"No, that's not it! Urgh!"
Hermione sighed in exasperation. Did she have to fail in this potion for a million times while Harry breezed through it all?
Ron, too, was having difficulty trying to brew the potion. Looking over Hermione's shoulder hopefully, he smacked his own head when he saw Hermione's dsiastrous potion. He then proceeded to looking at Harry's, who was busily adding ingredients too quickly for both of them to catch.
Hermione was deeply saddened. She just earned herself another 'F'. The brilliant student she had once been had faded away into nothing as soon as Harry gotten "Half-Blood Prince's" book.
"No, that's not how you do it!" Hermione snapped at Harry, who turned around in shock. Ron took the chance and quickly examined Harry's potion, which was already at the final stage.
Eager to fault Harry for something, she said, "That's not how you do it! You should stir it clockwise, not anti-clockwise!"
"But-"
"No, Harry! You have to follow the official rules. No shortcuts for you today!" With that, Hermione snatched Harry's textbook away from under the table.
"Ms Granger, pardon me if I am wrong, but did I just see you snatch Harry's book away?" Slughorn boomed.
'Well... No. Wait. Yes. But no! I mean ye-"
"10 points is taken away from Gryffindor!" Slughorn strode to his table, his robes swishing behind him. I, Slughorn, might appear to be lenient sometimes, but I will not tolerate such preposterous behaviour!"
Professor Slughorn boomed.
It was coming to the end of the lesson. Slughorn rewarded Harry with Felix Felicis upon realising that he was the best potion brewer in the class. However, when he had passed Hermione's potion, which was carefully brewed with a lot of ingredients including a chunk of her hair, he had accidentally puked into it in disgust of the smell. This made the potion explode, covering Hermione, Slughorn, Ron, Harry and Draco with a slimy potion, a quarter of it filled with Slughorn's vomit.
Hermione's face flushed. Could things get any worse?
Yes, it could.
"Er-my-nee," Pansy Parkinson, the pug-faced dog, said in her most mimicking tone, as she brushed the potion of Draco's hair, "This is not how you do it! You should have asked Potter if you could borrow his textbook, and not snatch it away! We allknow you wish to excel in something you simply can't, but still! This is outrageous!"
Ron and Harry sniggered, attempting to stifle their laughs.
"You two!" She threatened, "IF YOU MAKE ONE MORE SOUND- YOU'LL GET THE NASTY END OF MY WAND!"
If someone expected that to work, he was wrong-wrong-wrong. Unable to control their laughter anymore, they burst out roaring with laughter. Hermione screamed and then stalked up to her dormitory, where no one could disturb her.
Lavender then strolled into the Gryffindor girl dormitories at that very moment, together with Parvati Patil. They giggled and pointed at Hermione. "Got another exploding potion up your sleeve, Hermione? Or are you going to take a break from Potions for a while?"
Hermione snarled, preparing to jinx Lavender. Lavender just giggled. Hermione thought better of it, and stowed her wand in her robes again. "10 points from Gryffindor, Lav-lav. You shouldn't make fun of people, you know."
Lavender looked offended, and she turned around, gossiping to Parvarti again, including colourful language in her gossip as well.
After a while, Hermione grudgingly went down to dinner, picking at her food.
Ron and Harry sat down at either side of her. "Hermione, we didn't mean it. Sorry." They said together. Hermione looked up, dazed. Then, she said, "Oh gosh, Harry! I forgot about your lessons with Professor Dumbledore! How did they go, really?"
Harry hesitated, and launched into his story about the memories that Dumbledore had shown him- about Bob Odgen, the Gaunts and all. "What I don't get is," Harry said when he finished his story, "Why would Dumbledore want to show me all these?"
"Maybe Dumbledore thinks that you should know Voldemort's history. After all, one's history can tell you about one's weakness and strengths, and if you know about his weaknesses, then you can target on those, and if you know his strengths then-"
"OKOK, Hermione, shut up already. Don't be such a know-it-all." Ron joked.
Hermione shot him a nasty look and snarled, "I'm done with my dinner, Won-Won. I'm going off already, so that none of your nonsense can reach my ears!"
Ron looked stunned as Hermione stalked off. "For once, she is going to miss Prefect duty..."
Harry looked at him, then with a sudden jolt, he said, "I have to go, too."
Ron was left alone.