The next day:

I went to the Foxhole Chamber, dug up the soil and went down. This time I could spend as long as I liked studying the rune book and copying things down.

Using the index, I found the page I needed. The ingredients necessary, preparation and brewing instructions were all on that page. I read it over and over a few times before copying it into my notebook.

I decided to look at some more things in the book now that I was there. While I was doing that, I noticed something really interesting.

It was on the third page. This page seemed to be a different kind of index. It wasn't spells or potions, it was an index of magical processes. On there, were instructions on how to become an Animagus, and something else - something that caught my attention completely!

A method of achieving the ability to speak with snakes. Until now, and I'm sure 99% of this region of the Wizarding World, have believed that only descendants of Salazar Slytherin (and, with exception due to unique circumstances, Harry Potter) were able to speak Parceltongue.

But here - this book seemed to be saying there was a way to LEARN how to speak it! If that was the case, then... I knew I had to find that page and copy it down! I flipped through the pages. It was near the end of the book - I found it. I hadn't even read the page before I started copying it down. There were still some runes I didn't fully understand, but now I had even more motivation to brush up on my translation workings. What with this and the potion for returning obliviated memories...

The method for learning Parceltongue began with brewing a special potion; one of the ingredients, not surprisingly, was snakes' tongues. Weirdly, this was the most difficult of all the ingredients listed. The rest of it seemed fairly simple, and I knew I'd easily obtain the other ingredients. The potion had to be drank daily over a course of three weeks. There were also spells involved and practicing. You had to win over the trust of a King Serpent. That seemed to be the most difficult part of the process. Especially seeing as whoever learned it, will have had to have killed a lot of snakes already to use their tongues in enough potion mix to last about 21 doses. But what even IS a King Serpent? I'd never even heard of such a thing before.

I looked through the book to see if there was anything on King Serpents. There didn't seem to be, but maybe I could find information about in from a book in the Hogwarts Library.

Suddenly I had completely forgotten about the memory restoration potion, and all I could think about was learning Parceltongue.

Then I had an idea. This chamber was already full of potion ingredients. What if I could find everything I needed in here already? I remembered the secret room Ed had discovered.

I also remembered his reactions and was glad none of the others were down here to disapprove of what I was doing. I looked in the jars on the shelves closest to me, and already found one of the ingredients necessary for the Obliviated Memories Potion - one of the difficult ones! Then I went to look in the secret storage chamber.

In there, to my delight, I found the remaining ingredients needed for the OM Potion (Obliviated Memories) and then half a jar of perfectly preserved snakes' tongues!

I took all of the ingredients I knew I would need. I wondered where I would brew the potions? The Parceltongue Potion seemed the most simple, and it only took a few hours to brew, but the OM Potion was much more complicated. Also it would take about three weeks to brew! That's as long as the snake potion takes to be drank! I supposed they were both complex in different ways.

"Why don't I work on them both at the same time?"I thought.

I decided I would brew the Parceltongue Potion first, because that one took the least time. I would brew enough for 21 doses. I already had all the ingredients. This secret chamber had been generously stocked.

Then, suddenly, my heart sank as I remembered I'm not exactly the most skilled potions brewer...

What if I got it wrong? What if it didn't work?

Well, for one thing, Priscilla Bulstrode is an excellent potion brewer, I could always ask her advice on some of the methods. It's the methodology that's the part where I always end up falling short. By this, I realised I'd probably be fine with the snake potion - it looks simple enough to brew; but the OM Potion would be another matter entirely...

I left the Foxhole Chamber, and returned to the common room with a new objective in mind. Two new objectives actually...

I put the ingredients into a case under my bed, but I took the ingredients needed for the Parceltongue Potion with me. I knew I'd just about have enough time to brew that before bed. So I made my way to the Potions Classroom where I have my cauldron. There are also all the utensils in there that I'd need.

Professor Park was in there when I went in. He was sitting at a table and it looked like he was studying a book. I was surprised to see him in there, I would have expected him to be in his office or somewhere else at this time.

I decided to ignore his presence, he probably wouldn't pay any attention to me anyway. I didn't mind him seeing the ingredients I had, just so long as he didn't see the snake tongues, it would be fine. I'd brought with me a case full of glass vials for potion doses. I had 25 of them in there. 25 in case I were to spill one, or drop one. That should be enough spare anyway.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I put this inside my desk, then got round to preparing the ingredients. The main base ingredient was muddy water from the shallow part of a lake, with tall reeds and swampland. I'd obtained that very easily - from the Black Lake. I poured that in. Started heating it right away, following the copied down instructions that I'd brought with me.

One good thing about the enchantment on these runes is I don't have to worry about anyone else being able to read them and see what I was up to...

I made sure it was heated to the correct temperature before I added the diced leaping toadstool caps. The recipe had asked for dried ones, and I'd found them in the secret storage chamber. The potion changed from muddy-looking lake water to a smooth grey liquid. That was just as it was supposed to.

I had to grind up the next ingredient into a fine powder, then sprinkle it in, little by little, every 30 seconds, for about three minutes, stirring in-between. That was easy enough.

Now the final ingredient, the snake tongues. I looked into the cauldron, I had filled it enough to fill all my vials, with maybe even some to spare. I also had the perfect ratio of snake tongues for that amount of potion.

I examined the instructions again. Here, it got a little confusing, and I was left hoping it wasn't due to lack of proper understanding of the rune language. It seemed to say I could either drop them in one by one, or pour them all in at once.

It seemed a bit strange that putting them in one by one would be an option, if pouring them all in at once is also acceptable. I wondered if there was some reason behind it.

I decided to pour them all in at once. Professor Park was more likely to notice if I added them one by one. So I poured them all in.

All of a sudden, there was a dramatic hissing, and the room was filled with the sounds of Parceltongue! A sinister, hissing, whispering sound.

I was horrified! Of course - Professor Park heard it too! He snapped his book shut and got to his feet.

"Carrow - WHAT are you doing?"he demanded.

"Oh! You heard it too?"I said,"what was that noise?"

"Let's have a look at what you've got here,"Professor Park said, coming up to my cauldron.

The potion was now a rich, deep green colour, and it smelled like pine trees. Professor Park looked at it curiously. He dipped a spoon in it.

"Um... I wouldn't recommend..."I said, thinking he might be about to taste it.

"What is this, Carrow?"he asked.

"It's - uh - a new thing,"I said.

"Experimenting with potions again, are you?"he said, examining my chopping board.

He could see the crumbs from the diced, dried leaping toadstool caps, and some powder remains in the mortar and pestle. He didn't look too concerned at these.

"You've got some very common ingredients here, I see,"he observed,"you won't accomplish much with this alone; though I wouldn't recommend someone with your poor skill level to attempt inventing potions. You'll end up poisoning yourself, or worse - poisoning other people! Did you know that sometimes when a potion is brewed wrong enough, or certain ingredients are combined, it can create a toxic gas that is lethal to anyone that breathes in the slightest part of it?"

"Oh,"I responded,"I didn't know that."

"Well, now you do,"said Professor Park,"I recommend you thoroughly read 'Dangers of Potion Experimentation' several times over, and memorise every line of it, before you attempt any more inventing. You'll find it in the Potioneering Section of the Library."

I was surprised that he didn't ask more questions, or mention the Parceltongue sounds. His suspicions seemed to disappear as soon as he'd seen the ingredients I'd been using. Maybe he thought such a simple concoction couldn't possibly be anything... suspicious.

I continued stirring the potion for another 30 minutes. Now it was meant to be left to simmer on a low heat for an hour. I was wondering what I would do in that time. Go to the Library? It would still be open now, but not for much longer, it always closes at 9 pm. Then I wondered about leaving the potion unattended. That wouldn't be a good idea.

I decided to look at all the books that were already lying around on the shelves here in this classroom. I found one that was about methods in preparing ingredients, and settled down with that.

By the time the potion was ready, Professor Park had left the classroom. I was alone, and it was time I should be returning to the common room.

Once the potion had cooled down enough, I poured it carefully into vials using a ladel and a syphon-thing (whatever they're called). I was right about having some left over. I poured that into a bottle. At least I had plenty of excess in case anything happened to any of the vials. I gathered everything together and made my way back.

As I entered the common room, Antonius approached me

"Where have you been?"he asked.

"I was studying in the Potions Classroom,"I answered.

"Well, you haven't spoken to me since the Festival,"Antonius said.

"I thought the same thing about you,"I said,"you didn't sit next to me in class."

"Dominic needs me, you should know that,"Antonius said,"it's more important he has my support."

"Yes, of course,"I said,"I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't remember that."

There was a pause.

"Are you angry with me?"Antonius asked.

"No, why would I be?"I responded.

"Because I haven't spoken to you,"Antonius said.

"No,"I said.

"I didn't speak to you, because it seemed like you didn't want me to,"he explained.

"Why would I not want you to?"I said, then I added,"wait here, Antonius, I'll be back in a minute!"

I hurried up to my dormitory to put away the bottle and the vials. As I did so, I looked at the time, and quickly drank one of the vials. It tasted so horrible! The most foul-tasting potion I have ever had! The flavour was stinging and potent, like raw celery and some other horrible flavours that I couldn't even begin to describe! I wanted to spit it out, but I couldn't do that. I hoped I had brewed it alright.

I slid the case with the vials back under my bed and hurried back to the common room. Antonius was waiting where I'd left him. The common room was empty. I went up to him and hugged him.

"I'm not angry with you,"I whispered,"just - nothing like this has ever happened to me before, and I'm too worried about messing it up."

"Catherine, how could you mess it up?"Antonius asked.

"I don't know,"I said,"I just don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Well, what do you want to do?"Antonius asked.

I kissed him.

Then Antonius reminded me that it was late. I kissed him goodnight, and we parted ways.

It was as I was trying to sleep, that I realised I don't have anything particularly in common with Antonius. At this point, it just seemed like pure chemistry. Maybe that was why I struggled to know what to say to him. Maybe that was why I felt the unsure way that I did.

I'm going to keep track in my diary each night I take the snake potion. This is night 1.