Chapter 411: Lily and James and Sirius
The stone steps from the dungeons were narrow and steep, with dimly spaced torches and damp flagstones.
Lily Evans climbed with her head still soaking in a cauldron of Draught of Living Death.
Slughorn had kept her hours past the end of the lesson. A half-finished sample sat on his desk, purple-black, a film of vapour drifting across the surface. The professor broke the stirring pattern down for her step by step, then produced an ingredient she couldn't name and said it was the trickiest of all the Draught of Living Death's supporting components. A grain too much and the whole batch was ruined.
Then he handed the ladle to her.
She stirred. The colour shifted from blackcurrant to a soft pale lilac, then bled away entirely until the liquid ran clear as spring water.
A perfect Draught of Living Death sat in the cauldron, without a trace of cloudiness or off-colour. When she tilted it, the potion slid clean down the wall of the cauldron, leaving no residue behind, carrying only the faintest cold bitterness of wormwood. Left to settle, it gave off a pearl-white shimmer so faint you had to look for it.
She dropped in a red mint leaf last. It touched the surface and crumbled into fine white ash, gone.
"Full marks at N.E.W.T. level, Lily. Third year, and this standard. You're the second student I've ever taught who could manage it."
Slughorn laced his plump fingers over his stomach, eyes creasing into slits, and pulled a thick leather-bound book from a drawer, pushing it across the desk. "Take this with you. Talent like yours shouldn't be left idle."