Professor Snape was not her favorite professor. He wasn’t all that patient with them. He expected them to get things right the first time, which, generally in potions was a lot easier. There was at time constraint on them. It wasn’t like charms where they could just try again a minute later. Figuring out what you did wrong took longer in potions, and having to start over longer.
That’s why Cora paid strict attention when in class and suffered through Professor Snape’s antagonism. Class was only an hour and a half. She could handle that. Besides, she was probably the most polite and well-behaved in the class. As long as she didn’t blow herself up, Professor Snape usually left her alone.
Class started off normal until they received their assignment today: the Chameleon potion. That wasn’t the part that concerned Cora, though. The part that concerned her was that they would be doing the potions in partners. That always added an extra level to class work. Cora never knew if she should take the lead or not, and she was always afraid to voice if the other person was doing something wrong. Still, there was nothing else for it. She had been working in partnerships for the last year and a half as a prefect, and for the last nearly six years as a student. She could do it. And without complaining. She had to set the example after all.
When she saw who her partner was, however, Cora wanted to forget all about being a good example. Joe. Joel! She was partnered with Joel! She stared at Professor Snape, wondering if he had heard the rumors about them, wondering if he was punishing for some infraction she didn’t commit or didn’t know she had committed.
She was sitting next to Lachlan and slowly looked at him as the rest of the class got up and headed to their partners. “I’m sorry,” she murmured to him, not being able to look him in the eye before she was gathering her things and went and joined Joel. Cora started to set her things back up without looking at him. “Hello,” she said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye without stopping getting her cauldron going.





Phoebe Brennan
Cora Blair