Chapter 24. Vitamix Side-Effects

Days passed without much happening until we were inside potions class again. “Today, we will be learning to make Vitamix.” Snape announced while he entered the room, quickly moving to the front of the class. Once at the front he scanned around, for any unattended before asking a question. “Does anyone know, what Vitamix is?” Standard to the class, Hermione raised her hand, but wasn’t called. Snape stared at me until I raised my own hand. “Mr. Peterson?” He asked me to explain, making Hermione’s anger towards me flare again.

“It is a beginner potion that consists of Powdered root of asphodel, Infusion of wormwood, and Monkshood. It gives the drinker increased reflexes, and a burst of energy before their inevitable crash.” Snape nodded at me, took a piece of chalk, and began writing the rules for making the potions for this assignment. “Very good Mr. Peterson. 5 points to Slytherin.” The Slytherins nodded with grins while the Gryffindor’s all rolled their eyes at the clear bias in the class.

“Open your books to page 37.” He announced, and the shuffling of papers erupted from the class. “You will group up in pairs of two. Helping other groups is prohibited. And… I expect your assignment to be done by the end of class.” He then moved over to his desk, and let us go to complete the assignment. I looked at Pansy, already looking back at me, and we both nodded to become each other’s lab partners. Leaving poor Draco to join up with someone else.

With Pansy and I working together, it wasn’t long until we had brewed our Vitamix. The concoction was a deep blue color that looked almost like candy syrup. It had a distinct odor I couldn’t quite place, reminding me of my fathers headache potion. ‘Perhaps Wolfsbane is an ingredient in his potions?’ I wondered since father wouldn’t let me know what exactly was inside of his potion. Saying that some ingredients were best left unknown for me to drink it. I didn’t understand that until I now knew what was inside of our cure for boils potion, but had to assume that it was some mix of wolfsbane and Lavender.

“Cheers.” Pansy held out her own vial out to me with a smirk on her face. I scoffed at her, clinking our glasses and drinking the fruits of our labor. It left a sort of trace of itself while going down, but it wasn’t long until I felt the effects take place. My heart began to race, almost as if it would break through my chest. I clasped at my chest over my heart, I began panting to keep up with its out of control beating. “Lucas!?” Pansy yelled in angst, I looked up to meet her gaze, the darkened room feeling much more bright, and loud.

Pansy watched Lucas as he started acting as if he was having a panic attack. When she called out to him, she noticed his ears twitched in response, and almost looked as if they came to a point. If it wasn’t for her increased reflexes from the Vitamix she would have missed the minute changes his ears had. It proved it was working, but something was wrong with Lucas. When he turned his gaze over to her, she froze under his bright, almost glowing green eyes that shined in the dark. Like a predator staring at its prey. His eyes studied every part of her, his pupils fully dilated, sucked in all light that came near, while his irises reflected the green hue back out.

He then blinked and turned away, his face twitching from time to time alongside his ears, making him turn to stare at what Pansy assumed was noise that caught his attention. “Wow… I can see why this is banned for quidditch.” He muttered while studying everything in sight, causing Pansy to remember that one day at flying lessons where she thought Lucas had green eyes accidentally. ‘My eyes weren’t playing tricks… His were…’

Pansy watched as he continued to pant, and move around erratically, nothing near to what Pansy was experiencing from the same brew. “Lucas… Are you ok?” She asked carefully, noticing that much of the class was observing this strange scene. Lucas snapped his vision to her, his wide glowing green eyes boring through her. “Yea… This is wicked.” He ended with a chuckle, showcasing his teeth, noticeably sharper.

“Mr. Peterson!” Snape called out for me, and I looked towards him, wondering what he needed to say. Snape looked at me, his eyes like daggers that bore through me. We stared at each other in silence, the entire class moving their gazes between Snape and I. “Pansy and I have completed our assignment.” I said in between pants, my heart rate and breathing still accelerated. Snape raised a brow at me before nodding. “Well done. I advise you to head towards the hospital wing after the effects have worn off. There are few… Who have side-effects.”

I nodded quickly, my excess amounts of energy made me almost giddy. “As you were.” Snape announced to the class, making everyone focus back on their potions. I smiled while looking back at Pansy. She looked confused, and unsure as she stared at me. “Your… Eyes are green…” She whispered to me, avoiding my gaze as she spoke. I blinked a few times, before grabbing a glass flask, and looking at my reflection. What stared back at me, were glowing green irises. I continued to stare at my eyes in awe, my heart still going a mile a minute. “Oh…” It was at that moment that I understood what this potion was doing to me.

Due to my particular condition of magical build up, each month I would gather too much energy. I knew the effects of this well. Including my eyes changing color. ‘This is almost replicating that. Making my body produce much more energy, but also allowing it to be released? Maybe?’ I nodded while acknowledging I wasn’t having my usual headache with build up. It was sort of fun to see the world in this way, without having to deal with the head-splitting migraines that accompanied it. But I still needed to sweep this under the rug, not letting Pansy know that I did have this condition.

Pansy watched Lucas nod while staring at his own reflection in the glass. His ear, twitching from time to time while he pondered. “That’s a weird side-effect.” He said with a shrug, not interested in his eyes for that long. He looked back at her innocently, studying her face as he spoke. “I don’t see anything different for you.” Pansy’s mind stuttered at the change of conversation. She felt different, but nothing as strange as Lucas. She had to add this to the pile of strange mannerisms he portrayed from time to time.

Hermione glared at Peterson, she nudged Harry to get his attention. He glanced over to what Hermione wanted him to see as she spoke. “Don’t you see? Something is definitely off with him.” Harry shrugged, having to agree that he was strange, but writing it off as strange happenings in the wizarding world he was just introduced to. “Isn’t it mostly from the side-effects of this stuff?” It was then that Ron jumped into the conversation, nodding along to Harry. “I heard that someone's skin color changed to blue from this stuff. I almost wish that he got what he deserved more than just pointy ears.”

Ron still scoffed at Peterson’s peculiarity, feeling like he got his just deserts, but Hermione wasn’t convinced. Her instincts told her that something was definitely more than what the boys thought of him.

After class was over, I went to the Hospital Wing together with Pansy under the instruction of Snape. There wasn’t anything that was wrong with me, and after the effects wore off, Pomfrey wondered why we were even there. She gave me bedrest, and told me not to worry as she had seen much worse effects from previous students.

However, today I learned that Potions was truly a subject I needed to learn. Before, I wanted to learn potions for the well-being of magical creatures, but now, I understood that potions could also help me in search of finding new creatures. “I’m going to need to have a vial of this at all times.” I said while glancing at the few vials I still had from potions class as extra.