Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize as J.K. Rowling's work, and I do own anything you don't recognize.

Chapter 2: Adrienne

The next day in Double Potions, Harry discovered that they were about to embark on a partner project.

            "I will divide you up into pairs," Snape was saying.  "You will have six weeks, as the Confusing Concoction takes a month to brew.  You will have the first two weeks to research.  I will be watching you and your partner very closely, and inspecting your work every lesson, so no student should feel capable of being lazy and letting their partner do the work.  If you do no work, you will receive no credit."

Ron gulped.

            "Now, to partners… Bulstrode and Finnigan, Weasley and Goyle, Thomas and Crabbe, Granger and Malfoy, Potter and… Harper."

Harry was surprised.  Snape had been partnering him with Malfoy for the last six years.  Who is this Harper, anyway? Harry wondered.  His answer walked up to him.

Her dark hair was ebony black and reached the middle of her back.  She had a pleasant enough face, a medium nose, and an ordinary mouth.  Her eyes were her most eye-catching feature—dark and stormy gray, they were haunting.

The girl stuck out her hand.  She seemed as if she didn't go out very much, and had a somewhat deprived childhood, as she wasn't the very friendly type.

            "Adrienne Ebony Harper," she said in a slightly mechanical voice.

Harry took her hand and shook it.  He didn't know whether to take her stiffness seriously or to laugh.  "Harry Potter," he said.  Adrienne's eyes flashed.

            "Right then," Adrienne said as she settled down across from Harry.  "We have two weeks to research, so you take the North Wing of the library and I'll take the South.  Make a list of the required ingredients, and owl them to me.  I'll work on acquiring them a bit."

            "Er… okay," Harry said, not knowing how to handle her take-charge attitude.

            "I'll meet you in our next Potions class to discuss acquiring the rest of the ingredients," She rose and walked back to her original seat.

-

            "Partnered with Malfoy, can you believe it?!" Hermione was exclaiming at lunch.  "All he does is whine, whine, whine, taunt, taunt, taunt, and nag, nag, nag.  He's so infuriating!  The time I spend working,, he spends insulting me."

            "But remember what Snape said?" Ron reminded her thickly, his mouth full of food.  "If someone doesn't do the work, they don't get credit."

            "Oh, Ron, did you honestly believe that?" she snapped.  "Malfoy is his favorite student.  I daresay he'll let him get away with anything."

            "You're probably right," Ron mumbled.  "As always."

Harry had to admit it was a little awkward, Ron and Hermione being a couple.  Harry sometimes felt like a third wheel, but Ron and Hermione argued so often that it resembled old times a lot, so he was relatively comfortable.  Harry didn't say anything to stop their argument as he brought his fork to his mouth.

            "So 'Arry," said Ron through a mouthful of food, "what's the Harper person like, anyway?  I've never heard of him before."

            "Her," Harry corrected.  "She's… well, kind of spooky, really."  Harry explained about what had happened during Potions class.

            "Weird," Ron said, stuffing still more food into his mouth.

Hermione quickly finished what was left of her lunch and ran upstairs, shouting, "Got to check the library!" over her shoulder.

            "What is she up to?" Ron asked incredulously.  "We've got two weeks!"

Harry shrugged.  "Hey, Ron, how much time have we got before History of Magic?"

            " 'Bout half an hour.  Why?"

Harry shoved the rest of his books back into his bag.

            "Going to visit Sirius," he said.

Ron shrugged and lifted another forkful of food into his mouth.

-

Harry had actually deliberately lied about going to see Sirius.  He had not wanted to admit to Ron that he was also going to the library.  He was, eventually, going to use the information he acquired from the library when he visited Sirius, but he felt he had to give Sirius a little time before he unleashed upon him another part of his past.

Harry ran his index finger along the spine of the dusty volumes until he came to the one he was searching for.  He plucked the thick Encyclopedia of Dark Wizards—Past and Present from the shelf.

I can't believe it's actually here, Harry thought, smiling to himself.  He thought Hermione had made a fluke, though he admitted now that it was stupid to think that Hermione, of all people, would ever make a fluke.  I suppose Madam Pince has it here under Dumbledore's orders because of the Light and Dark War, or something.  He also supposed it would cause major chaos and conflict between the already-conflicting students.

Harry flipped through the book, ripping out pages containing photos and information of Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, and other Death Eaters.  Pocketing the parchment, Harry dashed to his next class.

-

At dinner that night, Hermione dashed off to the library again.  Harry followed her, not touching his dinner.

            "Harry," asked Hermione, bewildered, "what are you doing?"

            "Got to go to the library," he replied.

            "Hey!" Ron shouted, his mouth full of shepherd's pie.  "Where're ya goin', Harry?"

            "Library," he repeated, shouting.  "Is that such a crime?"

Ron shrugged.  Must be crazy to miss a meal, he thought.  Crazy.

-

Once they had reached the library, Hermione asked, "Uh, Harry?  Not to be rude or anything, but… why do you have to go to the library?"

            "Uh, hello?  Potions?"

Hermione sighed exasperatedly.  "Yes, I know, but being you, wouldn't you put this off until the last minute?"

Harry put on a wounded look.  "Hey, it's… my partner.  She's just a little demanding and it might sound silly, but I'd hate to have to face her if I had forgotten about the project."

Hermione raised an eyebrow.  "Whatever."

            "Beat you to it!" Harry said and they both took off running, ignoring the warnings from Madam Pince.  They reached the shelf and both pulled out the last two copies of the book Potions and their Ingredients—A Guide to the Potions of the World off of it.

When checking out their books, Madam Pince reminded them to return the books back as quickly as possible, as "there are many other students waiting to use these books and if you were as selfish as the keep them for yourself then so help me God I will…"

That night, Harry fell asleep with the book opened to this page on the foot of his bed:

Confusing Concoctions

One of the most difficult of the potions is the Confusing Concoction.  It requires precise measurements and timing.  Without both of those, this potion can go horribly wrong.

Ingredients:

- Snarled claws

- Nettles

- Black beetle eyes

- Horned slugs

- Lacewing flies

- Fluxweed

- Shrivelfig

- Daisy roots

- Lionfish tails

A/N: If there actually is a Confusing Concoction written in the HP series, sorry, I didn't look for it.  I just got some list of potions off a website, as well as the ingredients, and picked a few random ones.

If you have questions, comments, etc., REVIEW!  If you don't, REVIEW ANYWAY!!

Oh yes, and Mel, (I'm thinking of a way to put this as subtly as possible) don't give away anything about You-Know-Who in your review, ok?  You know, the ACCIDENTAL but not accidental thing, alright?  It'll spoil the story.  Thanks!

Lots of love,

OutofAzkaban