“How’d it go?” James repeated a couple of weeks later, just as he always did.

“‘Almost’” I sighed, mimicking Mr. Orson’s voice. “But it’s getting better; I’ve had the shade of blue right for a while and today I got a bit of a white tinge to it… I think I just need to work on getting it done quicker.”

“But not too fast,” James pointed out. “It’d be dangerous and too strong.”

“Heard anything from Dumbledore?”

“Nope,” he answered. “Can you believe that we’re going to be out of here in two weeks?”

I shook my head. “No. This place seems like home… it’s going to be odd, adjusting to Hogwarts again. I mean, this hasn’t exactly been vacation; we’ve still had homework and our own problems to deal with. I don’t know though… getting up early and dealing with teachers just doesn’t seem all that appealing anymore… not to mention all of the drama and questions we’re going to face. I can’t believe it, but I’m glad that this is our last year.”

He agreed and Remus entered the room, groaning. He’d transformed a couple of days ago and he’d seemed rather sulky.

“Maybe he’s thinking the same thing,” I guessed.

“No,” James said. “Something tells me it’s something more. Remus can pick up a lot more than we can, you know?”

“Yeah. Well, in a little while I’m going to go… Mr. Orson wants me back because he thinks that we’re almost at a breakthrough.”

Remus started growling softly.

“Jeez, Remus, keep your voice down,” I heard James say as I left again.

When I entered the house Mr. Orson was sitting by the fire. He was coughing slightly.

“Hey,” I said. “Ready to begin, Mr. Orson?”

“Nivy,” he corrected. “And, yes. This time I want you to get it under fifteen minutes… you’re not leaving until you do. If you can get this all done correctly in that time… then you’ve succeeded.”

So it went; the first time I failed miserably. I was so nervous that I did worse than the very first time that I made the potion. The second time was much better, but it was still eighteen minutes. The third time I got sixteen minutes, and I could see the silvery substance more clearly.

I was beginning to become exhausted. It was ten thirty and my arms were sore from the constant stirring.

“One more time,” Mr. Orson said, and began to cough so fiercely that he had to sit down. “No, no, don’t worry about me. I think it is just allergies. Continue, please.”

I nodded and began working quickly; I imagined that I was Mr. Orson, moving smoothly and just having everything come to me. I played around some and put a small beat to my potion making, to where I was almost dancing. It made things a bit more interesting.

I added the bugcap’s extract, stirred eight times to the left and once to the right, then turned to look at Mr. Orson. “Done. Time?”

“Fifteen minutes to the second,” he grinned. I squealed and hugged him tightly. “All right, we have to let it sit for six more seconds and then we’ll see if it’s been done properly.”

I stared nervously over the cauldron… Three… Two… One.

And then, suddenly, a pearly white color swirled though the potion.

I screamed, and Mr. Orson jumped, and we hugged like crazy.

He grinned down at me. “See, I knew you could do it.”

“Yes, well, I couldn’t have done it without you, Mr. Orson.”

“Nivy,” he said automatically, and I laughed.

“It’s disrespectful for me to call you by your first name.”

“No, it’s not,” he answered. “You’re like a daughter to me, Lily. It’s not disrespectful at all.”

I squeezed him tightly and he began to cough again. He pulled out his handkerchief and I looked at him worriedly. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”

“Positive,” he said as he led me to the door. “I want you here tomorrow morning, along with Remus and James, so we can see if you can do it again.”

I smiled, but my face fell as I took a closer look at his handkerchief.

Mr. Orson hadn’t just been coughing… he’d been coughing up blood.