Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
Chapter 33: The Teacher
"Still wrong… do it again," James said before he vanished the potion once more.
Bella slammed her hands on the table. "No way! I did that potion perfectly."
"As I said previously… our standards for 'perfectly' are very different," James told her.
"I'll have you know that I got an Outstanding in every potion I made last year," Bellatrix said with an arrogant tone.
James raised an eyebrow at her attitude. "You think I'm judging your work at the school level?"
Bella was not expecting him to ask that. "But we are in school!"
"If you're content with getting an Outstanding in your O.W.L. exams, then Professor Slughorn's classes will be more than enough," James told her.
This made Bellatrix stop for a moment and think. "You mean…"
"What you asked me to teach you is something beyond the level of a Potions Master. That is the standard for my judgment, so I will not grade you like your school professor," James revealed to her.
This shocked Bella. She knew that the method Potter had used was very advanced, far beyond school level. But she had not expected it to be by so much.
'If what he says is true, that would mean this is something used by Grand Masters, like Grandpa Pollux.' She glanced at Potter with inquisitive eyes.
She did not feel like she was being deceived, but this would mean that the boy in front of her was on par with the man she admired the most.
"Now that you understand how difficult this task truly is… it's okay if you want to give up. I won't look down on you for that," James said.
"Who said I'm giving up?" She glared at him. "Bellatrix Black doesn't give up. If I said that I was going to learn it… then I will do that."
James was half-hoping that she would forget about this and leave. Although that would put his secret in danger.
"Fine then…" He pointed at the cauldron. "Try again."
"Wait… can't you show me how it's done correctly? I won't learn if I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Bella said.
James nodded. "Not bad. It only took you two failures before thinking about asking for guidance." He approached the workstation and began to prepare a batch of ingredients.
Bella glared at him with shock. "If I hadn't asked you… were you ever going to help me?"
"No," James said as he continued to cut the ingredients.
"But then I would never have had the chance to improve!" Bella exclaimed.
"That's correct," James agreed.
"You are the worst teacher I've ever seen…" Bella said with frustration.
James stopped cutting and turned to look at her. "I am the best teacher you will ever have."
Bellatrix was taken aback by James' level of confidence. Especially because he didn't sound arrogant or entitled when he said it. She felt that he had the skills and knowledge to back it up.
"Honestly… what happened to you, Potter? If it weren't for that stupid prank you and your friends pulled yesterday and that ridiculous green hair you have now… I would never believe that you're not an imposter who took over Potter's body."
"Don't waste your time thinking about me and focus on the process… I'm about to begin, and I don't like repeating myself," James said.
"Who's thinking about you?" Bella huffed. Still, she approached the cauldron and paid attention to what James was doing.
She expected him to just go through the motions and not say anything, but he began to explain the process as he brewed the potion, going into great detail about temperature control and the mystery of the flame.
Bellatrix became surprised at how well-articulated his explanations were, as if he had done it a million times before.
She barely noticed how much time had passed when James finished the concoction and placed the liquid into several glass vials.
"Notice the difference?" James asked.
She did not want to admit it, but she did… the difference became much clearer now that James was using the same brewing method as everyone else, one where she had a way to compare.
James took one of the vials and handed it to her to examine. "This is the result I want."
"It's a lot darker," she said. That was the first thing she noticed. The color mentioned in the book was a light blue, like she had produced before, but the one made by James was a much darker blue.
"That's because I didn't lose any of the ingredients' properties during the process. That's why controlling the temperature is so important. Every time you go a bit above or below, your potion is becoming gradually worse."
She noted that the scent coming from the potion was also much more potent. "Incredible…" she couldn't help but say.
Previously, she had thought that James could only produce those incredible potions because he had learned that strange brewing method. But this time, he had used the exact same tools and procedure as everyone else and still got a much better result based solely on his skills.
'Can I do that…?' Bella began to wonder if she was good enough.
Bellatrix shook her head and slapped her cheeks. 'No! Of course I can! If Potter can do this, so can I.' She could not allow doubts to invade her mind.
James ignored her little outburst. "Ready to try again?"
She was interrupted by a sudden loud noise coming from the corner, where a large jar filled with some dark liquid was placed above a flame.
Just as she looked over there, she heard it again, and she also saw the jar shaking. "Why is that jar moving so much? It's almost like…"
James looked over. "It seems like it's ready to wake up…"
Bella's eyes opened wide. "Wait… is there something alive in there?!"
"Mmm… I wouldn't really call it alive," James said nonchalantly.
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