7. Potions and date
The one when something's off
A/N: Hello everyone!
As promised, here are all our fairytale OC's:
Mary White - Snow; Paul Batts - Grouchy; Daniel Elliot - Cheerful; Brian Corey - Healer; Harry Grey - Drowsy; Johnny Curtis - Shy; Ken fox - Sneeze and Jimmy Abbey - Stoned.
Here is chapter seven: enjoy!
Thankfully I was only in the hospital wing until Sunday afternoon, not that I was actually looking forward to class - you have to be Molly for that - but I do sense that I'd go crazy if I had to spend one more minute there. First of all let's face it, technically I didn't even fall, Potter caught me, so why I had been kept in the hospital wing for so long was beyond me, then visit hours were strict, and only three students were allowed at a time, so basically you had nothing else to do there aside from thinking - which in my case, it's really better if I don't have to for a long time.
Let's face it, all my predicaments had come true, I had lost the match for Albus Potter. It's really weird to think that I was so against joining the team not so long ago and now I felt like crap for letting them down. I know that technically none of the team members blamed me - except for Potter, he probably does - but unfortunately this time Potter is the only one who's right. To be honest I wouldn't have caught the snitch even if it wasn't for Flint's bludger, Albus was too fast, he would have gotten there first...
So yeah, I know that everyone thinks I'm mental for still thinking about going out with Flint but to be honest he kind of saved me from the embarrassment, being hit made me the poor girl who was almost there and got hit and not the looser who saw the golden snitch first and still managed to lose it for Potter. I had become the only seeker who saw the snitch before Albus Potter did, instead of the idiot who failed miserably.
Only one problem: I knew the truth, and everyone's sympathy was slowly killing me.
"Are you sure you should be heading to class?" Healer said while we walked together on Monday for our Potion's lesson.
"Brian, I'm fine! Madam Pomfrey let me go yesterday, remember?" I said rolling my eyes.
"Still Mary, you were hit!" Dom said frowning.
"Technically my broom was hit, not me." I replied easily.
"You fell." Grouchy said rolling his eyes.
"But I was caught!" I said crossing my arms.
"Just forget it, she'll drive us all mad if she keeps going." Dom said rolling her eyes. "Besides, our potions should be ready today!"
Honestly, it had to take a love potion for Dom to be interested in a class, and that considering that she is the last person in need of one.
"What's with you and Amortentia anyway?" Grouchy asked staring at her while I laughed.
What's up with Dominique and a powerful love potion that's suppose to make her feel all the perfect smells in the world? Good one Grouchy.
"You guys will see. Or should I say: smell?" She said grinning.
I sat alone at my table preparing all the ingredients for today. So far our potion seemed to be exactly where it should, professor Powel would always come over by the end of the lesson to check on it, and he just nodded in approval to ours, so I'm guessing that's a good sign.
Potter came in seconds before Powel started the lesson, and just opened his Potion's book without even acknowledging me. I know, I know, I've been bitching around school for months now because Potter won't leave me the hell alone, so tell me: why on earth do I fell even worst now that he's ignoring me?
It's just about the match, right? It has to be, I mean I know that I let him down, although I'm not quite sure why I care so much.
So yes, in the end as much as I did think that his silence would be good for a change, today it was the exact thing that started to drive me insane, honestly, I know I screwed up on the match, but did he really expected me to beat Albus freaking Potter? Seriously? And worst of all, he was the one who caught me, so technically I was expected to thank him, but call it a Potter energy, every time I looked at him the last thing that I felt like doing was saying thanks, after all I don't really think that he'd be that sorry if I ended up being killed on a match...
"All right, spill it!" I hissed about an hour later. He had already added the final ingredients and we were basically waiting for it to brew on its own. So far, no words.
Potter just looked at me, but said nothing.
"Fine! I'm sorry captain, ok? I'm sorry we lost the game, I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough, I'm sorry I let your brother catch the snitch." I blurted. I hated how even saying this out loud didn't make me feel any better.
"Wasn't your fault." He said simply without looking away from me and into the cauldron.
What? Course it was my fault...
"What happened to 'you should be looking out for bludgers', or 'if you'd been in the right position like I told you to, you would have caught it' and bla bla bla?" I said throwing my hands in the air.
Fight back, yell at me, do something, anything!
"You would have caught it if you weren't hit. You should be looking at the snitch and not for bludgers at that point." He said simply looking back at his book.
What the fuck is so interesting about potions' instructions anyway?
"I wouldn't have caught it." I said in a low voice after a few minutes of silence. There it was, the simple truth that's been haunting me since the match.
"Yes, you would." He said calmly, without looking up.
"No Potter, I wouldn't. I know it, I was there. Your brother's too fast, we were already neck to neck and he still had a few inches to beat me, he had his arms raised and he has bigger arms." I answered honestly.
"We'll work on your speed if you want. You saw it first White, that's the hardest part, going faster is just training." He said looking up and meeting my eyes for the first time, but what I saw in them made a shiver run down my spine. There was no anger in his eyes whatsoever, what was there was much, much worst: disappointment.
"Ok." I managed to say quickly looking away. Somehow even though a part of me constantly wanted to hex Potter, and I didn't really care about his opinion of me, knowing that he was disappointed with me made me feel like crap.
We stayed in silence until a clean, beautiful smoke started to get out of our cauldron. Potter took a deep breath and smiled to himself with his eyes closed before he asked me:
"Do you smell it?"
"I- no..." I said honestly. All I could smell was the exact same odor I had been smelling every time I was at the dungeons this year. Mint, grass and breeze. Same smell quidditch had, sometimes our common room, or the great hall. Just the exact same smell.
"So you don't smell anything?" He asked me frowning. That's weird, it almost sounded as if he was disappointed again.
"Oh no, shit! Did we get it wrong?" I said getting up immediately to take a good look inside the cauldron. Clear smoke was still getting out of it.
"What exactly do you smell?" He asked slowly.
"I dunno, Mint, grass and breeze, same smell I've been getting all year in this freaking class, did Prof. Powel put something here? The dungeons used to smell like mold, and wet stones or something." I said frowning at him while he suddenly smiled broadly. "You're a weirdo." I stated rolling my eyes and sitting back down.
"Ok class, I'll be checking on your potions now." Prof. Powel informed us getting up. "Oh, I see a few students already have a successful potion." He finished smiling satisfied.
"Fuck! What do we do?" I said panicking. "Once he gets here he'll see we got something wrong, he won't be able to smell a thing!"
"Right." Potter said laughing. Oh my Merlin, why's he so calm? We're getting a T! "I'll see if I can take some from Dom and Freddy's potion in a recipient or something, maybe then Powel will be able to smell it once he gets closer." Potter finished looking amused at me, thankfully the look of pure panic in my eyes made him get up and walk towards Freddy and Dom still laughing.
What's up with him today? First he's disappointed about the match and says nothing, nothing, he should have yelled at me for Merlin's sake, at least I'd feel better that way, I could take him yelling at me, what I couldn't deal with was his disappointment. Then he's disappointed - yet again - because we didn't get stupid Amortentia right and I can't smell a thing. Then he gets amused by something and starts laughing bwithout saying a word. Dam it, Potter will drive me insane...
Oh wait, look at that, it gets worst! Now both Weasleys (Dom and Freddy) started staring at me, grinning like horny baboons. Did all Wotters just dropped all babes in their family or something? Maybe they played quidditch using the young ones as quaffles and bludgers...
Thankfully Potter made his way back with a glass of transparent liquid right before Powel came over, only one problem: the smell filling the dungeons was still exactly the same.
"You didn't get enough Potter, I still can't smell it!" I hissed panicking again, but quickly recomposed myself because Powel had stopped in front of us.
Oh shit, this is it, I'm getting my first T. Dad will be so disappointed...
FREAKING POTTER STOP GRINNING!
"Awnn the passion..." Professor Powel said smelling in our smoke, gesturing to inhale it. "So wonderful, wouldn't you say Miss. White?" He asked smiling at me.
Merlin, maybe he smelled too much from the other cauldrons and lost his senses, or the ability to evaluate.
"So wonderful..." I lied putting my best fake smile on my face.
Have I ever said how great of a liar I am?
"What do you smell Mr. Potter?" Prof. continued, looking at Potter now.
"That's a very intimate question professor." He answered simply, still smiling.
"You're right about that Mr. Potter." He said smiling back.
Great, my Potion's professor is on drugs.
"Outstanding!" He shouted haply before moving towards Stoned and Healer's cauldron.
I stood there too baffled to speak for a few seconds.
"Did we just pulled that off?" I whispered, eyes widened.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Potter said taking a sip of the content in the glass he had brought from Dom and Freddy's station.
"POTTER! Are you mental? You can't drink Amortentia! I mean, you can, but you just shouldn't!" I said unable to contain myself.
"Oh, this? He said gesturing to the glass and taking another gulp. "It's just water, want some?" He finished grinning, offering me the glass.
WHAT THE FUCK?
The week after the match passed without much happening apart from the weird episode in Potion's class. I still don't know how we managed to pull that off...
The team had treated me normally in our practice that week, which kind of made me feel even worse than I had before, I screwed up, why was everyone acting as if nothing happened? And Potter? Potter had been the worst, he was actually acting all nice around me after our weird Amortentia episode. All nice, can you believe it? Why wouldn't he just shout at me? I swear he's going to drive me insane one of this days...
"Are you sure you're still going on this date Mary? The guy tried to kill you!" Dom said annoyed in our dorm. I saw Debby eyeing her in a funny way from my other side, but decided to ignore it.
"Dom, don't you think that 'kill' is a strong word here? It's quidditch, this stuff can happen." I said for what seemed to be the thousandth time this week.
"Well it shouldn't, didn't you hear Freddy? He could have hit the bludger, but it was too dam dangerous!" Dom hissed.
"Drop it Dom... She's going and there's nothing we can do about it, so let's just try to be supportive, ok?" Debby said rolling her eyes.
"Thanks Deb." I said smiling at her.
Finally someone had taken my side on this. Honestly, everyone was making such a big deal out of this date, it's just a date for Merlin's sake! Even my dorks didn't seem too supportive about it, and let me tell you, my dorks where always supportive...
"Look Dom, I'm not marring the guy, we're just spending a few hour together, you should get it, you've been on hundreds dates." I said trying to put an end on the discussion.
"If you do marry him don't count me as a maid of honor!" She shouted slamming the bathroom door. She certainly knows how to make an exit.
"Why again did I become friends with her?" I asked Debby who just laughed.
Poor Debby, six years with temperamental Wotters as her only friends? She deserves a medal...
Dom didn't come to breakfast with us, and Grouchy and Cheerful freely decided to sit with their new Wotters friends on the other side of Gryffindor's table. Weren't them suppose to be my friends above others?
I actually thought about sitting next to Lily, but if Dom wasn't being nice about my date with Flint it was nothing compared to how Lily was being. She had treated me normally on our quidditch practice, but that doesn't mean that I hadn't seen all the death glares she kept sending my way when she thought I wasn't looking.
Bottom line is: I decided to quietly sit with Debby, who even though decided to be on my side, also didn't seem too keen on the idea of my date with Flint, so we just ate breakfast in silence.
"Ready to go Mary?" Flint asked smiling at me.
"I- sure." I said putting the rest of my toast down and getting up. From the corner of my eyes I saw my two best friends and their new Wotter friend - Freddy - shaking their head, Potter naturally didn't even bother to look at me.
Well, I don't know why who I date would be any of their concern. Before the start of the year only few people did really care about my choices, and they have never reprimanded me before, how could all have changed so quickly? Cheerful? I mean, come on, the guy has earned this nickname for a reason for Merlin's sake, and Grumpy? He may be grumpy but he's my best friend, he should have been with me!
Flint and I made our way outside. It was actually starting to get really cold, but at least the weather seemed to on my side today and it was a bit warmer than it should be since it was almost November.
"I hope you're not mad at me for our quidditch game." Flint said when we sat in front of the black lake.
"It's quidditch, I get it." I said smiling.
"Your friends don't seem to share the same opinion." He said frowning a bit.
"Well, honestly, I don't know why it's any of their business." I said crossing my arms.
Really? I've been hearing bullshit from them for the past week, and now my date is going to be on about it too?
Flint was a handsome guy, that much was clear, but how he was, as a person, I was still about to find out. The worst part was that I heard so many times that I shouldn't trust him, that now, I don't - even though the poor guy has actually done nothing wrong yet (see? it's like I'm expecting him to do something wrong...) I shook this thought away from my mind, I was here and I was going to give him a chance.
"Well, I'm glad you think that." He said smirking. Naturally it took me a few seconds to realize that he wasn't performing legitimacy on me. "So, you joined the Gryffindor team hum? What changed?"
"Dunno, I was sort of forced to." I said honestly.
"Well, about time. Everyone should dream about joining their quidditch team, even though clearly some are better than others." He said still smirking.
"Right..." I said unsure of what else to say. Last thing I wanted was to enter in a 'who's team is best' competition with him. "So, erm, this is your last year, right? What do you want to do when you finish Hogwarts?" I asked trying to change the subject.
"Become a quidditch player, of course, I'll probably receive an invitation from the best team around here after I win the cup this year. They keep an eye on Hogwarts' players, did you know that?" He asked me smiling - even though I think he was sort of smiling to himself.
"No, I didn't." I said shaking my head. Why would I? No offense to quidditch players around the world, but I had different plans for me.
"I, of course, wanna get into Puddlemere United, the absolute best team. Don't you think?" He asked grinning.
"Sure." I said putting on my best fake smile on. Being raised as a muggle I actually never chose a quidditch team, it didn't make much sense to me, but that really didn't seem like the best answer to go with, so...
"You look really nice this year." He said suddenly changing the subject. Thank goodness!
"Thanks, you too." I said unsure if completing him was the best way to go, but he seemed to think it was just perfect since he smirked again.
There's something really wrong with that smirk...
"What have you done? You know, to change so much?" He asked.
"Guess I just met the right people." I said smiling but secretly hoping that this answer would be enough. Something about him didn't really make me want to get into the whole summer camp story.
Ok, what's wrong with me? First ten minutes of my date and I keep looking for things he's doing wrong? Just stop it Mary, can't you just try to enjoy it? This is your first actual date!
"You know, when I saw you in Hogsmeade I just knew you were the right girl." He said eyeing me curiously.
"That's nice." I said smiling sincerely.
See? He can be a nice guy...
"Just a pity it took me so long to find you, Hogsmeade would have been perfect for our first date. Well, I guess now we just have to make it up for all the time we've missed together." He finished making me smile broadly.
Ha! suck it Dom, Lily and all of you who kept annoying the crap out of me because of this date, look at that, he's actually a gentlemen!
I was certainly not expecting what came next. He just came closer and kissed me. Full snog and all, and completely out of the blue! Not that I'm complaining or anything, he's a much better kisser than Michael, I have to admit that, he seemed to know better what he's doing. Ok, but wait, wasn't I just thinking that he was a gentlemen? That thought gave me the courage to push him away.
"Wow, I wasn't expecting that." I blurted out.
"Don't tell me you didn't like it?" He said smirking again.
And even though he was a good snogger I couldn't find the answer to his question. Unfortunately - or should I be thinking fortunately? I should be thinking fortunately... He took my silence as a permission to kiss me again.
"Wow, slow down." I muttered pushing him away for air.
What on earth was he thinking? I don't even know him! Ok, to be fair I didn't know Michael either, but it made sense then, and this is supposed to be a date, isn't dating about knowing the other person?
I wouldn't know the answer...
"I told you we must catch up on all the time we've missed." He said shrugging as if it was as simple as that.
"Ok, but can't we just, erm- try to know more about each other?" I asked dully making him laugh.
"What's there to know? I'm a seventh year Slytherin and you're a sixth year Gryffindor, you could have done better, but hey, that's not up for me to decide, so..." He said shrugging again.
"I could have done better as in: I could have been in Slytherin?" I asked taken aback, surely that was not what he meant, right?
"Your words, not mine." He said smirking again.
Is he freaking serious? What an arse thing to say! I stared at him for a few seconds, half expecting his to start laughing and to say that he was joking, but since his smirk never really vanished I decided it was time to put a stop in this so called date.
"You know what Flint? I'm sorry, but I should be heading back to the castle, I have, erm- essays to do." I said getting up.
"Call me Ralph, and you can do them later." He said also getting up and coming over to snog me again.
SERIOUSLY?
"Sorry, must do them now." I blurted getting away from him as fast as I could.
"Do this again sometime soon then?" He shouted after me. Somehow, even though I wasn't facing him, I could tell he had that stupid smirk on.
"Sure!" I shouted back almost running towards the castle.
Naturally, after hearing every single one of my friends discouraging me to go on with this date, I didn't want people asking me how did it go and why was I back so soon, so I took a different route towards the astronomy tower to have a bit of time to myself.
It's strange, I guess as a teenager I always dreamed of being notice by a handsome guy, and when I finally did, he looked more like a frog than a real prince.
A/N: Hey guys! I know this chapter is a little smaller than what I usually write for this story but it basically had everything I wanted it to, so I'm happy, hope you are too :)
Here's the sneak peek for chapter eight, see you all soon!
(...)
"What was that all about?" Dominique asked looking between Grouchy and me and making the four other third year's Gryffindors who were sitting between us and the boys get up immediately as if interrupting.
"They were having a conversation." Cheerful answered smiling.
"WHAT? They didn't say a word!" Dom said annoyed and I noticed from the corner of my eyes that Potter too had stopped eating and was staring at Grouchy with an unreadable expression.
"They've been doing it for years now, but don't worry, you haven't missed anything, they're probably meeting up tonight." Cheerful answered still smiling. Thankfully Grouchy read my thoughts again and apparently kicked him under the table, causing Cheerful's expression to change into pure pain and his mouth to shut.
(...)