A/N: This is a small story that I came up recently. Differently from my other published and unpublished works, this one hasn't a specific structure in mind, nor a thoughtful and robust backstory. I just laid down a few guiding rods and started writing to see how far my creativity would drive me, provided I kept myself inside my general guidelines.
It is a story set around Harry's sixth year, but with a lighter tone overall. I purposefully left out chunks of the canon in order to keep this story flowing. It (supposedly) happens during a very short time frame and has very a limited theme range, spanning mostly the social conflicts between teenagers in a controlled environment (school).
The idea toys with the thought that, even though most students interact only with their own small group of friends, the fact Hogwarts has so few students is an indication of the impossibility of them not knowing everyone at least superficially.
We're dealing with teenagers, so cussing will be thrown around sometimes, but not in excess.
Although I dislike shallow characters, in this story I opted to restrict their "growth" purposefully, in order to control the story's size. To create a deep and complex system of characters I'd have to develop contradictory ideas they'd hold in their heads, all the while driving the story into discussing these flaws and drawing conclusions from them. To do this would demand a much larger and extended theme.
Lastly, in keeping up with the lighter tone I've set for this work, the interactions between the characters and the characters personalities are slightly different from cannon. They still maintain their greater characteristics (i.e.: Hermione is a bookworm), but they are slightly altered.
As I always do, this story will be published with the ending already drawn out. So rest assured that this story will be short (range of 5-10k words) and will have an ending as well.
CHAPTER ONE
The weak shining sun broke with difficulty through the mountains surrounding Hogwarts grounds. Although a chilly morning, the scenery made up for it, Harry thought, while looking at the evergreen lawn surrounding the fortress. Hoarfrost covered the lawn. The lake, down in the distance, was covered with a thin fog that reflected back dawn's break, creating an ethereal glow in the water.
'G'Mornin', Harry.' said Ron sleepily from his four-poster bed. 'What are you doing standing there? It's bloody midnight.'
Snorting, Harry said. 'It's ten past six, Ron. Dawn just broke.' He said bemusedly, while still looking out the window.
'Mental, you. Go back to bed and stop creeping me out, Harry.' He answered back, muttering obscenities about early risers and warm beds. Soon he was drifting back to sleep.
With a soft "tsk" of displeasure, Harry moved around to face his friend's bed, accidentally knocking the jar of water that was resting on Ron's nightstand.
'AAHGH!' Ron shrieked in fright, fumbling with the covers until he lost his balance and fell to the cold wooden floor of the room.
'Whazzgouingon?' Asked a totally disoriented Seamus from his own bed.
'Shut up you bunch of retards! I'm trying to sleep.' Dean Thomas shouted weakly, not bothering to open up his eyes.
Harry, meanwhile, looked on at the mess he created. Water seeped from Ron's mattress to the wooden floor.
Looking at his quickly recuperating best friend, he moved quickly to the bathroom door. Best run before he could bite back, he thought ruefully.
'Wake up folks. We've another beautiful cold day ahead of us. 'AND SHOWER'S MINE FIRST!'
Just as soon as he locked the door, he heard his Ron's banging on the door, was well as the other boy's obscenities.
Just another perfect day at Hogwarts, he thought to himself. What could go wrong?
While bathing, his friends, especially Ron, kept yelling at him.
'Bloody freezing water, Mate! Open up, I left my towel inside and you drenched me, you klutz!' Ron shouted.
'THIS WATER HERE IS PERFECT!'
'Fuck you, Harry! I was supposed to go first today!' Someone shouted back from the other side of the door.
'If you use up all the hot water I'm going to strangle you!' Another said.
A muffled voice could be heard in the distance ordering them to shut up and go back to sleep. Most probably Seamus, Harry mused.
'Yeah, yeah, I love you all.' Harry said to no one in particular.
As he entered the Great Hall, Harry slowed his pace. A sizable chunk of students chose the same time as he to have breakfast today. Spotting his best friend already seated at Gryffindor's table, he joined her.
Seating in front of Hermione, he quickly filled his plate. She, in her turn, peeked from her newspaper, startled by the greeting voice.
'What is it? Beautiful day, isn't it?' Harry called her, after noticing Hermione looking at the enchanted ceiling.
She gazed downwards. In a nonchalant voice, she said. 'I was just checking to see if there weren't any storms coming, or the like'.
'But the sky is as clear as day! Not a single cloud around!' he retorted.
Scrunching up her face, she continued.'Well, there must be a storm coming, snowstorm, hailstorm, whatever. You woke up early and came to have breakfast at seven in the morning. There must be something wrong. Are you alright?'
'Ha ha ha, very funny' he said, not so amused anymore. 'What's wrong with folk today? Can't even -' he was interrupted by someone seating beside him, no so subtly shoving him aside to make room.
'Next time you pull something like that wake me up before, Harry. I had to barricade the door to take my shower.' Neville said grumpily while filling his plate.
'So this is why you came at this hour!' Hermione said triumphantly, finally solving the mystery.
'Correction – I just took my shower before Seamus and Ron.' He said. 'I oughta do this more, though. Water's hot, at least.' He said to himself smugly.
He was, after all, in a jovial mood today. What could go wrong?
Nearing breakfast's end, the rest of the sixth year Gryffindor boys rushed through the Great Hall doors. Had they not been in so much of a hurry, Harry was sure Ron would have tried to give him payback. His face told everything, after all.
As they waited for their friends to finish their breakfast, Harry skimmed Hermione's newspaper.
'Anything newsworthy?' A bored Neville asked him in a posh voice.
Harry, answered in a sarcastic voice. 'Well, if you consider the spotting of Yeti in the Highlands or Stonehenge's Yule announcement as news, then this tripe is your thing'.
'Who's attending this year's Yule?' Neville asked, completely missing the point.
After a second of indecision, Harry looked down on the paper. 'Hmm, let's see, a lot of rich people and … a Mrs. Fairbanks, with her children'. Harry looked up, satisfied. Surely he'd get the message, right?
'You realize you're one of those rich people, right? Even if you pretend not to be.' Neville retorted, to which Harry huffed in annoyance.
'Only in name. Besides, I'm a Potter. How could a Potter-maker become a peer of the realm, in the first place? It's an anachronism. Don't nobility do nothing besides leech off their serfs?' He asked in a rhetorical way.
Before Neville could retort again, Hermione cut across.
'Come on guys, hurry up, we've double potions in 15 minutes.'
'Today we're going to brew a new concoction, class! But, in order to do this, we'll need a slightly different seating arrangement. As you can see, I've divided the class into sets of two per cauldron instead of the usual three. Please pick a partner and have a seat.'
After a brief quiet lull, professor Slughorn added in a happy voice.'Chop chop! Instructions are on the board.'
Hermione was already seated at her usual stool in the corner, while Harry and Ron were still standing. Looking at one another, both lunged at the same time to the only seat beside her. After a quick scuffle, a smiling Ron tauntingly said to Harry.
'Go on, Harry, pick a partner...Oh, and good luck!' He added. Hermione, meanwhile, looked scandalized.
'Ok, Ron, have your way, then. I'll not get in the way.' He said in mock surrender. 'I know, it's a dark and quiet corner, good for couples to make up, or...Happy snogging!' He shot back guffawing, which caused both Ron to get beet red and Hermione to bulge her eyes.
Deciding the best course of action was to get away from his friends before they recovered and threw something at him, he looked around to see who else was available.
To his horror, he noticed that everyone else had a partner. Looking about, he saw the only one available. And, judging by the way she was looking at him, she knew it as well.
Harry gulped, cursing himself, trying to calm his nerves. Suddenly he felt the palms of his hand moist. In vain he told himself to calm down. As he neared her table, he greeted her in a nonchalant voice.
'Hey Greengrass, how is it going?' He took his seat at her table without bothering to ask her permission. She meanwhile, looked at him petulantly.
'Really, Potter?'
Caught wrong-footed by her tone, he looked at her in surprise. 'What did I do this time?'
'I'll not have you ruining another one of my potions.' She told him testily. When she noticed him opening his mouth to retort, she cut him off.
'You have a knack for trouble, admit it. Remember last year when you botched that blasted hair growing potion and managed to spill that grub on me?' She asked heatedly. 'I had to throw away that jumper because not even the elves could take that puke stain away – Stop IT!' She cut off the guffaw that was threatening to explode from his mouth. That episode really was magnificent.
He started taking his tools from his bag and setting them on the table, meanwhile.
She kept staring at him. 'Just because we don't talk to one another too much doesn't give you the right to saunter and pretend th-'
'This is a pretty small school, you know, and we've been together here for 6 years. So I think I may allow myself some familiarity.' Harry said, in a de facto voice, that managed to shut her up.
Well, he made a fair point. They knew each other well, after six years rubbing shoulders every day.
He took the silence as an opportunity to finish setting his material on the table.
As the class progressed, the uncomfortable silence grew obnoxious.
'Look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to offend. Things just grew -'
'out of proportion?' She completed for him, softly.
'Yeah, I think so.'
After a brief silence, he continued speaking.
'Oh, but don't worry, this year without Snape around I've managed to improve my skills quite a bit.' Remembering his potion book, he stuck his hand in his bag and felt…nothing.
Looking up so fast his vertebrae creaked, he saw Ron looking at him, a Cheshire Grin splashed on his face. "Well played, Ron...well played." He thought to himself.
She, meanwhile, hadn't noticed anything and kept thinking about his claims of atonement on the potioneering arts.
'Yeah, that was a surprise, I'll admit.' Daphne said grudgingly. 'You better not disappoint me today, Potter. Come on, let's start brewing.' All she heard was a dry heave coming from his direction.
An hour later, the potion was bubbling magnificently, or so Harry thought.
'Damn, this smells good.' He commented proudly. Beside him, he saw from his peripheral vision his partner go rigid.
'Potter...what did you do?' She said in a low, threatening voice.
Exulting fake confidence, he looked at her and said with a yellow smile. 'A perfect potion.'
She took the spoon roughly from his hands and started probing the potion.
'Did you add asphodel and twine?' She said in a preoccupied voice.
'Yeah'
'And the crushed beans?'
'...'
'Potter...' She said in a low, threatening, voice.
Ignoring the half-baked answer he was intending to give, she started to stir the potion most vigorously. Right at that time, Professor Slughorn moved to their table.
'How is it going here?' He asked while looking at their quickly changing potion.
'Perfect, Professor!' He gave him a big, confident, smile.
'Oh, that's my boy! Best potioneer in this class!'
Daphne continued stirring. That was when the potion took a turn for the worst, quickly becoming unstable and emanating growing amounts of fumes. Noticing this, Harry and Slughorn managed to get away in time.
Daphne, meanwhile, wasn't so fortunate.
Silence reigned in the classroom.
'Best potioneer in this class, indeed!' Draco Malfoy shouted from the back of the room. The entire classroom exploded in laughter.
Daphne wiped the yellowish gunk from her eyelids and, fixating her gaze on him, in rage. Her shrill scream tore the fragile peace: 'POTTER!'
And the class descended into chaotic laughter once again.
Looking at them uncomfortably, Professor Slughorn said. 'Mr. Potter, you best take your partner to the infirmary now. Oh, and Miss Greengrass and Mister Potter, after you've been discharged from the care of Madam Pomfrey, do please visit me at my office.'
