Wandless - A Harry Potter Fanfic 8 Chapter 7 - Thunderbolt Potion, Another Title

The whole group was currently in Lockhart's office at his invitation along with Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore who were currently studying the petrified Mrs Norris whose owner, Argus Filch was weeping on a nearby chair.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her—probably the Transmogifian Torture—I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her..."

Filch's sobbing grew louder at Lockhart's ranting making Vincent's eye twitch. He wanted nothing more than to give Lockhart's perfect face a good clobbering, but decided to walk to Filch's side leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione raising eyebrows at his actions.

"Hey Mr, Filch," Vincent greeted

"Oh, it's you," Filch sniffled as he looked at Vincent who was patting his back, "what do you want?"

"I'd like to say, that Mrs Norris was a good cat," Vincent said

"I, I know right?" Filch coughed as he glared at Harry, "I raised the little one from the moment it was born, beautiful little critter. Whoever did this is going to pay!"

"We didn't do it," Vincent said, "I mean, I'm a muggle after all."

"She isn't dead Argus," Dumbledore said causing Lockhart to stop rambling on and Filch to stop sobbing

"Not dead," Filch said, "But then why is she—?"

"She's been petrified," said Dumbledore

"I knew it!" Lockhart exclaimed making everyone eye roll at the proclamation

"But how, I don't know," Dumbledore continued

"It was him who did it!" Filch said pointing to Harry

"It would have required dark magic that no second year could possibly have known," Dumbledore said

"It was him! You saw what he wrote on the wall!" Filch said, "He knows that I'm a—that I'm a Squib!"

"I never touched Mrs Norris," Harry said in outrage, "I don't even know what a Squib is!"

"If I may, Headmaster," Snape intervened, "Potter and his friends may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But why were they in that corridor in the first place, why weren't they enjoying the Halloween feast?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione all talked at once to explain about the deathday party while Vincent just watched Snape's actions. Despite being Snape's apprentice, Vincent still didn't really know him that well outside his potion making skills. So, it still puzzled him why Snape hated Harry so much.

"...there were hundreds of ghosts, they'll tell you we were there—"

"By why not join the feast afterwards?" Snape said, his black eyes boring into Harry's, "Why did you go up to the corridor?"

"Because, because," Harry stuttered as he looked slightly nervous, "because we were tired and wanted to go to bed."

Vincent furrowed his eyebrows before relaxing them. He was confused as to why Harry didn't outright tell them he heard voices, but then felt that it would have been a bit unnatural, even in the wizarding world.

"Without supper?" Snape raised his eyebrows, "I don't think ghosts provided food for living people at their parties."

"We weren't —" Ron began before Vincent cut in

"I was intending to make them supper with my own hands," Vincent explained, "It was late, so we decided that heading to the Great Hall now would do us no good."

Snape glared at Vincent who stared back. Snape was the first to break eye contact, turning to Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, what are your thoughts on this?" Snape asked icily

"Innocent until proven guilty Severus," Dumbledore said, leaving no room for argument, "Argus, we will be able to cure her, I will have a potion that will revive Mrs Norris. It will be ready when Professor Sprout manages to cultivate the Mandrakes to full size."

"I'll make it!" Lockhart b.u.t.ted in, "I must have done it a hundred times, I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep —"

"Excuse me," said Snape, his voice filled with venom, "But I believe I am the Potions master here at this school."

"You may go," Dumbledore said to the four children who nodded before taking off

Vincent stopped at the door and looked back to see Dumbledore to give him a nod to which he returned.

Along the way back, Harry was asking whether he should have told them about the voices while Vincent was deep in thought.

"Chamber of Secrets," Vincent thought to himself as they entered the Gryffindor Common room "what could possibly have gotten those teachers so rattled."

He then realised that Harry, Ron and Hermione were all staring at him with nervous smiles, causing black lines to form on his forehead.

"What do you guys want?" he asked having a bad feeling

"Well," Harry scratched his head

"You did tell Snape that you were going to make us a meal," Ron chuckled nervously

"So, we thought that maybe you can make us something to eat?" Hermione said not looking directly at Vincent

Vincent just stared at the three of them. His eyes twitched as he walked up to get his cooking materials.

"Your all b.l.o.o.d.y dang lucky your my friends and that I'm also hungry," the three heard him mutter as he walked back down, "otherwise I'd be charging you five galleons each for this."

They all stared at each other before bursting into laughter. All the tension from earlier gone, they ate to their hearts content till it was extremely late. Harry and Ron went to bed first leaving only Hermione and Vincent.

"You ok Hermione?" Vincent asked as he cleaned up

"Yeah, I'm just in thought about the Chamber of Secrets," she said as she plopped down on a couch, "I think I remember it, but I've left my copy of Hogwarts: A History at home."

"Hmm," Vincent said as he finished packing the equipment, "I don't think we can really do anything about it at the moment. Maybe there's a book about it in the library."

"True, I still only read a fourth of it excluding the restricted section so it might be in —?" Hermione looked at Vincent who had an amazed face, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Vincent said still looking at Hermione, "I'm just impressed with your ability to read."

Hermione just sat there comprehending what Vincent said. When she did, she buried her face in a nearby pillow in embarra.s.sment.

"It's not that much right?" her m.u.f.fled voice came out

"Hermione, your amazing," Vincent said causing the girl to bury her head even further in the pillow

She looked up giving Vincent a glare, "Your teasing me aren't you?"

"I'm just saying the truth," Vincent said smiling before being hit in the face with a pillow

"Geez, I'm heading to bed," she huffed as she stormed off before turning around, "night Vince."

"Goodnight, Hermione," Vincent said seeing the bushy haired girl enter her dorm

"Ok Nyx, time for bed," Vincent said to the sleeping pixie who was currently lying on the couch

He picked it up before walking back up to his dorm. He placed Nyx next to Hedwig who hooted at him. Vincent smiled as he pat Hedwig's head to which it responded by nuzzling into his palm.

"Night Hedwig." Vincent said getting a hoot in reply

He climbed into bed, thinking what the ominous words on the wall meant before sleep took him.

...

"Guards weak here."

"You're not balanced properly!"

"Your completely wide open!"

Neville lay on the dirt ground panting hard as Vincent walked up to him with a smile.

"You did good today," he smiled as he offered his hand to Neville who gave one in return as he accepted the hand

"Thanks!" Neville said as he was pulled up

They both sat by the doorway to the castle watching the sun come up. Neville was drinking the Comfort Water that Vincent had given him. If there was any negative feelings Neville had during training, they would be washed away by the heavenly drink before him.

"You finish your homework for History Neville?" Vincent asked suddenly causing Neville to choke slightly

"c.r.a.p," Neville said as he scratched his head in anxiety, "I forgot it was today."

Another thing Vincent noticed about Neville, he forgets a lot of things.

It's been a few days since the incident with Mrs Norris and things still haven't settle down. Hermione had started reading more frequently on the Chamber Of Secrets to the point where she would read all night. Vincent had resolved himself to make more sleep potions in case this became a constant thing in the future.

"Neville, it's great that you want to improve your strength," Vincent said, "but you do realise that doesn't mean for you to neglect your studies."

Vincent had often caught Neville shadow boxing before bed. While it's great that Neville wants to become strong, Vincent didn't want the boy to forget his studies because of it.

"Don't worry, I'll help you through it," Vincent sighed causing Neville to grab his hands

"Thank you Vincent!"

"I don't swing that way you dolt!" Vincent said whacking Neville's head

Neville just laughed as he continued to drink.

"h.e.l.lo Vince," Luna said as she appeared behind them, "how are you doing?

"Hey Luna," Vincent patted the step beside them, "have a seat."

"Thanks," she said as she received a drink from Vincent, "and who's your friend?"

"Neville, Neville Longbottom!" Neville replied quickly holding his hand out

Vincent then realised another thing about Neville. His ability to talk to girls is somewhat lacking.

"h.e.l.lo Neville, I'm Luna Lovegood," she said dreamily as she shook Neville's hand, "have you heard of the Crumple Horned Snorkback?

"Um, what?" Neville looked to Vincent in confusion

"Don't worry, she may come off as weird," Luna pouted at the comment, "but get to know her a bit and you'll find her to be one of the best people you'll ever have the honour of knowing."

"Huh," Neville looked at the girl that got such a high appraisal from Vincent who playfully hit Vincent's head in embarra.s.sment

"So, mind telling me what a Snortback is?" Neville asked the girl who instantly started talking

"It's Snorkback, not Snortback!" she said

The three of them engaged in a conversation until they heard thunder which indicated the time for breakfast. They all parted ways at the Great Hall.

"She's really interesting isn't she?" Vincent said as they made their way to their seats

"Yeah, she is," Neville said, "I never met a person quite like her before."

"Oi, Vince, over here!" Hermione called waving her hand at Vincent who waved back

"K, see you later Neville," Vincent said as he sat down

"See you," Neville sat with another student called Dean Thomas at another end of the table

"So, today's History right?" Hermione said, "I'm going to try asking Professor Binn to see how much he knows of the Chamber of Secrets, nothing I look at in the library seems to hold any information."

"Well, if anyone should know of it, then it's the History teacher," Vincent said as he took a bite out of some toast before talking to Ron, "how's Ginny?"

"She's still extremely shaken up after hearing of Mrs Norris," Ron said from the side as he ate, "Don't know why, she's hardly known the cat."

Ever since Halloween, Ginny has been acting rather disturbed by the incident causing Vincent to worry somewhat. Throughout his time in Hogwarts, Vincent hadn't seen much of her and it bothered him a lot for some reason.

Later in the afternoon, they all found themselves in the library. Harry came in later as he was held back by Snape to sc.r.a.pe tubeworms off the desk.

"I'm still three inches short," Ron said frustrated, "Hermione's done four to five feet and her writing's small!"

"Well, at least Neville won't be alone," Vincent thought as he watched Ron write as large as possible, "well our teacher is the kind that probably wouldn't care so it shouldn't matter so much."

"Still can't find it," Hermione said as she came out from behind a bookshelf, "All the copies of "Hogwarts: A History have been taken out."

"She wants it for the Chamber of Secrets," Vincent said saving Harry the trouble of asking

"Hermione lend me your composition," Ron said sounding slightly desperate as he checked the time

"No."

"Vincent maybe you can—"

"Three galleons."

"Harry—"

"You're on your own mate." Harry said as the bell rang indicating the start of the new lesson

Ron looked at his friends in horror as they left him behind.

"Traitors, you guys are traitors!" he called out in disbelief

...

"Professor, What is the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked

Professor Binn's, the ghost and History teacher looked at the cla.s.s who had probably, for the first time, paid attention to the what he was talking about.

"I deal with facts not myths Miss—?

"Granger," Hermione finished, "but don't legends have a basis in fact?"

Professor Binn just sighed as he faced the cla.s.s, "Fine, but after that, we're back to studying."

"As you all know, Hogwarts was founded by four of the greatest wizards in history. G.o.dric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They each represented an aspect that they wanted to bring out in their students, hence the four houses."

"However, Salazar Slytherin had a falling out with the four founders. He felt that only those that possess the pure blood of wizards could be accepted into the school. That those Half-bloods and Muggle-Borns were unworthy to learn magic."

"The other founders, especially Gryffindor, disagreed. Slytherin left, but there were rumours of him building a secret chamber. It was foretold that only the heir of Slytherin himself could open the chambers and release the horror within to purge all those he considered unworthy to learn magic. That is the legend of The Chamber of Secrets."

Professor Binn looked at the uneasy cla.s.s before waving his hand, "For decades Headmasters have searched for this so-called hidden chamber only to come up with nothing. So, it's safe to a.s.sume that it was just a legend—"

"Sir," Vincent asked putting his hand up, "whatever happened to Slytherin?"

"No one knows," Professor Binn said, "He disappeared shortly after the event, history has not yet uncovered Slytherins fate."

Vincent sat there in thought as Professor Binn continued with his lesson.

...

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony, but I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd' have taken the train straight back home," Ron was ranting on as they left the lesson

"Speaking of which," Vincent thought, "I actually haven't been sorted officially into any house."

"Harry, you alright?" Vincent asked noticing how nervous the green-eyed boy was.

"Oh, it's nothing," Harry rea.s.sured

"Hey Harry, have you heard what people have been calling you—?" They spotted Collin try in vain to reach Harry through the crowd, the last part of his sentence was m.u.f.fled by the chattering in the hall. He soon gave up and waved goodbye before heading to his lesson.

"What have people been calling you?" Hermione asked Harry who shrugged

"That I'm the heir of Slytherin, I'd expect," Harry said, "I guess that's why Justin Flinch ran away from me earlier."

"People here'll believe anything," said Ron with disgust, "do you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?"

"I'm still rather new to the wizarding world so if you told me there was talking animals then I'd believe you," Vincent saw the three of them exchanging glances making his eyes widen, "there's really talking animals?!"

Before any of them could answer they found themselves at where Mrs Norris was petrified. The wall was still marked with the words despite all of Filch's attempts to get rid of it.

"Wouldn't hurt to look around right?" Harry said as he looked along the ground, "there's scorch marks here and there!"

"Hey guys look at this!" Hermione called out

A bunch of spiders were scurrying to get outside the small crack in the window in a straight line.

"Spiders don't usually act like this right?" Vincent asked flicking a spider to the side only for it to rejoin the line

"I don't think so," Harry said, "do they Ron? Ron?"

Ron was standing way back looking as if he might bolt. It was at this point that Vincent decided to flick the spider in Ron's direction. Ron watched horrified as the spider sailed through the air and landed right on his hair.

There was a moment pause before Ron started running around screaming.

"Get it off! Get it off!" He pleaded

Hermione was giggling to herself at the amusing sight while Harry just smiled amused. Vincent gave a wry smile before helping Ron.

"Sorry Ron," Vincent said knocking the spider away which rejoined the line, "I didn't know you were scared of spiders."

"Well you would be if your brother turned your teddy bear into one," he yelled at Vincent, "imagine you're a child holding your cuddly little toy and then bam! It turns into something with too many legs and..."

Ron was too traumatised to go on. Hermione just turned her head to the side to avoid looking directly at Ron as she tried hard not to laugh.

"The water on the floor's all cleaned up," Vincent noted, "if I remember correctly, it came from this door."

Vincent was about to walk through the door when he stopped, "Uh, this is the women's bathroom."

"Oh, don't worry," Hermione said walking past, totally ignoring the out of order sign, "this is Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, no one ever goes in here."

"Well, this is the most depressing bathroom I've ever been in," Vincent said as he walked in

Harry and Ron nodded their heads in agreement. The bathroom had cracked sinks under one broken window. The few candles giving light were extremely dim and the bathroom stalls were all scratched with one having it's door hanging on its hinges.

"Hey Myrtle," Hermione said to the end stall, "how are you?"

Myrtle was by far, one of the most depressing people Vincent had ever seen. She had pimples and extremely thick gla.s.ses. Vincent had the amusing thought that she looked like Harry, if he was a girl and was extremely depressed.

Harry felt some extreme chills despite it not being that cold.

"What was that feeling?" He thought scratching his head, "did someone curse me?"

"This is a girls bathroom," Myrtle said, "They're not girls, why are they here?

"No," Hermione agreed, "I just wanted to show them how err – nice it is in here."

"A place fit for a king," Vincent thought sarcastically, then winced as one of the bathroom stalls door fell down with a thump, "wow, what timing."

"Umm," Hermione didn't know what to say, the timing couldn't be any worse as Myrtle raised an eyebrow at her

"Ask her if she saw anything," Harry whispered to Hermione

"What are you whispering?" said Myrtle, staring at him.

"Nothing," said Harry quickly. "We wanted to ask–"

"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" said Myrtle, in a voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead–"

"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you," said Hermione. "Harry only–"

"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" howled Myrtle. "My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!"

"Vincent, can't you do anything?" Ron whispered making Vincent look around in confusion

"What, me?" Vincent asked

"Yes, use your looks to your advantage—" Vincent just blankly landed a fist on Ron's head, "I deserved that."

"Myrtle," Vincent asked, "had you seen anything strange on Halloween?"

"No," Myrtle sniffed, "I wasn't paying attention, Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm – that I'm–"

Vincent smacked Ron who looked like he was going to say something stupid. He looked at Vincent with a face that asked why.

"Well, we'll be off now," Vincent said, "it was interesting talking to you."

"Goodbye," Myrtle waved as the four of them walked out of the bathroom, "come back soon handsome."

Vincent felt like chucking and glared at Harry and Ron who were trying their hardest not to laugh.

"I liked the gla.s.ses." Harry's smile melted off his face as it turned to a look of horror.

It was Vincent's turn to grin as he patted the pale boy's back, "Good luck."

"Shut up Vince," Harry mumbled making the group laugh.

"RON!"

Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.

"That's a girls bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you -?"

"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. "Clues, you know–"

Percy swelled up to a point where Vincent thought that he could explode.

"Get – away – from – there -" Perry said, striding toward them and starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner–"

"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"

"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out—"

Vincent frowned, "Something is definitely up with Ginny, something like this shouldn't have affected her to that extent."

Everyone of Vincent's instincts screamed that something was wrong, that Ginny's situation was unnatural. He just didn't know how to deal with it.

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, snapping Vincent out of his thoughts, "I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or I'll write to Mum!"

That night, Vincent was in Snape's office. He was sweating as he carefully combined Exploding Fluid with his Lighting tempering potion. This was the first time he had tried combining an original potion, and a dangerous one at that. He carefully mixed the liquid while adding in powdered skin of a cyclops to dilute the power somewhat. Nyx was controlling the temperature of the flame to avoid the potion from being under heated or overheated.

"Finally done," Vincent said as he sat back exhausted.

"Vincent Wong, here again in my office without permission, what should I do—?!"

Snape's usually calm face turned alarmed as he looked at what Vincent was doing.

"What, in the b.l.o.o.d.y blazes are you doing boy?!" Snape thundered causing Vincent to jump slightly.

"Oh, hey Professor," Vincent said tiredly, "I made a new potion."

"Like h.e.l.l you made one!" Snape grumbled, "Why in Merlin's name, would you add Exploding Fluid with a potion that I cla.s.sified as destructive?!"

"To make it even more destructive?" Snape smacked Vincent's head with a book

"Evanesco," Snape said pointing his wand at the pot only for nothing to happen, "strange, the liquid should have vanished."

"So, this potion is a failure?" Vincent asked deflated, Snape seemed to have the ability to determine whether or not a potion is drinkable or not with a glance or smell of the potion. This was not the first time he got rid of one of Vincent's creations.

"It very well is," Snape said still looking confused as to why his spell wasn't working, "throw it outside."

Student's pointed and stared as Vincent carried the cauldron outside Hogwarts. He ignored the looks as he talked to Nyx.

"He sure is unforgiving," Vincent complained, "I mean, it's like a half a kilometre walk getting outside!"

Nyx just nodded as it sat in Vincent's pocket.

Ten minutes later, Vincent found himself tipping the entire contents out onto the field. He was about to head back before seeing the entire area glowing a bright yellow.

"What the," Vincent thought as he studied it, "this is new. The light seems to be getting brighter and is that heat I'm feeling —?!"

Vincent's eyes soon widened incredibly as he realised where this was headed. He bolted towards the school gates as fast as he could leaving the bright yellow ground to grow slightly larger, brighter and hot.

...

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione sceptically.

The three of them were sitting in the Common Room after separating from Vincent. They were discussing whether or not Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin or not.

"Look at his family," said Harry, closing his books, too. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough."

"They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" said Ron. "Handing it down, father to son ..."

"Wait, why is everyone looking at the window?" Harry said taking notice that everyone in the Common Room was standing at the window

The three of them managed to find spots only for their eyes to widen as they saw a huge glowing patch of land.

...

"That d.a.m.n Potter, the Heir of Slytherin, what a joke," Malfoy thought as he finished his homework by the fireplace

He was about to call it a night when a the whole dormitories shook. He stood up alarmed as did every other Slytherin in the room and accidentally knocked his homework into the fire.

"NOOOOO!" Malfoy yelled as he tried to recover what remained of the parchment, "whoever caused this shall pay with his life!"

...

"Ah, Cornelius," Dumbledore mumbled to himself in his office as he read a letter, "I won't give Hagrid up willingly."

He turned to look at his phoenix Fawkes who was perched on his desk. He smiled as he was about to pat it before an earth-shattering sound came, shaking all the live paintings in his office causing the people in them to run around in panic.

"What on earth is going on?" he though alarmed when McGonagall walked in with a pale face

"Dumbledore, you should see this."

...

The whole school was alarmed as they all rushed towards the front of the castle gates. Harry, Hermione and Ron all managed to get to the front somehow and had their minds go blank at the destructive sight.

There was an enormous crater that spanned half a kilometre wide and around nine metres deep. The edges were a deep hot red colour with the inside still smoking in places.

"Harry, Hermione, Ron!" the three of them turned around to see Vincent and Nyx rus.h.i.+ng up to them.

"Vincent! Do you think this could have been caused by the monster?" Hermione asked fearfully

Vincent blinked "Eh?"

"If the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is that powerful," Ron said his eyes full of fear, "what chance will we have?"

"Guys, um I —" Vincent tried to explain but was cut off by Harry

"Vincent, the monster is after those that are Muggle-born," Harry said seriously, "I'm scared for you mate."

"No, I'm trying to tell you guys—" Vincent tried to talk but was interrupted again

"Vincent, what's going on?" Neville asked with fear

"Well," Vincent began only to see Dumbledore, followed by the rest of the teachers including Snape.

The teachers reached the edge of the crater and looked around seriously. Lockhart, for once just looked extremely pale and didn't sprout any nonsense for once in his life. The rest of the teachers were discussing whether it was indeed the monster in the Chamber of Secrets or not. The only people that didn't partake in the discussion were Dumbledore and Snape who was scanning the crowd furiously until his eyes narrowed in on Vincent.

"VINCENT WONG!!" he bellowed causing the entire school grounds to fall into silence

Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at Vincent in shock as did every other student. Vincent felt wronged. He wasn't the one who decided to throw a whole cauldron of explosive liquid away.

"Will Vincent Wong please come with me?" Dumbledore's voice boomed

Vincent just sighed as he walked to a furious Snape and Dumbledore who had a conflicted look on his face.

...

Dumbledore escorted Vincent into his office so that they could talk privately. He told Vincent to stay put while Dumbledore tried to rea.s.sure the students of Hogwarts, leaving Vincent all alone.

"h.e.l.lo little guy," Vincent greeted the small phoenix, "how are you doing?"

Fawkes, who was annoyed at the commotion earlier, calmed down somewhat when Vincent started patting it. The little phoenix snuggled into his palm feeling that it was extremely comfortable.

"Hm, is his the Sorting Hat?" Vincent thought as he approached an old worn out wizard's hat, "well, wouldn't hurt to try it on right?"

Vincent sat down before putting the hat on.

"Hm, a muggle? Interesting, interesting. What brings you here?" A voice echoed into his head.

"Oh, so you do talk?" Vincent asked, "I just wanted to see what house I would have been in if I was properly sorted."

"Difficult," the hat said, "In all my life, I have never had to sort a muggle before. Let's take a look at your qualities. You have a great mind, you would do well in Ravenclaw. A pure heart, worthy of Hufflepuff. But, there's an abundance of courage hidden inside yourself, Gryffindor would be proud to have you. Now this is difficult, if you were a wizard, then Slytherin would have been another option for you."

"So, what would my house have been?" Vincent asked

"While I could give you a definite answer," the Sorting Hat said, "I think that you know the answer yourself."

Vincent remained silent for a time, "Thank you."

"It was my pleasure." Vincent took off the hat and placed it back where it came from, just in time for Dumbledore to come back inside the office.

"Would you explain to me what happened Vincent?" Dumbledore asked curiously as he sat at his desk.

Vincent let out a sigh of relief as he launched into an explanation. If Dumbledore wasn't angry, then things should be fine. Dumbledore wasn't actually angry at all about the damage to the school grounds. If anything, it would be easily repaired with magic. What he was concerned about however, was whether the potion could be ma.s.s produced or not. He was thankful to hear that is was not.

"Vincent, I shouldn't have to tell you what would happen if your potions got into the wrong hands," Dumbledore said earning a nod from Vincent.

"Hermione also said the same thing," Vincent said earning a smile from Dumbledore.

"Miss Granger is indeed outstanding," Dumbledore said earning a smile and nod from Vincent, "I'll be completely honest with you Vincent, you creating potions within the castle is extraordinarily dangerous. In the past month since you've been here, you have had nine cases of explosions, one incident of stinking up the dungeons for an entire week, and that one incident with Professor Lockhart while creating potions. Snape has kept record."

Vincent chuckled nervously. The explosions were because the potions went haywire, the stink was a failed potion involving the dung of magical creatures, and Lockhart, well that was his fault.

"I'm not getting expelled right?" he asked getting a smile from Dumbledore

"Of course not," Dumbledore said kindly with a twinkle in his eye, "but you will be punished, which I will leave for Severus. I do however have think that your experiments should be done outside to ensure the students safety. I will have you a small shack built for that purpose."

"Thank you Professor," Vincent said gratefully, "can I help with the design?"

"Eh?" Dumbledore thought, curious as to what Vincent was going to add.

Vincent walked out ten minutes later to come face to face with Snape. Snape gave an icy glare before walking away. Before he got too far he turned back.

"I will not be providing you my personal ingredients anymore," Vincent's heart sank before Snape's next comment, "give me the money and I will find what you need. Also call me when you decide to make a new potion. We don't want you killing yourself."

Vincent stared at Snape's retreating back before bowing, "Thank you Professor!"

"Little runt," Snape said to himself with a smirk.

...

The moment Vincent walked inside the Common Room, the whole room collapsed into silence before people started cheering. He was hoisted up by Fred and George.

"Blimey, that was wicked!" Fred said

"Absolutely stunning," George added, "you're an inspiration to us all!"

"Inspiration, how?" Vincent thought

"Let's give it up for the Mad Scientist!" Someone shouted causing the whole room to chant the name. Causing black lines to appear on his forehead.

"Mad?" He thought, "your all mad!"

Vincent went to bed exhausted. He had no time to speak with his friends as he was paraded around once again. It reminded him of the first time he got to Hogwarts.

An unwilling Vincent was once again tagged with a new t.i.tle as the Mad Scientist.