Hermione Granger sneezed.
She walked across the hallway towards the Fat Lady, her head throbbing. She uttered the password and sniffed back the snot that went flying out of her nose after she sneezed. The Fat Lady looked down at her with a disapproving look, but swung open anyway. Hermione ignored her. It was disgusting, she had to agree, but it wasn't her fault she got stuck outside the greenhouse during Herbology with the Slytherins. It was Malfoy's fault.
She went into the Common Room. She needed bed rest, she felt terrible. It was late, so there weren't many people there, only about less than ten Gryffindors. Probably cramming. She made her way up the staircase to the girls' dormitories. That'll never happen to me! She thought, her head held high. She opened the door to her dorm room. Honestly, if they just do it on time they wouldn't be troubled at all anymore, or they could even do them as early as possible and—
And that's when she saw the cauldron.
"What are you doing?" She asked, annoyed. She didn't have time for this; she needed to sleep so her bloody headache would go away.
She looked expectantly at the girls sitting around the cauldron: her roommates Parvati Patil, Fay Dunbar, Lavender Brown, and a first year girl, who was not her roommate, and whose name she didn't know, waiting for an answer. Her fourth roommate was already asleep, thank goodness.
Parvati's face lit up. "Hermione, perfect! You can help us!" She looked at the first year girl. "That's Hermione, our other roommate. She's really good at brewing potions." Parvati looked back at Hermione and pointed to the girl, "Julie went to us and asked for help. You see, she snuck out a potions book from the restricted section of the library that teaches you how to brew a really powerful—"
"Stop right there." After hearing the words snuck out and restricted section, Hermione knew it all just meant trouble. "I've got a really bad headache, so be grateful that I'm just going to go to sleep instead of telling on all of you. Just keep me out of this."
The girls' faces fell.
Hermione walked to her bed, which the cauldron was at the end of. She looked at the liquid bubbling inside: thick, green, and disgusting-looking. "That won't start smelling bad and fill the room with vomit-worthy fumes, will it?" She asked, apprehensive. Maybe she should have busted them.
She sneezed suddenly. "Ugh, sorry." Nobody noticed that some of her spit went in the cauldron.
"Oh, no way," the first year girl—Julie—said perkily. "According to the book," she looked at the text, and so did Lavender, Parvati, and Fay, "it isn't supposed to smell."
"Oh, okay," Hermione almost-collapsed on the bed. Merlin, she was tired. She started dozing off, not even bothering to change into her nightgown.
"What are the next instructions?" Fay asked Julie, excited. Who knew potions was this fun? She had to pay attention in class more.
Julie frowned and looked at the bottom of the page. "The next step is ripped off."
"Let's look at the step after that," suggested Lavender. "It might say something about the step before."
Julie turned the page. "After it turns crimson," she read out loud, "stir it clockwise twice, and counterclockwise once."
"Look, the potion's crimson now!" Fay exclaimed with glee.
"It probably just said wait for how many minutes or something," Parvati shrugged.
"Great!" Julie said. "Let's continue!"
"This is going to be the best love potion ever!" Lavender gushed.
xxx
Earlier that day, Parvati Patil the Matchmaker was on the prowl again, with her trusty sidekick Lavender Brown ("I'm not her sidekick!"). It was right after the day's classes ended that they saw a dark-haired first year girl bump into a first year boy in an empty corridor. They hid behind a statue of an ugly witch that was huge enough to cover both her and Lavender.
The boy helps the girl, they exchange a few words, and the boy went on his way. The girl remained there, standing in a daze, smiling widely, her face as red as a tomato.
Parvati and Lavender exchanged excited looks. Ah, young love. Looks like another job for…
"I'm Parvati Patil," said Parvati, jumping from her hiding place. "And I'm Lavender Brown," said Lavender, doing the same.
The first year girl jumped too, but it was out of surprise. "W-where did you come from?" She squeaked.
"Wait, we're not done with the intro yet!" Parvati moaned.
"This happens every time, Parvati," Lavender told her. "Maybe we should just shorten it a bit more."
"Again?" Parvati complained. "We already took away the sparkles charm we practiced for days!" She looked at the girl. "Sorry, sorry," Parvati apologized. She cleared her throat. "We just happened to see…"
xxx
And so, the next day.
Saturday morning, breakfast time at the Great Hall.
"Go ahead, Julie!" Fay urged. Though her (and Julie's and Lavender's and Parvati's) face showed obvious lack of sleep, they were really excited. They knew the love potion would work, they did everything perfectly!
But there was something nagging at the back of Parvati's head…
What was the ripped out part of the page?
Julie, the pretty, dark-haired, gray-eyed, first-year girl who fancied a first year Slytherin boy who showed no interest at all in girls ("Tragic," said Parvati), bravely walked to the Slytherin table with a glass of pumpkin juice shaking in her hands. Pumpkin juice…mixed with that potion they made last night.
"H-hi," Julie smiled nervously. Parvati, Fay, and Lavender watched in anticipation from afar. Julie made conversation, casually offered some pumpkin juice, and went away.
"No! Back! Go back!" The three spectators hissed, making wild hand movements. "Make sure he drinks it!"
Julie shook her head furiously. "Not going back there!" She mouthed, blushing. "Slytherins!" She sprinted back to the Gryffindor table. She sat down next to the three girls, exhilarated. They high-fived, and proceeded to eat breakfast.
Hermione was late for breakfast. Her head still hurt, but she didn't want to go to Madam Pomfrey, if any Slytherin sees her, Malfoy'll know for sure, and he'll just make fun of her because he was the reason she could have ended up there in the first place. It was a petty thing, but Hermione Granger wasn't a weak girl, and she always wants to prove that.
Speaking of Malfoy, he was late too. Late for breakfast, late for Slytherin Quidditch practice. He barely had enough time to snatch a glass of pumpkin juice from a Slytherin first year boy before heading over to the Quidditch field.
