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There was something about the draught inside the dungeons where Potions was held that irritated Yoongi. Sure, he was a Slytherin, he was supposed to be used to the damp coldness below the castle - for the commons room were right under the lake - but still after five years, he is not used to the sudden gusts of chilliness. Potions were every Slytherin’s favourite subject, for the Head of Slytherin (Professor Kim) is a Potions teacher and often favoured his Slytherin students over the other houses.
If there was one thing that made the dark, dank coldness in the dungeons slightly more favourable, it was the presence of the Hufflepuff students. There is a silent bond between students from Hufflepuff and Slytherin, where Slytherins would always help weaker Hufflepuff students in Potions and Hufflepuff helped Slytherin in Herbology. Which was why many Slytherins enjoyed the company of Hufflepuff, for they always managed to brighten up the room with their cheerfulness and was always willing to lend a helping hand.
“Today, we’ll be making a Draught of Living Death,” Professor Kim spoke, pushing his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, a Potions textbook levitating by his side. “Now, can anyone tell me what this potion does?”
A few hands were raised, including Yoongi’s. Professor Kim often offered a few extra points to weaker students who answered questions in class, helping them raise their grade. Albeit Yoongi being one of Professor Kim’s top students, there was always this desire in him to be the very best. There were a few answers given by the various Slytherin and Hufflepuff students but none of them were even close to what the actual answer was, with some answers being a death potion or reviving a dead wizard.
“Yoongi?” Professor Kim called.
Yoongi cleared his throat. “The Draught of Living Death is an extremely powerful sleeping draught that sends the drinker into a deathlike slumber. It is extremely difficult to concoct, and the effects – if not used with caution – have very dangerous consequences.” He answered.
“Taken the words right out of my mouth Yoongi, five points to Slytherin,” said Professor Kim with a proud smile on his face. “Now today, I will be pairing each of you up to make individual draughts. The best potion wins,” Professor Kim pauses and picks up a tiny vial with golden liquid shimmering inside.
Small gasps escaped from certain students, especially from Yoongi who already knew what was inside the vial. “A vial of Felix Felicis, also known as-” Professor Kim was cut off by an overexcited Yoongi.
“Liquid luck.” He finishes. His pupils dilated and there was this inexplicable surge for him to make the best potion. However, he was slightly concerned about being paired with a Hufflepuff student. He looked around his class, scanning the Hufflepuffs. Sure, he does like some of them to a certain extent, but in a tight competition like this, the last thing he wants is a weaker Hufflepuff student pulling him down. His eyes drifted past the yellow and black ties before settling on Jung Hoseok.
Jung Hoseok, a fifth year Hufflepuff like Yoongi, was the weakest potion student but at the same time, Min Yoongi’s best friend. He had a knack for Herbology but potions never went well with him. He was always overmixing, or adding too much or too less of an ingredient. ‘Anyone but Hoseok. Anyone but Hoseok.’ Yoongi chanted in his mind like a mantra, as if it would avoid him from being paired up with Hoseok. However, fate seemed to be in it for Yoongi, for within seconds of chanting his mantra, Professor Kim had already selected the first pair. “Min Yoongi and Jung Hoseok.”
Inside, Yoongi was screaming in frustration but on the outside, he had a stony façade, flashing a small smile to his partner. “Man, I really need that Felix Felicis for the Quidditch match against you guys next week,” Hoseok begins bumping his shoulder lightly against Yoongi’s.
“Ha, that’s if you beat me,” Yoongi responds, gathering ingredients for himself and Hoseok. For a second, Yoongi contemplated on giving Hoseok a monkey’s brain because it looked like the sloth’s and was sitting in a jar right next to the sloth’s; but looking at Hoseok’s cheerful demeanour as he measured out powdered root of asphodel, he couldn’t help but take another helping of the sloth brain for Hoseok. “Damn it,” he curses under his breath when he fails at attempting to sabotage Hoseok for his ingredients.
Once they had gathered their ingredients, they laid them out evenly on their workbench and began making the potion. Hoseok, who often followed word by word, was singing under his breath as he attempted to cut through the Sopophorous bean. Yoongi, who had notes from a senior, used the edge of the silver dagger to crush the bean, releasing the juices within an instance. Hoseok had watched him from the side and gaped. “That’s so cool! How did you do that so quickly?” he asked, widening his eyes.
Yoongi paused for a second, releasing the juice into the cauldron. Should he just tell Hoseok to cut it normally with the dagger, or give him tips from his notes. If he gave Hoseok his notes, then Hoseok would have a chance at winning the Felix Felicis and boy did Yoongi want it badly for an upcoming test on becoming an Animagus. “You crush it with the edge of your dagger, not cut it. Also use thirteen beans rather than twelve.” Yoongi explains, internally slapping himself. Why did Hoseok had such an effect on him? Normally he wouldn’t succumb to any form of Hoseok’s ‘puppy dog eyes’ (as what he named the widening of Hoseok’s eyes).
Hoseok diligently followed Yoongi’s instructions and eventually, the potion began to take shape, without a single mistake yet. As they proceeded into the final stages of mixing the potion, there was one final step that was crucial in making the perfect draught and it was to stir the potion anticlockwise seven times and clockwise once. As Yoongi began counting the turns internally in his head, Hoseok suddenly asked him a question relating to numbers. “Do you know how to do question five for Arithmatics? I haven’t done it yet,” Hoseok asked.
Yoongi lost his count for the potion but stopped himself from stirring further. He stirred anticlockwise once for good measure and turned to Hoseok. “You fucked up my potion but I’m going to help you make that perfect potion,” he replies with a deadpan stare and as Hoseok had yet to stir the mixture, he takes the stirrer from his hands and begins to stir it seven times anticlockwise and once clockwise. “There.”
Hoseok’s eyes lit up when the potion turned into a pale pink colour, simmering and bubbling before his very eyes. Yoongi couldn’t help but feel a sense of warmness inside himself that he helped Hoseok make the perfect Draught of Living Death. It could not get any more perfect than the method Yoongi had prescribed.
When Professor Kim made his rounds, he dropped a golden leaf in Yoongi’s potion, which had a pale pink hue but not as pale as Hoseok’s. The golden leaf simmered away slowly and Professor Kim looks almost shocked at Yoongi. “Not your best work, but good try.” He pats Yoongi on the back. Moving to Hoseok, he drops the golden leaf into Hoseok’s cauldron and the leaf simmered away in an instance. Professor Kim’s jaw drops as he looks at the potion, at Hoseok, back at the potion and Hoseok again.
“A perfect Draught of Living Death,” he splutters, staring at Hoseok who was grinning so widely Yoongi could feel his own cheeks hurting. Hoseok’s dimples were extremely prominent at this moment and Yoongi resisted the urge to poke the two dimples because they were just so tempting. “Well, I can safely say that this is, by far, the best Draught of Living Death I have seen produced by a student in my fifteen years in Hogwarts! Congratulations Jung Hoseok!”
The class erupted in cheers and claps, for the worst student in Potions finally concocted the best potion in Hogwarts history. Yoongi felt a sense of pride within him, for he was the one who helped Hoseok to his success. Upon receiving the vial, Hoseok prepared another vial to split the Felix Felicis. “Since you helped me so much with all those notes, it’s only decent if I shared it with you,” Hoseok offered.
Yoongi shook his head. “It may be my notes but it was still your effort,” he pushes the vial back to Hoseok who accepts it back with a cheerful nod and returns to his Hufflepuff classmates with a skip in step. Yoongi watches as his Hufflepuff classmates congratulate him and he wished he received the same treatment when he concocted potions in other classes. Alas, Hufflepuffs were known for their strong, supportive friendships amongst others and Slytherins were infamously known for being friends for connections. Yoongi leaves for his next class, not feeling dejected but for the first time, a sense of warmth for helping his best friend get something he wanted. It was a new, not foreign feeling, but it was nice to help someone without any cunning means.
Hoseok walks back to class with a bounce in his step. After all, there was a reason why the hat had once considered Hoseok to be placed in Slytherin, for he always got what he wanted through shrewd resourcefulness.