Chapter 14
When Harry rushed into the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, having overslept, he was only slightly surprised to find Luna sitting at the Gryffindor table. He sat next to her and shot her a smile. Harry hadn't seen much of his whimsical friend since the start of term: he'd been too busy and Luna didn't seem to be around the castle too often.
"How're things Luna?" he said, grabbing a muffin off the table.
"Quite well actually," Luna answered, her voice lilting. "I've been spending quite a lot of time in the forest with the Thestrals. Some other students have started coming with me."
"Really?" As far as Harry could remember, most students were terrified at even the prospect of the creatures existing, much less interacting with them.
"Really. I think they're probably less scary when you can see them."
"And the Nargles?" Harry asked, succeeding in keeping a straight face; he was only trying to be polite. He might not believe in Nargles, but Luna certainly did.
"They've been away," Luna sang. "But don't worry, I'm sure they'll be back soon."
"I thought Nargles were bad?" Harry wrinkled his eyebrows, confused.
"Oh no," she said hastily. "They're not bad. I don't think any magical creature could be bad. They're just quite mischievous. Sometimes they're fun to have around."
"I understand." Harry nodded, not really understanding. Luckily, Ginny slammed her bag down on the table next to Luna at that moment, interrupting their conversation.
"Bloody Greengrass," she mumbled angrily, aggressively rifling through her bag.
"Ginny, you alright?" Harry peered over at her. She pulled out a sheet of parchment and shoved it in Ron's direction, completely ignoring Harry's question.
"Ron," she said pointedly. He immediately looked up and started to listen; at this point, even Ron had learned not to piss off Ginny when she got in one of her moods. "You need to memorize these plays by this afternoon. And Harry?" When she looked at him her eyes were blazing with an intensity that could've brought a grown man to his knees. "I don't care what you have to do, but whatever you do, do not lose to Malfoy."
"Ginny," Ron began carefully. "What're you on about?" She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"That Daphne Greengrass said that Slytherin could beat Gryffindor any day, and she was being so awful about it that I just couldn't take it anymore! So I challenged her to a mock Quidditch game after classes this afternoon."
"What?" Ron and Harry exclaimed simultaneously. Usually they spent weeks preparing for a game, and now they had to beat Slytherin with only a few hours to prepare?
"That's mental!" Ron voiced Harry's thoughts, although Harry wouldn't have used those exact words.
"Look," she glared at Ron, who shrunk back in his seat. "I know it's a bit rushed, but I just couldn't let Greengrass go on like that, alright?" Luna placed her hand on Ginny's arm in an attempt to calm her. Ginny took a deep breath and gave Luna a small smile. "The match is at two o'clock sharp. Don't be late."
With that, she gave Luna's hand a small squeeze and left the table. Ron ate the rest of his breakfast in stunned silence. He never did well under pressure, and Harry only hoped that this surprise match wouldn't damage his confidence. Ron was a fantastic Quidditch player when he believed in himself, but when he didn't, he would be lucky to block a single quaffle.
Once they had finished breakfast, Harry waved goodbye to Luna, and went off to Charms class with Hermione and Ron.
"Oh bloody hell," Ron cursed under his breath. "As if this day couldn't get any worse, there's Malfoy."
Sure enough, waiting outside the Charms classroom was Malfoy, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He was speaking to Zabini, his usual sneer replaced by a genuine smile that set Harry on edge. Catching sight of Harry and his friends, Malfoy pushed away from the wall and took a few steps towards them. He raked his eyes over Harry's figure, leaving Harry feeling exposed, and sneered.
"Potter," Malfoy regarded Harry. "Nice sweater." Harry glanced down, confused, at his choice of wardrobe. He was in a hurry that morning and grabbed the first top he could find, which happened to be one of the many sweaters Molly had knitted for him over the years. "Does it come in men's?"
"I think you come in enough men for all of us," Harry said off-handedly while rolling his eyes. Expecting some kind of snotty retort, Harry was surprised when he saw Malfoy's ears turning pink while he began to sputter.
"Well, I think you better come in my-" Malfoy froze, realizing what he was about to say. "I mean, you better come…" His eyes were frantically flitting from side to side, as if that would help him find a way to finish his insult. Zabini offered no help, instead snickering at his friend.
"You better come over here and say that to my face?" Hermione suggested, trying to keep her expression neutral.
"What Granger said," Malfoy mumbled, scowling at Harry. Luckily for him, Professor Flitwick decided to open the door at that moment and he rushed inside the classroom.
Harry smirked and strode over to his seat. He turned and whispered to his friends.
"I think I've figured out a new way to mess with Malfoy." Ron smiled excitedly, but Hermione gave Harry a warning look.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Flirt with him." Ron made a face and Hermione just sighed.
"Harry, what are you on about?"
"Think about it," Harry gestured over to a still-flushed Malfoy. "Just now, and the time I called him a pretty boy, he got all embarrassed. It's perfect because he doesn't know how to respond."
"Brilliant." Ron's disgusted expression faded away, replaced by a look of awe.
"Harry, I don't think you should be going out of your way to mess with Malfoy. It's immature." Hermione glanced at Harry pointedly.
"He started it," Ron pointed out.
"Listen to you two, you sound like children!" Hermione scowled and opened her book. "Honestly, you'd think you'd be grown up by now."
"Never," Ron and Harry said in unison.
After Charms, Harry departed from his friends for Potions class. Unfortunately, the only two people from Charms who were heading down to Potions were Malfoy and Zabini, so Harry made a point to lag behind the two Slytherins, wanting to avoid any unnecessary confrontations.
Slughorn greeted the students enthusiastically when they arrived at the classroom.
"Good morning students!" He paced around the front of the classroom. "Today we will be brewing a weak strength love potion in preparation for when we brew Amortentia." Slughorn glanced between Harry and Ernie's table and the Slytherin table in the back of the room. "Eventually you will need to be in groups of four, so why don't you two in the back, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini, come over and sit with Mr. Potter and Mr… er-"
"Macmillan." Harry stifled a laugh while Ernie grimaced. Two years in his class and Slughorn refused to remember his name.
"Yes, well, do come on over you two." Slughorn waved over Malfoy and Zabini. They exchanged irritated looks before slowly grabbing their bags and shuffling over to Harry's table. Malfoy sat next to Harry, the other available seat already having been claimed by Zabini, and slammed his potions book on the table in frustration. Zabini made much less of a show of moving; he sat next to Ernie quietly and without any complaints, although he didn't look particularly pleased with the new seating arrangements.
"As I was saying, most love potions share similar compositions and procedures. The purpose of today's potion is to make you familiar with the steps of brewing a love potion, and to illustrate the effects of one." At this, several students around the classroom began to exchange nervous looks. "You heard me correctly, students. In order for you all to understand the gravity of love potions and their effects, you will each be testing your love potions on each other."
Harry looked towards Ernie, eyebrows raised, and mouthed, Is he mental? Ernie shrugged and his eyes flitted towards Zabini and Malfoy worriedly. Harry also risked a glance at the blonde Slytherin next to him, and found that his face was twisted into an expression of utter rage. Harry gulped and quickly averted his gaze towards the table. He only hoped he wouldn't have to test Malfoy's potion; he was pretty sure the Slytherin would try to poison him.
"Not to fret, students. Not to fret. This is a short acting potion, so the effects should only last for about a half-hour, which means we will spend the first hour and a half of class brewing, and last half-hour testing our creations." None of the students looked at all reassured by this fact, but Slughorn continued on, ignoring their lingering concern. "You can find the instructions on page 67 of your textbook. You have ninety minutes starting now."
Harry quickly flipped to page 67 in his book and began to gather the needed ingredients. By the time he had fetched everything he needed, Malfoy was already chopping up the peppermint and adding moonstone to his cauldron. Harry sighed. Even despite his less-than-friendly feelings towards the Slytherin boy, he had to admit that Malfoy was an expert potions maker. His nimble fingers moved quickly and efficiently, almost seeming to move of their own accord.
"So incompetant that you have to cheat off me, Potter?" The sound of Malfoy's pretentious drawl pulled Harry out of his thoughts. "Are you really so thick you can't read simple instructions?"
Harry was about to shoot some nasty remark back when he stopped himself and smirked: he had a new method of torturing Malfoy.
"Not cheating," Harry remarked, keeping his voice light. "Just admiring your handiwork. You really are quite brilliant at Potions, Malfoy."
The Slytherin's jaw dropped. Ernie stared at Harry, his expression halfway between shocked and disgusted. Even Zabini looked mildly surprised at Harry's compliment. Harry's smile broke into a full grin as Malfoy's entire face flushed bright pink and he began to sputter affrontedly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he spat, eyes bewildered. It took all of Harry's self-restraint to keep from bursting out in laughter. Instead, he kept a straight face and leaned in closer to Malfoy, who pulled back slightly in surprise.
"I'm just saying, you're rather good at Potions is all." A lightbulb lit inside Harry's head, and he lowered his voice as he spoke his next words, so that only Malfoy would be able to hear him. "And you have very nice hands." He let his eyes wander down to the blonde's hands, which were now balled in angry fists. "Very good for preparing ingredients. I wonder what else they'd be good for…" Harry lifted his gaze back up to Malfoy's eyes and winked suggestively.
At this, Malfoy drew back so suddenly that he actually fell out of his chair, landing with about as much grace as a drunken Hippogriff. Harry bit back his laughter, but Ernie certainly did not. He was bent over, wheezing, and even Zabini chuckled slightly before coming around to Malfoy's side of the table to help his friend up. Malfoy glared at Zabini, who stopped laughing, before taking his hand. Zabini lifted him to his feet and then sat back down next to Ernie.
"Is there a problem here gentlemen?" Slughorn had ambled over to their table and was now standing directly behind Malfoy with his hands in his pockets.
"No problem sir," Malfoy mumbled towards his hands. "Just slipped."
"Very well then, continue working." As the professor walked away, Malfoy glared at Harry. If looks could kill, Harry would certainly be dead a thousand times over.
The four students spent the rest of their time working on their potions without speaking. Occasionally, Harry would remember the image of Malfoy's flustered face and bit back a smile, but other than that, he was productive. By the end of their given hour and a half, his potion was finished, and for the first time all year, it looked exactly as it was supposed to. Harry beamed; finally, he'd gotten something right.
Slughorn wandered over to each table to observe the potions, making sure no one had accidentally brewed something potentially lethal instead, as they were to be testing the potions on each other. So far, everyone's potions had passed the inspection, except for Terry Boot's, which resembled a green sludge and was immediately disposed of. He came over to Harry's table and looked inside each of their cauldrons.
"Acceptable," he said to Ernie. "Looks about right." He nodded towards Zabini's cauldron. "Absolutely textbook, per usual Mr. Malfoy," he remarked, rather begrudgingly towards Malfoy. "Exemplary!" he exclaimed when looking at Harry's potion. He waltzed away from the table and back towards the front of the room, where he clapped his hands and began to address the class.
"Now that you've all brewed an acceptable potion," He glanced towards Terry. "Well, almost all of you," he added. "You will be sampling your creations. Please take a vial of your potion and pass it to the person to your right. They will be the one testing it."
Harry looked to his right. There sat Malfoy, looking as horrified as Harry felt. He was about to give his rival a love potion. It was bad enough for the girls in Gryffindor house to be fawning over him, now he had to worry about Malfoy as well?
On the other hand, Harry thought. This would certainly embarrass Malfoy more than any sort of flirting possibly could. Harry started to grin evilly at the thought of the blonde Slytherin mooning over him. He would be able to hold this over Malfoy's head for the rest of time. Malfoy's eyes began to grow wide at the smile overtaking Harry's face.
"Go on then," Slughor urged the students, snapping Harry back into reality. "The quicker you drink the potions, the sooner the effects will wear off."
That seemed to be the exact encouragement the students needed, as one by one, they started to down their small pink vials. Malfoy took the vial from Harry's outstretched hand, grimacing, and drank the potion in one swallow. Harry drank Ernie's potion and waited for the effects to take over.
Soon enough, a warm, bubbly feeling started to rise up Harry's body. It began at the tips of his toes and worked its way up to the top of his head. It was a rather nice feeling, awfully like being enveloped in a comforting hug or a particularly warm blanket.
When he looked across the table towards Ernie, he could feel his heart pounding in his ears. Was it even possible for a person to be so beautiful? He'd never noticed it, but Ernie's dark blonde hair looked so soft, so touchable in the dim light of the classroom. His face was rounded and still contained traces of his boyish youth. Harry quickly became entranced in Ernie's hazel eyes, which contained the barest traces of blue and green that made Harry's heart melt. He let his eyes wander down to his lips, which were quirked in a warm smile. How much he wanted to kiss those lips….
"Ernie," Harry breathed, his eyelids fluttering. But Ernie didn't notice Harry's attention; he was too focused on Zabini, who was too focused on Malfoy to notice Ernie's staring. And Malfoy was too busy looking at…
But Malfoy wasn't looking at Harry. Instead, he was glaring at Zabini, eyebrows raised threateningly.
"Blaise," he said, warningly.
"Draco," Malfoy's name rolled off Zabini's lips like a prayer. "You're so-"
"No no no, stop that! Stop it right now!" Zabini had started to lean across the table, lunging for Malfoy's face. The blonde stepped out of reach just in time. Harry turned his attention away from them and back towards Ernie.
"Now," Slughorn cleared his throat in an attempt to get the class' attention, but most of the students were too fixated on each other to notice. "The intensity of the potion will begin to subside in a few minutes, leaving only a residual sort of infatuation that will wear off by the time class ends."
The next few minutes were spent in utter chaos. All around the room, students were chasing each other, attempting to steal a kiss or to just simply be close to their "lover." Harry found himself prancing around Ernie like an excited puppy.
"Ernie, you're so perfect," Harry said, a dopey grin covering his face. "Won't you please notice me?"
"What?" Ernie briefly turned around and regarded Harry with a distracted smile. "Oh, hello Harry." To Harry's dismay, he immediately whipped his head back around towards Zabini. "Blaise? I can call you Blaise right? After all, you are the love of my life and if I can't call you by your first name then-" Ernie's words were interrupted by a loud wail emanating from the usually composed Zabini.
"But why, Draco?" He fell to his knees, pulling at Malfoy's robes. From what Harry could see, it appeared that he had actual tears in his eyes. "Why don't you love me?"
"Get off me, you pathetic prick!" Malfoy shook his leg away from Zabini, who clawed helplessly at the ground in front of him. "Merlin! Has everyone lost their bloody minds?" He caught sight of Harry staring at him and raised his eyebrows expectantly. "What are you looking at, Potter?"
It took a few more minutes for the intense effects to subside. It was now about fifteen minutes until the end of class, and while Harry's heart still jumped every time he looked at Ernie, he no longer felt the urge to grovel at his feet and beg for his love, which he considered an improvement. He concluded that it was a rather odd feeling: he knew his attraction to Ernie was only the result of the potion, but that didn't stop the goofy smile that spread over his face whenever he looked at the Hufflepuff.
"How goes it gentlemen?" Slughorn had wandered over to their table once again and regarded the boys with a smile.
"Alright," Ernie responded, not taking his eyes off of Zabini.
"If by alright you mean absolutely awful, then yeah," Malfoy muttered under his breath.
"And you Mr. Malfoy?" He raised an eyebrow at the blonde Slytherin. "I've noticed you don't seem all that affected."
"That's because Potter botched it, as usual." Harry couldn't be bothered to be offended. He was having enough trouble even just paying attention to Slughorn when Ernie was sitting right across from him.
"I don't believe so." Slughorn scratched his chin and thought for a moment. "I believe Harry brewed the potion nearly perfectly, but there must be some reason-" He stopped suddenly, mouth gaping, and looked back at Malfoy with wide eyes. Slughorn's eyes flitted between Harry and Malfoy, leaving Harry feeling like he was missing something. Malfoy looked at Slughorn with a mixture of warning and fear, and Slughorn closed his mouth and cleared his throat. "I see, I was mistaken. Mr. Potter here must have bungled up a bit at some point during the brewing process, but no matter, he gave a noble effort so he'll receive full marks regardless."
Malfoy let out a breath that Harry didn't realize he'd been holding. Harry shrugged and turned back to admire Ernie. There were still a few minutes left of class, and he was going to take advantage of all the time that he could get.
Class ended at noon precisely, leaving Harry feeling quite embarrassed. He, and many of the other students, rushed out of the classroom as soon as they were dismissed, making a point to avoid the former object of their affections. He ambled down to the Great Hall to meet his friends for lunch.
When he arrived, the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team was huddled at the end of the table, engaged in some kind of heated discussion. Harry sat down next to Ron.
"-and I already had plans this afternoon!" Harry heard Dean saying to Ginny. "I was supposed to have a study date with-" he stopped rather suddenly, glancing around the table. Ginny's face softened.
"Look, I'm sorry, alright? But the match is already on, there's nothing I can do about it now." Dean nodded reluctantly and there were no further complaints. "The match officially starts at two, which means we have a little under two hours to practice and make sure that we kick Slytherin's sorry arse."
The team finished lunch in record time, and before they knew it, they were out on the pitch, flying up a storm. By the time the Slytherins ambled down to meet them for the match, Harry knew one thing for certain: there was no way he was going to lose to Malfoy.