Paragraph 3 - 21 : Sparring Snape

What they didn't know was that someone would come under fire, and unexpectedly, it was the cautious and rules-abiding Judith. She was in a Potions class with Professor Snape, when the latter, glancing at Judith's kit of ingredients, noticed something. He pointed his finger at a few of these ingredients, none of which was necessary for the classes but all of which were indispensable for the Intuition Potion, and asked Judith with his unmistakably reproachful voice :

Why are these ingredients at your disposal ?

Judith answered in an almost inaudible voice :

I need them for an extra potion

This prompted Professor Snape to sneer :

You are taking extra classes in Potions. How dedicated you are to the study of my subject

Judith didn't know what to answer this time. Professor Snape went on, in the same ironical tone :

This extra potion has a name, maybe ?

Judith envisioned a fraction of a second to reply to Professor Snape she would tell him what it was at the end of the class, when the ears of the other students would not be in range of her voice, but this was clearly not the kind of thing the careful Judith Parry would dare try with Professor Snape. Instead, she said, as lowly as possible :

An Intuition Potion. But it's not to cheat of course, you know

Professor Snape retorted :

I know what an Intuition Potion is, and I would know it if it could make students successful in any way. On the surface, a clever answer, the Intuition Potion. Are you very sure it is what you prepare in your hardly deserved time off ?

Judith was perplexed :

It's the only extra thing I can prepare with these ingredients

Professor Snape concluded :

One can brew many potions with these extra ingredients. Such potions have a common point though : they involve meddling with time. Beware, Miss Parry

Professor Snape looked intently at Judith in the eyes, so as to let the warning sink in, then resumed his observation of what else was going on in the class. Next, Judith made the four of them assemble as quickly as possible near the lake. She then duly reported what Professor Snape had told her. Eleanor opined on it :

It makes sense. To put the drinker on the right path, the potion needs to kind of know what consequences the action it proposes has in store. It has to have a glimpse of the future that the drinker's intervention will bring, and make sure this future is a situation where the drinker knows something new and relevant

Sigismond had a different take on the potion's workings :

The potion doesn't need to know anything about the future. Just about how elements of knowledge are connected. Anyway, I already drank the potion. We can't do anything but see what will come off it

Ann noticed that Judith was frightened by this statement - advocating to surrender to what the future held - and that now the problem had shifted : it wasn't Ann anymore who would be reluctant to let things go according to plan, but Judith might be.