The Twitchiness of Lisa

The sound of bubbling cauldrons, the scratching of quills, murmurs of incantations, flipping of pages and a tarty smell in the air. That just about summed the Advanced Potions class for Hermione. That and the very twitchy Lisa Bones, who was also coincidentally the partner of the very organized, very non twitchy Hermione Granger.

Hermione fumed as she noticed Lisa moving vials, shaking her foot and peering at the shimmering potion in impatience. She just wouldn't sit still! Brewing the Pellicientes Flatum was no joke of a potion. It took very deliberate hard work and if one twitchy girl who couldn't keep still, was going to ruin the Head Girl's potion… Well, needless to say Ravenclaw would be losing some serious points.

Now, I realize you would be wondering why exactly such a girl was placed in the seventh year Advanced Potions, consisting of eight of the most brilliant Potion makers Hogwarts contained, if she was that bad. The answer is quite simple, she wasn't. The Sorting Hat had chosen well when it placed the brilliant Lisa among the Eagles. She had a natural talent for Transfiguration and a flair for Charms, she was intelligent enough for Potions, too. The only factor lacking was patience, much needed, to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death.

Hermione watched the tapping toe of her partner as she waited for the nine minutes, twenty seven seconds the cauldron had to be shimmering on low heat, before three drops of Ventrula blood was to be added. Her gaze wandered to the overly healthy form of Professor Slughorn before moving over to the students. Those who had dared to take up the widely feared subject were a select few, containing a mixture of all houses.

Two Hufflepuffs were paired together just behind her. A brown haired boy, Thatcher Thomas, and a shy girl, Emma who seemed to be very much in love with each other, except for the fact they were not aware of this.

Three Ravenclaws (excluding the previously mentioned girl, who Hermione noticed was now plucking her quill off its feathers) stood waiting to add the blood, too. All were females and Hermione decided, quite cold too. The only time they spoke in class was to ask a billion questions… Which was always. She had never seen them relax or smile. Now, Hermione did not think all Ravenclaws were like that considering Luna was a dear friend, just those three.

Two were partnered together leaving just the one to be partnered with the bane of Hermione's existence and the only Slytherin.

Draco sodding Malfoy.

To say that he did not deserve to be here and was only there to infuriate Hermione would be an understatement �"which Hermione would die before saying out loud. He was quite the potion maker, calm, precise and exceptionally non twitchy.

Looking down at her watch, Hermione noticed that only twenty seven seconds were left. All she had to do now was add the three drops of Ventrula blood and voila her (and Lisa's) Pellicientes Flatum was complete to be graded an O.

She got up from her seat to do the deed, but Lisa cut in, "I've got it!" Lisa jumped up and grabbed the tiny, gleaming gold vial and made her way to their cauldron. She bent down in front of it and held out the vial to pour.

"Now, do it gently Lisa, an extra drop could-" Hermione began. A fizzling crackle sounded in the air and Lisa backed away staring at the shuddering cauldron with wide eyes. It spat a few globs of the mauve substance in the air before violently beginning to crack.

"Duck!" Someone yelled. Hermione merely blinked, her eyes fixed on the three hours of hard work wasting away.

Suddenly, the cauldron exploded with a loud bang, splattering its contents on the ceiling, the walls and our main character, Hermione Granger. She stood frozen in the middle of the class covered in a purple potion. Then, as it often did, her mind began to race towards her Potions book.

The Pellicientes Flatum was first brewed by a witch, Ida Ernest, in the late 1800s. Meant to be a love potion at first, the Pellicientes Flatum, however, is now used as a perfume. This is due to its property of having a different aroma for each individual (of the opposite sex); an aroma they find most enticing. When Ida Ernest first used this potion on herself she was greeted by many men informing her she was smelt like chocolate or vanilla or oranges and on one occasion, like whiskey and that it was extremely alluring. She had discovered that using more than a few drops, however, had weaknesses. It started producing odd behavior from males like sniffing loudly, drooling and glazing of eye.

Hermione's mind began to race. If using just more than a few drops would produce such side effects who knows what almost two bottle full might do. As her eyes met the green flecks of Thatcher Thomas she gulped.

She was going to find out.