Running From Lightning

I skipped breakfast the next day. I just sort of laid in my bed, waiting for when I’d have to see him. It didn’t take that long for the time to come. I grabbed my bag and shuffled to the dungeon, the weight on my shoulders getting heavier with every step I took. I sat down near the back, hoping that maybe I could avoid him and I wouldn’t have to go through a whole potions class next to him, knowing that I was… it made me sick just thinking about it. The worst part was the thought of Harry, Hermione, or Ron finding out. Fred and George would probably hate my guts if they knew. I knew what the Malfoy family was, and it was disgusting knowing that I was a Malfoy myself.
“Do you have my notes?”
“They’re my notes, Draco. You didn’t do any work.”
“Come on, we’re partners, aren’t we?”
I looked away. I felt like if I opened my mouth again to talk, I might just vomit.
“We’re partners, right?” Draco repeated, sounding even more pretentious than before.
“Shut up.” I said under my breath.
Snape walked in, and Draco sat down next to me. I was seriously considering shoving him off the stool.
“Because of some… adjustments that the Headmaster has made to the schedule-- which will be applied tomorrow-- I would like to wrap this class up quickly. So, we will not be having a quiz today. Today, we’ll make a simple potion that can be found on page 493. It’s so simple that if anyone messes up, they will be given a failing grade…”
I was already flipping to the page, hoping that maybe if I finished it before the class ended, I could leave early.
I went to the cupboard and grabbed the ingredients. Immediately, I got to work.
“Quite the student, aren’t you?” Malfoy sneered.
“Shut your big fat mouth.”
“You should keep that temper under check. Might just get you in trouble…”
God, I wanted to punch him.
I threw in a mushroom cap and watched as the water bubbled into a light yellow. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Draco. He wasn’t doing anything. He was just sort of watching me.
“I’m not going to let you take credit over this.” I told him.
“I don’t want any.” He looked at me for a moment and then shook his head. “You are so like that mudblood Granger—“
“SHUT UP, MALFOY. JUST SHUT UP.”
Everyone in the room was quiet. Draco’s eyes were wide with shock. I couldn’t handle the staring anymore, so I grabbed my stuff and walked out of the classroom. I stood just outside for a moment after I had slammed the door behind me. I was so stupid… how could I let my anger get the better of me like that? I couldn’t go back, though. That’d be even worse that just out-right leaving. So, I marched to the seventh floor. The room of requirement would be a good safe-haven for me. I could rely on it when I wanted to be alone. As I got closer to the room of requirement, however, I started to want to see the mirror of Erised again. I couldn’t figure out why, but something just told me that I needed to see it. I needed to. So, that’s what I wished for as I walked by the tapestry. I opened the door to the room of requirement, and found myself in a large room filled with objects I could only guess had been thrown in the room to be forgotten. The mirror had to be somewhere. I started to wander. My mind was turning numb, and I found it difficult to think of anything in particular besides the mirror. I needed to find the mirror. I don’t know how long I was walking around in that room, but eventually I saw it. A glimmer underneath an old rug, which was draped over it. I pulled the rug aside and stared at the mirror for a moment, and then I stepped forward. It was still foggy. I couldn’t see anything but the murky image of my first year self. Looking at it, I wanted to smash the image. I didn’t want to be a stupid first year anymore. They all saw me as a helpless first year, not knowing any better. They didn’t know—
The image suddenly cleared. I saw myself. I saw myself the way I was supposed to be.
I knew what I had to do.
***
I snuck into the girl’s bathroom that night. Hermione had told me how she, Harry, and Ron had brewed a polyjuice potion in their second year in the girl’s bathroom without being disturbed by anyone besides Myrtle. I decided it would be my best bet for making my own, seeing as I probably couldn’t go into the Room of Requirement because the twins tended to use it constantly for their experiments.

I set the ingredients down and conjured up a copper cauldron and filled it with water. I sparked a small fire underneath the cauldron and started preparing the ingredients. I ground up the Hippogryffs claw first, seeing as that would take the longest to prepare. After fifteen minutes or so, I had ground up the claw to a powder and the water had started to boil. I grabbed the rose essence and put two drops in the pot and watched as the water slowly melted into a pink color. So far so good. The next ingredient was the most dangerous to handle- the dragon heartstring. The heartstring was extremely magical and very unstable. If it wasn't handled correctly, a whole mess of things could go wrong. However, because it was used in wands, it was a very necessary ingredient. It would help me channel the effects of the potion. I used my wand to gently lift it into the potion, and as soon as it touched the surface, the water began to boil viscously.
"Oh, that looks dangerous..." I heard a whispy voice say behind me. I knew it to be Myrtle's.
I quickly put the firefly lights into the potion. The mixture frothed and changed from pink to a delicate purple.
"What exactly ARE you making?" Myrtle asked. I ignored her again and began to stir the potion.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing? I don't see a recipe or whatever lying around to tell you how to do this. You know, last time a potion was made in my bathroom, it went horribly wrong for one of the--"
"Yes, I know." I said, getting a little impatient.
"So you can talk?"
"You aren't the first to say that." I grumbled, tossing in the pixie wings.
"You still haven't answered any of my questions." Myrtle pouted.
"I don't need a recipe, I'm making up my own." I said curtly.
"Ooh! But that's dangerous." Myrtle cried dramatically, despite the grin that was settling on her face.
"Yes, I'm well aware."
"What are you trying to accomplish?" She asked, peering into the cauldron.
"That's none of your business."
"None of my business?" She shrieked. "Making a potion in MY bathroom and it's none of MY business?"
"Fine! Fine! I'll tell you if you SHUT UP."
She smiled and nodded.
"I'm making a potion to make me look my age." I put the ground-up claw into the potion. It boiled grey.
"What screwed you up in the first place?"
"We made a deal!" I shouted. She pouted even more.

I stirred the potion for an hour, watching the grey color get darker and darker. And then I yanked out a strand of my hair and threw it into the potion, making it turn bright blue.
"Ooh, pretty..." Myrtle said over my shoulder.
I ladled out a bit of the potion into a carefully measured cup.
"So, that's it? You're just going to take a swig and hope for the best?"
"Pretty much."
"You must be an idiot."
I smiled. "Yeah, that'd explain a lot."
I drained the cup and quickly felt my stomach twist into a knot. I clambered over to a sink and vomited. I heard Myrtle make disgusted, yet delighted noises behind me. But the sound around me was starting to drain out. I coughed a bit and saw a splatter of blood dress the sink in sick. The blurry image of my face in the mirror looked like it was being flushed of all its color. I'd heard of things like this happening to great witches and wizards. Most of the stories never ended well. My body convulsed and forced me onto my back, thrashing about on the floor.
"I told you it was a bad idea..." Myrtle cooed as she melted into the wall in the corner.
My eyes slammed shut as another round of sick forced its way out, this time there was already red mixed in. My stomach tightened even more. There was a loud thumping in my ear, and it took me a minute to figure out the thumping was my own pulse. It was starting to pump faster. My arms and legs felt like they were being broken and fixed over and over again. I started to hear someone scream, and I began to cry as if in reply to the screams.
And then I realized I was the one screaming.
Another twist in my stomach, another round of sick... I was starting to wish the potion would just kill me already. I spent what felt like an hour writhing on the floor, emptying my body, and screaming... and then it all faded black.