บท 50: No Honor Among Thieves

Unfortunately for Oleandra and Daphne, it seemed like Professor Snape had absolutely no life outside of being a Potions teacher. Whenever he was not teaching, he would still be in his office, doing paperwork or brewing potions for his side job. As disagreeable as the man was, he was still a Potions grandmaster. At the end of the day, no matter how unpleasant he'd act, his skills spoke louder than his mouth, as he would still receive orders for custom-made potions from all over the country.

In the second week of December, Oleandra found a note pinned on the cork board in the Slytherin common room; students who wished to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday season had to sign their names on a list. Normally, both of the twins would have gone home for Christmas, but someone had to stay behind to take care of the potion! If it had just been something as simple as stir every few hours, they both could have simply gone home and tree-ported back whenever it was needed, but a complex sequence of ingredients had to be added at certain intervals. There was also the fact that Daphne didn't trust the self-stirring ladle Oleandra had bought as far as she could throw it!

On their way to their double Potions class with the Gryffindors, Oleandra and Daphne were still fighting about who would get to stay behind.

"This is completely ridiculous," spat Oleandra. "Who in their right mind sends their own twin sister in their place to their marriage interview? Mark my words, if they're ugly and rude, I'll agree to the marriage in a heartbeat!"

"Look," said Daphne patiently. "I know the recipe better than anyone, it's all up here."

She tapped her temple with her index meaningfully.

"Also, don't you dare agree to anything. I swear I will kill you if you do," Daphne said with a smile that didn't quite reach up to her eyes.

Oleandra gulped. For someone who looked exactly like her, Daphne could be terrifying when she wanted to.

"Look, don't you think mother and father won't notice?" Oleandra desperately argued. "We're nothing alike. Besides, this isn't fair to your suitors. They want you, not me. And, and, what if they make me sign an Unbreakable Vow, or something?"

"I'm sure mother won't let them go that far," said Daphne offhandedly, waving Oleandra's concerns away. "Besides, you look exactly like me. I daresay they only want to see what I look like in person. It will be fine."

"Silence," said Professor Snape quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

The twins' mouths snapped shut.

The lesson began soon after. In today's class, they were to brew a Swelling Solution, which as the name implied, made organic matter swell up when it made contact with it. The twins followed the instructions easily. The difficulty level of this potion was nowhere near that of the Bloodline Atavism Potion! Oleandra soon became bored, waving her wand listlessly above her cauldron, completely unmotivated.

Oleandra didn't have the faintest clue about how this potion was supposed to be used. The Engorgement Charm worked just as well, and not just on organics, for that matter. Well, now that she thought about it, it could make for a decent poison. If it was slipped in with your food, your airways would swell up, causing you to asphyxiate.

BANG!

A loud noise interrupted Oleandra reflections. As she was always on edge due to the ever-looming threat of Slytherin's creature, she reacted immediately, conjuring the armour of Elhaz.

A silvery-white aura covered her body just in time; the Swelling Solution rolled off of her like water off a duck's back. Oleandra quickly stored her wand in her pocket; she wanted her hands free to perform hand seals. To the outside eye, she would have seemed like quite the oddity for a Witch. Ordinarily, Wizards would take out their wands to deal with danger, not put them away!

"Someone helb! By dhose!" screamed Draco, holding his nose. It had swelled up to the size of a small melon.

Oleandra looked to her left. Poor Goyle had got the worst of it, his entire face had been splashed with the Solution, and his eyes were being squeezed out of their orbits by their sheer girth.

"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape thundered. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draught —when I find out who did this —"

Although he said this, his eyes were trained on the Greengrass sisters, who were beginning to look awfully suspect to him. They had approached him some time earlier about a dangerous potion, and they were miraculously unharmed by Goyle's exploding potion, despite being the nearest to him…

Those two held absolutely no regard for authority, could it be they intended on causing chaos to steal ingredients from him?

"Look," whispered Daphne, tilting her head towards Snape's office. Granger was sneaking in!

"Hell's bells," swore Oleandra. "They have the drop on us!"

"Should we tell Professor Snape?" Daphne said worriedly. "Maybe he'll give us what we want if we turn the Gryffindors in? He hates them."

"No, I have a better idea," grinned Oleandra. "Don't do anything, I've got this."

"You have to drop the grin," Daphne whispered back. "I don't grin, you have to remember that when you take my place at Christmas."

Oleandra scowled at her.

"Better," said Daphne, cracking a smile. "You'll have it down by then, I'm sure of it."

Soon, everyone that had been affected by Goyle's exploding Swelling Solution had been healed, and Professor Snape was on the warpath. He fished out the charred remains of a firework from Goyle's cauldron.

"Please don't search me, please don't search me," Oleandra desperately thought to herself. Her pouch was full of the very same brand of fireworks!

"If I ever find out who threw this," Professor Snape said in a low voice. "I shall make sure that person is expelled."

He looked directly at Oleandra and Daphne as he said this. Luckily for them, he wouldn't search students without proof!

As they exited the classroom a while later, Oleandra brushed past Granger, whispering, "Odala."

Odala wasn't only the inheritance rune, it was also known as the thief!

To her relief, the ingredients Oleandra and her sister had been missing fell into her hand. Evidently, when Granger had raided Professor Snape's potions cabinet, she had taken more than what she had needed! Whether it was to obfuscate Professor Snape's attempts at guessing what kind of potion she was making, or whether it was simply because of greed, only Granger knew.

Oleandra turned around and winked at the Gryffindor Trio, and said simply, "You owe us!"

And then she rejoined her sister with a spring in her step, leaving the trio slightly unnerved.