Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter or Eyeshield 21 or any of the affiliated characters. What I do own is a kick ass Ash Ketchum hat, a freezer full of fudge pops, and a collection of gold medal winning maple syrup. None of which will appear in this story.
Warnings: OC's, some OOC, Het, Slash, AU, fluff, language
The Tenth Tackle
Harry sat in the library working on his charms essay. Ron and Hermione were in COMC, or well… Hermione was there and somehow in runes or another class as well. He wasn't sure how she was making it to all her classes unless she managed to clone herself and wasn't that a scary thought? One Hermione was bad enough. An army of Hermione's nagging everyone in Gryffindor to study and follow rules would be like hell or something. And all the talking study planners they would bring! Harry shuddered at the thought.
Turning a page in the book he was reading from, Harry sighed loudly. He loved magic but sometimes it was just boring… Why did they need to know about the history of the spell? Did knowing that Felix Summerbee was picking flowers for his wife, in the 1400's, when he created the cheering charm really help perform it? It wasn't like Harry was going to have to picture flowers every time he cast the thing. Really all he had to do was put a bit of magic behind it, want to make a person happy, swish his wand a little and yay, someone was happy. But then again… picking flowers for one's wife would make her happy, and that's probably where the inspiration came from.
Sighing again, Harry put his quill down and rubbed his eyes. He was trying harder when it came to his studies. He really had no excuse to not try harder now that he lost two classes and so far there was no sign of Voldemort trying to kill him this year. Plus, if he wanted to show McGonagall that her faith in him was deserved, he needed to prove to his Head of House that he could properly balance schoolwork and quidditch… but Merlin was studying boring.
"Everything okay there, Harry?" Oliver asked as he sat down across from Harry suddenly.
Giving the older boy a small smile, Harry answered, "It's fine… just… Felix Summerbee isn't nearly as cool as football."
Oliver gave a short laugh while shaking his head. "Nah, not really. But then again if he was I might worry charms would steal my seeker away."
"I highly doubt that," Harry muttered.
"That's good to hear," Oliver said with a grin.
Harry shook his head and started stretching. He wiggled around for a moment to find a more comfortable position before regarding the older boy. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
Oliver lazily waved his hand around. "I have my 'flying' class this period but with how bad the weather's been lately, Hooch told me to stay inside. I figured I could work on my transfiguration project."
The weather had been pretty terrible lately and Harry was worried that it was still be storming by the time the quidditch match came along. He wasn't excited to play in a storm, so he really hoped it would pass by then. Their morning workouts had been moved indoors, the whole team running the stairs to keep in shape, and working in cramped classrooms to work on plays. McGonagall had promised to find a room they could convert to their use for the winter months but the professor had yet to get back to them on that. It was good that they mainly ran the stair from the seventh floor to the fifth, since then the other three houses never saw them. It was a small blessing but it still didn't distract from the fact that they were stuck indoors due to bad weather.
"What's your project about?" Harry asked, looking for a distraction from his own work and the crappy weather.
"Permanent transfiguration," Oliver answered simply. "We are to find a way to permanently transfigure one thing into another. Normal transfiguration only lasts so long before the spell wears off, right? So we have to find a way to keep the transformation permanent. But not like alchemy, that's different. It's close but… different."
Harry blinked at the older boy. "Oh…" He wasn't sure what to say. The whole thing seemed a bit complicated.
"It usually puts me to sleep when I start working on it at night, so hopefully doing it during the day will keep me awake."
"Or give you an afternoon nap," Harry joked.
"Or that," Oliver replied with a laugh.
The pair chatted a little more before they both settled into studying. It was the calmest interaction Harry had ever had with Oliver.
o.O.o
The morning of Halloween dawned blurry to Harry. He and the guys had spent the night playing games in the dorm, challenging the loser to perform various dares. It was entertaining watching Neville dance with Harry's broom, and seeing Seamus try to stuff as many socks into his mouth. The worst Harry had to do was run down to the common room in nothing but his undies and run back. Luckily the common room had only been occupied by the twins at the time, and neither of them had seen him.
Yawning, Harry could barely keep his eyes open at the table. It was only the energetic chattering from Seamus that kept him awake.
"-going with you guys is fine for the first Hogsmeade visit, but come on… we should try and bring a gal on a date for the next one. We can make it like a competition or something," Seamus challenged.
Dean was shaking his head while Neville just looked nervous. "You mean ask a girl on a date? Aren't we too young for that?" The nervous boy asked.
"Nah. Me mam already gave me the talk and everything. Told me how ta properly treat a broad and showed me charms so I don't knock one up. That's like the green light to date," the Irish boy explained.
"Green light?" Neville questioned.
"Muggle thing. Green means go and all that."
Neville shook his head. "My gran gave me the talk too. She said that next year I need to start thinking seriously about passing along the Longbottom name and that I should spend this year looking for the best future spouse I can manage."
"See!" Seamus exclaimed. "That means you have to date around, test the witch filled waters. We'll get you a lady yet."
"My dad gave me the talk last year and that was embarrassing enough. I can't imagine getting it from my mom or grandmother," Dean whispered. Harry could just see the red burning across his dark cheeks.
"What about you Harry? You get the talk yet?" Seamus asked.
Harry frowned at his friends. "What talk?"
There was a beat of silence before the other three started laughing.
"Mate, you can't be serious? You know… that 'talk'. The important 'talk' that every wizard needs to hear before he sticks his wand into a witch or wizard, if you're into that," Seamus said between chuckles.
Understanding dawning on him, Harry started blushing worse than Dean. "Shut up!" He mumbled. "I'm tired… I wasn't paying attention."
Seamus shook his head. "So did you get it yet or not?"
"No I haven't… and I really don't want to hear it from my aunt or uncle." Harry shuddered at the thought of either of those two trying to teach him about sex. It was a mental image that he wished to burn from his mind. ""I might need an obliviate just thinking about it."
The boys were laughing again, getting glares from Hermione. "That is not a conversation you should be having at the table. There are other people here who would like to enjoy breakfast without such filthy talk," She reprimanded them.
Scoffing, Seamus turned towards, prepared to get into another argument with the bushy haired girl. "Look here Hermione, you may be in our house but you are not our mothers."
"Oh God, not today. Can't you guys just not fight and instead think about how exciting it will be to go to Hogsmeade?" Dean cut in.
Hermione took the bait and turned to Harry right away. "Oh Harry, won't it be so exciting? A complete wizarding village! I mean I read about it of course. It was founded by a wizard named Hengist of Woodcroft, when he was fleeing persecution from muggles. He founded it right around the same time as Hogwarts was built.
"And Professor Binns was telling us just last week that in 1612 during a goblin rebellion the wizards and witches of the time used the village as their headquarters to combat the goblins. There was so much more to read about the village, the history is so rich. Not as much as Hogwarts of course, but it's still a very exciting read."
"Sounds interesting Hermione, it really does," Harry replied slowly.
"Oh and the Shrieking Shack, they say it is one of the most haunted places in Great Britain. We will need to go there today," Hermione rambled off quickly.
"We?" Harry latched onto that one word.
"Me, you and Ron of course," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.
Harry instantly felt guilty. He should have known that Ron and Hermione would want him to go to Hogsmeade with them. He felt bad that he hadn't even told his best friends that he already made plans with Dean, Seamus, and Neville when the four of them had come to together and had Dean signed his uncle's name on his permission slip. Luckily Dean had offered his help before Harry got it in his head to talk to McGonagall about allowing him to go, so hopefully the forgery would be able to pass and he could join his friends on the trip.
"I'm sorry Hermione… but I already made plans with the lads."
The bushy haired girl sent him a hurt look. "But… we do everything together," she whispered.
Harry bit his bottom lip anxiously. "I'm sorry. But the guys were talking about it and then Oliver mentioned Spintwitches which sells quidditch and sporting goods… so we thought 'Hey that would be a great place to go first', and we made plans from there. Especially since Dean and Seamus need some supplies to practice quidditch…" Harry trailed off. He was rambling and he knew it but he didn't know what to say to make the situation better.
"So you and Ron are just going to abandon me to go to Hogsmeade alone?" The witch asked sadly.
"You won't be alone… I mean… it was just me, Dean, Neville and Seamus that made plans. You can still go with Ron," Harry said hoping to make her feel better that she wouldn't be completely alone.
"Yeah! When Ron wakes up you two can go and it can be like a date or something," Seamus piped up.
Hermione's face flushed a brilliant red at the insinuation that she would be going on a date with Ron. "Seamus!" She hissed. "Just because you're head is constantly in a gutter doesn't mean that everyone else thinks that same way. Ron and I are just friends!"
"You say that, but your reaction says you want something more." Seamus wiggled his eyebrows at the witch, making everyone around them laugh. Hermione looked like she was winding up to verbally rip into the Irish man again but she was stopped when the post owl flew in.
Hedwig was easily spotted, his beautiful owl gliding gracefully between the other birds. Harry grabbed some bacon and fed it to her when she landed. He waited until she was done swallowing before offering her his goblet of juice. She drank and then nodded at him thankfully. Only once she was content did Harry reach for the thick envelope she was carrying.
Opening it, Harry pulled out at letter from Dean's mom.
Harry dear,
It took some time, but all things involving government paperwork does. Your passport finally came through. I wasn't sure where you lived so I put mine and Dean's residence down as where you live. I figure you could always come here if you run into any more trouble with your relatives or would like a place to stay over the holidays. I even took the liberty of reserving some airline tickets for you. The last bag of galleons you sent me was more than enough for the books you wanted, so I kept the rest and put it towards your flight. I booked you to fly out of Heathrow the day after Christmas break starts, so if you want to, you can stay here the night before and my husband Mr. Thomas will drive you to the airport in the morning.
I hope you are having a good school year so far. I know Dean has written home a few times saying how great this year has been so far, and part of that reason is because you two have become closer friends. Thank you for that and everything you do for my son. I miss him terribly when he's away but knowing he has such great friends like you, Seamus and Neville around to watch and help him makes me feel better about having him so far away.
I have put your passport, a letter with your flight details, and a letter to Dean in the envelope. Please pass the letter to Dean before you go to Hogsmeade today. I put some extra spending money in there for him to use. I already told him in his letter not to spend it all on candy and quidditch supplies, but if you could remind him I would greatly appreciate that.
I hear your first quidditch match is soon, so I wish you luck Harry dear. Have a great day in Hogsmeade.
Evie Thomas
Harry grinned as he read the letter. Once he finished he dug into the envelope and pulled out Dean's letter to hand it to the other boy. "You're mom sent this. She said there's some extra spending money in there," he explained.
Dean whopped and tore into the letter, carefully collecting the galleons and sickles that fell out.
"Why is Dean's mother sending you mail Harry?" Hermione asked. She was leaning over trying to read the letter in his hand.
Hiding it away, Harry smiled at his friend. "Dean used Hedwig to mail home the other day and Mrs. Thomas was just writing to thank me for letting Dean use her. She also wished me luck for the match coming up and asked me to remind Dean not to spend all his money on candy today."
"Oh… what else is in that envelope?" Hermione asked as she reached to take the object of her question from his hand. Harry pulled it away quickly.
"Don't worry about it," he told his friend. Seeing that Hedwig was still around and taking another drink from his goblet, Harry pulled a spare quill from his robes.
Mrs. Thomas,
Thank you and I would like to take you up on your offer to stay the night before. Also, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you be willing to hold onto my passport until I leave? I'm afraid I might lose it and I don't want that after all the trouble you went through helping me get it.
Thanks for everything and I will remind Dean not to buy too much candy.
Harry Potter.
Harry pulled the flight details out and shoved the paper into his pocket before rolling up the envelope and tying it around Hedwig's leg. "Hey girl, do you mind taking that back to Mrs. Thomas?" He asked his owl.
Hedwig gave a short bark. Next she dipped down, stole some more bacon from his plate and took off.
"What did you write her?" Hermione asked, looking put out that Harry was hiding something from her.
"Nothing really, just telling her thank you. Anyways guys, we should go get ready to leave," Harry said quickly to get out of the situation he found himself in.
"Harry, what is going on?" Hermione demanded, pinning him in place with her glare.
He was frozen, unsure as to how he would get out of this situation. Luck though, seemed to always be on his side when it came to Hermione lately. The witch was about to make another demand when Neville went to stand up and his elbow his goblet, sending the cup flying across the table and splashing Hermione across her front.
"Neville!" She screeched.
"Hermione!" Neville squeaked. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean too." The nervous boy reached forward, about to help clean her off when she smacked his hands away from her chest area.
"Don't! Just don't…" Hermione stood up quickly and gathered her things. "Have fun in Hogsmeade today. Maybe well run into each other," she said before leaving.
Together, the three boys turned as one and looked at Neville appraisingly.
Mate," Seamus started slowly. "I have to ask… was that an accident? Or were you trying to help Harry? Or…" Seamus adopted a very large grin. "Were you trying to touch her boobs?"
Neville blushed heavily before smiling. "I was trying to help Harry. If I didn't do anything we might have been stuck here for hours and missed Hogsmeade completely."
The guys laughed and readily agreed with Neville. When they were ready they headed to their dorm to change and leave for the village.
It was a very nervous Harry that handed his signed form to Filch as they left the castle. The Caretaker gave him a nasty look but didn't stop Harry from leaving the building. Maybe there wasn't a special way to spot forgeries or the man was just so used to students be allowed to go that the thought that someone might not have a signed form never crossed his mind. Either way, Harry benefitted from it and he happily skipped to his friends and towards the village.
Hogsmeade looked like one of this mini villages that people put out at Christmas time, but without all the snow. Aunt Petunia had one, and every Christmas before Hogwarts, Harry would have to construct her small one on the fire place. Aunt Petunia would always brag about it and show it off to the neighbours, telling them how hard she worked to make sure it was kept in perfect condition every year, and how delicate the construction was. Harry of course was left out of every retelling, never getting the credit he deserved. But he didn't mind too much. He was used to it anyways.
The first stop was the quidditch shop like they wanted. Harry wanted new gloves before his first match, hoping to find something more water resistant to avoid and his hands getting soggy and potentially losing the snitch. If his air practices were anything to go by during the last week, Harry would also need to do something about his glasses. There was no way he would be able to see the snitch if the rain was as heavy as it had been during the game.
The bell above the door dinged as they entered, and as a group they walked straight to the quidditch section. It wasn't really a section but majority of the store. One corner or labeled quidpot though, and there was an aisle for muggle sports items that they would need to look at later. But the quidditch section was large and the aisle labeled according to position.
A sales assistant was quick to greet them, his eyes glimmering with hope for a potential sale. "Hello gentlemen, can I offer you any help today?"
Harry bit his bottom lip before speaking up. "Hi, do you have... um… like water resistant seeker gloves?" He asked
The assistant grinned widely. "We do. There are several that have certain charms that will benefit you according to weather conditions." The man put a hand on Harry's upper arm and led him towards the glove area. He helpfully pointed out three pairs of gloves that had what he was looking for. The assistant pulled them off the display and handed them to Harry one at a time to test them.
The first pair was soft brown leather with several sturdy looking straps that went up half his arm. The straps were designed to be thin enough that they could his under his fore arm guards. There wasn't much padding on the fingers which gave Harry's hands more maneuverability than his current gloves did. The padded fingers made the gloves stiffer, meaning it took more time for his hand to grasp the snitch. Harry liked them, but they were full fingered and he wouldn't allow him to physically feel the snitch in his fingers. That part he didn't like.
The second pair was fingerless, but had small pads that would cover the bottom half of his fingers, knuckles down. They were a darker brown and were charmed to repel liquids, with mild cushioning charm that would help absorb some shock if his broom was manhandled or a bludgers hit his hands. Harry liked them, but he was worried his fingertips might freeze and that wouldn't be good. He needed to find the right balance between covered and uncovered so that his hands wouldn't suffer.
The third pair had all the charms of the second pair, but they covered his whole hand- only the top of his finger though. The finger part was weird. The tops were covered but the bottom had two small elastic type strips that his fingers would go through to hold the top in place. The design was unique but it gave him the ability to still physically feel the snitch, but had more coverage so his hands wouldn't freeze too badly.
"This last pair," Harry said as he lifted the almost black gloves. "Do they come in any other sizes? This size is a little too big for my hands."
The assistant smiled again as he spoke. "These are just the sample pair for customers to try on. The pair you buy is charmed to automatically fit to your hand size when first worn. Since many customers come to try these on, we just have them maintain a standard size that fits most people," the man explained.
"Ah… and they will repel water all over right? Not just the top of my hands. It's hard to catch a snitch if my fingers are slippery."
"They will protect your whole hand. And before you ask, the charms used are completely legal and well within the international Quidditch Associations regulations. The pair you're holding is preferred by many professional quidditch players, same charms and all," the man reassured him.
"Perfect!" Harry grinned. This was exactly what he needed. "I'll take a pair of these then."
"Of course. Can I help you with anything else?"
Harry bit his lip again. "Do you have quidditch goggles or something that also repel water?" He asked.
The assistant once again took his arm and led him to a different part of the store. "Over here we have several goggles. They are all charmed to keep your vision clear from all weather conditions; wind, rain, snow, fog…" The man explained. "Like the gloves, these are just samples on display. If you buy a pair, they will be new and unworn so they will size to fit you perfectly."
Harry was barely listening to the main as he started mentally discarding the goggles he didn't like. There were some in novelty colours like pink, purple, green, and red, but Harry didn't want any of those. There was a black pair that appealed to him. They matched the gloves he was buying and they had tiny little golden snitches on each side as decoration. There was padding on the inside of the frames, and they provided enough room that he could wear his glasses under them.
"I'll take a pair of these," Harry told the man as he held up the black pair he liked.
The man smiled but he looked like he wanted to say something.
"Is there something wrong?" Harry asked nervously.
"It's just… are you muggleborn?" The man asked.
Harry blinked at him. He wasn't used to people not recognizing him right away. Obviously the man didn't know who he was and Harry probably did something that screamed muggleborn. Or the man was digging to make sure Harry was good for the money.
"I'm a half-blood but I was raised in the muggle world," he said slowly.
"Ah!" the man said loudly. "Well that explains it. I was wondering why you had glasses when most witches and wizards go and get their vision fixed when they have eye problems. It's only those who can't afford the potions or have used the old vision corrections potions that have worn off that they wear glasses."
"Vision correction potions?" Harry wasn't sure what the man was saying.
"Yes. There's certain potions that will correct your vision eliminating the need for glasses. The old potions would work for 3 years then wear off. You would need to take another one but you could only take the potion 5 times before it would stop working altogether. Of course, Professor Snape invented a vision correction potion around 10 years ago that works a lot better. So far you only need to take it once and it will work for the rest of your life in theory. It's only been 10 years but I haven't heard anything about the people who took it losing its effect, so it must still work after so long. The only problem is, is if you took the older potion, the new one won't work on you," the man eagerly explained.
Harry frowned. Snape invented a really cool potion that he could use but… Harry shook his head. It's didn't matter why Snape never told him. What mattered was that there was a chance he could be free of his glasses, he would never have to worry about Dudley breaking them again or have his run the risk of being caught blind in a bad situation.
"Where would I get this potion?" He asked.
"Oh there's a vision shop here in Hogsmeade. The potion is a little costly… but if you play quidditch and are as serious about it as you seem then I would recommend looking into it. And it's still completely legal to use if you're a quidditch player," the man hastily added on.
"Thank you…" Harry said quietly. "I didn't know but… I think I will look into it. You've been a lot of help today." Harry smiled warmly at the man.
The assistant flushed and preened under the gratitude. "You're welcome. Now do any of your friends need help?" He asked.
Harry was quick to turn the man's attention towards Dean, explaining that Dean was just starting out and unlike Harry who had Wood to give him the quick introduction and standard Gryffindor quidditch gear, Dean actually needed to buy his own. Cup and all…
Dean blushed and refused to look any of the guys in the eye when the assistant started explaining the process of how they fit a leather cup. Dean had tried refusing, but Harry pointed out that all males needed that extra protection in that area, especially when flying. From personal experience –a bucking broom really showed you how wonderful that protective cup was- Harry told his friend that if he bought anything today, it needed to be that cup.
Although Dean was mortified, the assistant was very professional as he explained that unlike other quidditch gear, the cup was so stiff and rigid that it couldn't just fit itself to him. Dean would actually need to be measured and fitted with a premade sized cup. Luckily there was a spell that would do that for you.
"Do you have to go through this Harry?" Seamus asked.
Harry nodded. "I did but not this exactly." He waved his hand to indicate Dean who was behind a curtain with the assistant measuring him and letting him test the cup before buying. "Oliver knows the spell. So he just cast it on, took down the size and sent it off. It's less embarrassing when it's just you and Oliver in the locker room, no one around to watch and wait. There's also no names attached, just an order with numbers and corresponding sizes, so no one actually knows what you look like or your name."
"So, Oliver could have done this and saved Dean the embarrassment?" Neville asked.
"No," Harry answered simply. "He sends it off as a Hogwarts order and the money to pay for the cup comes out of the Gryffindor quidditch budget. The budget also pays for my standard equipment but since I want to upgrade I need to pay for that myself." He explained further.
"How do you know all this?" Neville asked. "I didn't know that the quidditch team has a budget and stuff."
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Oliver was telling me about it. I mean you need to talk about something when another guy is measuring your privates or else it's just awkward…" Harry blushed.
Dean came out soon, his face a little red but he was holding a package in his hand. The taller boy was quick to finish picking out his gear and once everything was paid for, the group left the store a couple galleons lighter.
"Where to next lads?" Seamus asked.
"Honeydukes?" Neville suggested.
"Yeah, but do you guys mind if after we try to find the vision shop? The assistant was telling me that I can get a potion to fix my sight."
"Sure, no problem mate!" Seamus enthusiastically led him away. "I mean, anything to help Gryffindor to victory and uncover those pretty emeralds you got hidden I'm all for!"
Harry blushed again and pushed Seamus away. "Okay, candy first, then vision store… what next?"
From there Dean and Neville threw out suggestions. Neville wanted to check out the Herbology store, and Dean wanted to go buy a new winter cloak. He grew again but his mother suggested he wait until closer to winter just in case he grew even more. That way he could buy one that fit and not have to suffer the winter with a short cloak.
With a plan in mind the group set out.
o.O.o
Sitting at the Halloween feast, Harry was a little tense.
"Everything okay mate?" Ron asked. The red head had been a little cold towards Harry when they first got back from the village but as the feast went on and Ron ate more food his ire seemed to go down.
"Yeah, just anxious I guess… I mean it's Halloween and something bad usually happens on Halloween…"
Hermione huffed. "Harry, you can't just assume something will bad happen every year on this date," she reprimanded him.
"Why not?" Seamus was quick to jump to his defense like always. Harry wondered if the Irish boy really loved fighting with Hermione. He seemed to do it more than Ron, and Ron was always annoying Hermione.
"Just because something happened the last two years doesn't mean it always will. There's nothing out to get Harry this year." Harry wondered why the girl stressed the word 'nothing'.
"Right…" Harry trailed off. "I'm probably making a mountain out of a mole hill."
"Harry, are you planning to take the potion tonight?" Dean stepped in.
Grinning, Harry happily nodded his head. "Yeah, it will be great to finally be rid of glasses. Plus, I want to try my new goggles but I can't do that until I have my eyes fixed, or they will size to fit my glasses and be wrong when I wear them after the potion."
Hermione leaned over, interested in the conversation. "What are you talking about? Harry what potion are you taking?" She asked.
"Well the sales guy at the quidditch store was telling me that I can take a potion to fix my eyesight. If I take it I won't have to wear glasses anymore. It cost a fortune though, nearly cleaned me out of the gallons I had on me," Harry said.
The bushy haired witch seemed surprised at his words. "That sounds dangerous Harry. Why would you try and mess with your body like that?"
Harry frowned. "It's not dangerous. Professor Snape invented the potion 10 years ago, and he made the one the shop sold me. There's his signature on the vial to prove its authencity."
"Authenticity," Hermione automatically corrected him.
"Yeah that."
"So Professor Snape invented this potion?" Hermione leaned forward even more curious.
"Yeah that's what the shop guy was saying. But the man who sold it to me was saying that when the potion as first invented some people tried making knock offs and selling them for cheap to witches and wizards, but it really messed them up. So the ministry made a law that only registered potions dealers could sell the potion and they have to present their credentials before each sale. The guy in Hogsmeade showed me his, ministry seal and all, and said that the potion was so expensive because he was selling vial that came directly from Professor Snape and those are trusted way more than potions made by other potioneers. I don't know, he was talking a lot but I got that the potion was the real thing and pricey because Snape's name carries a lot of weight."
Ron snorted across from Hermione. "And you're going to trust a potion Snape made?" The ginger asked.
Harry frowned again. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know… maybe because he hates you!" Ron very helpfully pointed out.
"Yeah, but he didn't know that the potion as going to be sold to me, and he makes all the potions in the hospital wing. I don't think he would sabotage his work like that just on the off chance he could spite me…" Harry calmly explained. Maybe in his first year when he vehemently thought Snape was out to kill him he would have believed Ron and thrown the potion away before it could harm him, but not now. The way the shop keeper talked about Snape, Harry figured that his professor was a really big deal in the potions world. He couldn't see a man who was described as 'a genius potions master' throwing away his reputation to harm one thirteen year old.
"But mate-" Ron started.
"But what Ron?" Harry snapped. "I'm taking the potion tonight and if anything happens then you can tell me 'I told you so' in the hospital wing tomorrow. Now if you don't mind I'm going back to our dorm so I can sleep and wake up with perfect vision tomorrow." Harry didn't wait for anyone as he gathered his things and walked quickly back to the tower. He loved his friends, but sometimes they just worried too much.
Outside the tower, Harry could feel someone or something nearby, watching him. Looking around he didn't see anything. He squinted his eyes and peered into the dark corners hoping to see whoever was hiding but he couldn't make anything out. He thought he saw one shadow shift, but when it didn't move again and brushed it off and turned toward the Fat Lady. Saying the password clearly, Harry walked inside once the door opened. He hurried to his room, eager to take the potion and be done with glasses.
Fun Football (soccer) Fact
The highest scoring soccer game was 149-0! The event occurred in 2002 after a 2-2 draw between rival teams Stade Olympique de L'emyrne, or SOE, and AS Adema of Madagascar, which resulted in the referees awarding a penalty causing SOE to lose the game.
As a form of protest for being robbed of the title because of a penalty, the players purposefully scored 149 goals into their own net at the next game as spectators stormed the ticket booths demanding refunds. Besides being very confused at first, the opposing team eventually stood around in good humor at the planned stunt. The result? Besides losing 149-0 and breaking the previous record from 1885 of 36-0, the SOE coach was suspended along with several of his players and captain.