thus, the only alternative for the subject to make the beloved one happy is to follow the wizard's will. Clues: unpredictable behaviour from the subject, expressions of pain or sorrow on his face. The wizard must keep eye contact. Difficulty: very difficult to brew. Ten wizards, currently imprisoned in Azkaban, have reported using it on their victims, in Amazonia or Birma, where Malachite is produced, one of the essential ingredients of this potion. Voldemort is supposedly able to brew it too, although this could not be confirmed. Remedy : the Potion of Will

~The Inmentus Potion~
no-one is sure that this potion ever exists. The first and last time it was mentioned was through Salazar Slytherin's mouth. There is no scripture, nothing written about this draught, neither ingredients nor proportions. It is believed to allow the wizard enter the subject's mind to perform the most atrocious psychic tortures. Foes of Salazar Slytherin say he had created this potion. No one this day is known for brewing this infamous draught but Salazar himself, Voldemort confessed that he had tried to find the formula, without success. Rumored ingredients are Devilberries and Malachite. Remedy : none"

"Hmm... What do you reckon, Hermione?" asked Ron

"Well I would have bet that someone was using the Imperius Curse on Harry to make him lose control of his broom and be defeated during the match. But I'm sure of one thing: his pupils were not dilated..."

"Right, he seemed exhausted but not drugged..."

"And you read like me the second item, only the most powerful wizards can use it and they're all now in Azkaban...except maybe Voldemort....I think I've be wrong about Avara. She surely is brilliant but I doubt she would be able to perform anything like that at all. And, pardon me, Malachite is quite hard to find", said Hermione, starting to think about other possible explanations "But then Voldemort..."

"Maybe Miss Skeeter was right, Harry was simply in love with her and unable to concentrate on the game..."

***

While the two fifth-years were in the dungeon, Severus Snape was preparing tomorrow's lesson about the Seventh-Sense potion in his private chamber.

He began to read Salazar Slytherin's book of Potions, the most comprehensive book on the subject ever. Under the chapter devoted to the Seventh-Sense potion, he noticed that Slytherin had written a few lines using weird, spiky symbols, the written form of Parseltongue...He started concentrating on the words, trying to decipher them. The writer explained how he had been able to change the potion into some other dreadful draught, by adding three mysterious ingredients to it, which he did not wish to reveal. The cryptic words ended approximately thus "I doubt that other wizards than me will be able to brew it and it may be better that way"...

He shut the book and suddenly thought of Avara. Maybe she was able to brew such a potion...

***

"The Inmentus Potion will let you reach the unknown realms of your mind, nothing will be the same again..." she said in a deep soothing voice

Harry remembered Sirius's warning. He couldn't imagine that his godfather had made up the whole story and was misleading him to distrust Avara.

"Tell me, Avara, what makes me think you're not trying to poison me or...kill me?"

"Me? Poison you? Ah, Harry, be serious. I am unable to harm you...You know what I feel for you... Look, I'm going to drink it first, so you'll see there is no danger. I've done this a few times. If I were you, I would really give it a try, for you will not have another chance, me being the only witch or wizard that can distill it. Give me that spoon!" she said, swallowing avidly the green spicy potion.

Harry was watching her, waiting for something terrible to happen, but all he could see was that Avara seemed extremely satisfied. Was it the effect of the potion or simply because she waited for him to drink it?

Harry brought the ladle close to his lips and began to sip the potion. Although it first tasted like pepper and figs, it seemed to him that it was the best draught he had ever tasted. His senses seemed to drift away, as if they were extending onto many dimensions, in a feeling of almightiness. His thoughts were swirling through his mind, but he could not master them. He was about to fall down, not an unpleasant feeling, but soon he realized that he was not alone in the room: Avara was standing close to him, not saying anything. He grabbed her thin hand, hoping that feeling her body could bring him back to the realms of reality.

"Can you feel your mind opening, Harry?"

"Umm... I think so...It's wonderful..."

"Just concentrate on something...Something you have forgotten and wish to recall"

"Okay" he said, still holding Avara's hand firmly. He felt like a flash inside his head. He was now watching his parents' death one more time. In Technicolour. He could almost smell the almond cake his mother had cooked for dinner. It was the same scene he had gazed at inside Avara's eyes, except every tiny detail was there.And Voldemort was there too, the human form of Voldemort, which seemed now strangely familiar to him. Stop. Rewind. Another scene. Voldemort again, a young baby with jet black hair and purple eyes. Two grown-up people standing behind the baby, raven-like with black hair. Man and woman. The woman has purple eyes too. A snake. No, two. A big and a small one. The baby bitten by the small snake. Flash. Reality.

"I'm so sorry, Harry" she said. "I have to do it"

Harry did not have the faintest idea about what she meant. The pictures in his mind disappeared, he could not resist to whatever happened to him. Darkness. Not completely?

Suddenly the door to Snape's office burst open and Harry recognized Renatus Troomveld, the newly appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in his brown leather coat, holding his walking stick in his hand.

"Avara von Argentum, what are you doing?"