Past Present

Harry had wondered how long it would take for one of the Slytherins to inquire after Snape. Malfoy had his hand up immediately when class began. "Where is Professor Snape?" he asked in his drawling voice, when Viktor acknowledged him.

"Not here, obviously," Viktor answered shortly.

"But where is he?" Malfoy insisted.

"As I do not know I cannot answer that. I can only tell you where he is not, which is 'here'. I could give you several vague answers, such as 'somewhere else', 'not within a mile radius' and 'away', which are all accurate, but not much help. You can ask him when he gets back in time for the next class, and he can answer you or not, as he sees fit. Anything else?" he asked lightly. Malfoy looked as perturbed as he dared, but offered nothing further, folding his arms. Harry was secretly pleased to see that Malfoy was obviously still very wary of Viktor after their run-in last year. He wondered if Hermione knew about Viktor's offer to rearrange Draco's face on her behalf.

Viktor went through a quick lecture on restorative potions and some of the ingredients, pausing now and again to answer questions or go back over points that someone had missed. Viktor stressed that not following the directions meant losing your cauldron without naming names, as Snape would have done. It was refreshing to have a Potions class that lasted more than fifteen minutes without an insult lobbed at one of the students, Harry thought to himself. Viktor stood in the middle of the room. "Well, that about wraps the lecture up. All that is left is for you to make a Pepper-up Potion. Leave them in a vial on the front desk and Professor Snape will grade them. Oh, and he does not want you to partner up this time," Viktor added when a few of the students made to gather their things and head toward their usual partner. Snape often partnered them off when they were making dangerous potions. He hoped they would keep a check on one another when he could not. Neville, who was sitting next to Dean Thomas, went very pale at the announcement. He put a timid hand up in the air.

"Yes, Longbottom?" Viktor said.

"N-No partners?" Neville squeaked. He seemed almost as intimidated by Viktor as he was of Snape.

"No partners. You are on your own," Viktor replied.

"Well Longbottom can kiss his cauldron goodbye right now, then," Malfoy muttered loudly, raising a smug laugh from both Crabbe and Goyle, and a gale of giggles from Pansy Parkinson.

"And Malfoy can sit in his for the rest of class if he continues insulting his classmates. Or wear it on his head if he prefers. I think you will find there is nothing wrong with my hearing, and I hate dealing with points," Viktor said, not turning to look behind him at Malfoy. "Now, what else, Longbottom?" Viktor added when Neville's hand went up halfheartedly again.

"Please, sir...I'll never be able to do it without help..." Neville began.

"And why not?"

"I... I'm horrible at potions. I always melt my cauldron or blow it up or..."

"Okay, that is enough. Well, think about it. Why are you so terrible at potions? You should be able to do it if you can read and follow simple directions, can you do those things?" Viktor asked, not unkindly.

"Why? I just am... I'm always forgetting what I did or didn't do or leaving out something or putting it in twice..." Neville seemed almost frantic now, but Viktor stopped him midstream with a raised hand.

"So, what can you do about it?" Viktor asked in a soft voice.

"Do?" Neville asked, puzzled.

"Do. I had a friend at Durmstrang that was terrible at potions too. Nearly failed first year. He did the exact same thing. Went through six cauldrons. Only thing is, he was always forgetting because he was always staring at the girls in class. You are not staring at the girls in class, are you?"

Laughter filtered through the room, and even Neville laughed nervously and his face turned a bright pink. "No," he said at last.

"Well good for you, then. That will get you slapped as well as cost you your cauldron, at least if you ogle one with a good arm and a bad temper. At any rate, just do the same thing he did. Get out two pieces of parchment and a quill. Label one of them 'ingredients' and the other one 'steps'. Look at what's on the board. Take each ingredient in turn, measure it, then copy it down. Do that with each one. Read it off the board, measure it, then write it down. Line them up in the order they go in. If, at the end, your list or your line does not match what is on the board, you know you skipped something. When you are done, all your ingredients are ready to go, and you do not haff to worry about measuring wrong because you are hurrying to get to the next step. Then copy down your steps. Check each one against the board before you do it. When you do it, check it off. Haff another piece of parchment handy for other notes. For instance, if you haff to time a potion, write down the time you start it. Double check your glass against the clock. Do that, I bet you your cauldron is still in one piece at the end of class," Viktor said with a barely there smile, then his attention was drawn to some muffled laughter in the back. "And Finnigan, thrilled though I am at Fred and George Weasley being successful businessmen, if I see another wand turn into a haddock, or any other thing that is not a wand, I will be forced to bludgeon you repeatedly over the head with it. So if you haff another, better hope it is a nice, soft rubber chicken," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Better get to work," he added, waving his wand at the board, the instructions for the potion appearing.

They spent the rest of the period working on their portions, Viktor circulating among the class, and Harry noted he took care not to hover over Neville to the point of making him nervous. Viktor's limp was less severe now, barely noticeable, in fact, when he didn't have to walk long distances. He took frequent breaks from the walking to lean against the wall, weight off his left leg. Neville was diligently checking his sheets of parchment, and at the end of class, Harry was pleased to see that Neville's potion was the same shade as everyone else's, and his cauldron bottom was still on. "Now that was not so bad, was it?" Viktor asked Neville as he stoppered his potion vial. Only a few people were still cleaning up their workstations, Harry, Ron and Hermione among them.

"No, it wasn't!" Neville beamed, running up front to put his with the others that were finished.

"You just forgot one thing," Viktor called after him.

"What? I wrote everything down, I did, I know I did," Neville wailed.

"Your book. You left it on the table. Your potion was perfect," Viktor held up Neville's book in his hand and waggled it.

"Thank you," Neville said breathlessly, collecting his book and heading out of the room.

"That was pretty amazing," Hermione mused, watching Neville walk through the door. "One of the best Potions classes ever."

"Thank you, Miss Granger," Viktor deadpanned.

"Class is over," Hermione laughed.

"Not until we get out of this room. Race you to the door once I get these vials in that cabinet," Viktor responded.

"Me mam will flip out when she hears you taught class!" Seamus Finnigan grinned as he gathered his books and walked over to them.

"And is that good or bad?" Viktor asked.

"Good I reckon. We saw you in the World Cup. She thought you were the best thing about going, even though we were rooting for Ireland, of course. She couldn't believe Lynch fell for it. Twice. And the Internationals were great too."

"Thank you. Well, she ought to love me then. I let Ireland win the Cup. How would she feel about me threatening to hit you on the head with a rubber haddock, then?" Viktor grinned.

"Probably tell me I deserved it. Viktor... I mean, Mr. Krum?"

"You can call me the first three feet from here, on the other side of that door."

"Would you sign something for me to send her? I got one for me last year, would you do another for her?" Seamus asked hopefully.

"As long as you do not want me to sign the haddock," Viktor sighed.