It's mid-November and the cold weather is in full force. Jason usually doesn't spend much time outside during the brutal cold. Growing up in the southern part of the United States, November was just as warm as October or December. Not so at Hogwarts. Being situated in the British hills, it's always cold and doesn't warm up until it's basically time to go back home. Each month is colder than the last and the weather doesn't let up until March, or even early April.
However Jason has been outside more than usual lately, and out later than ever. He was no stranger to being outside late as some potions he's brewed in the past require being under a full moon for hours at a time to concoct. But it's different these days, as he's spending his time neither brewing potions or alone. Instead he enjoys the company of the guy he's been a massive fan of since his first year: Harry Potter.
They usually hang out on the Quidditch field on nights there's no practice. Jason asked his parents to transfer a bit more funds into his Converto-Card so he could buy himself a nice thick coat from Gladrags Wizardwear to accommodate the cold weather, now that he's always out. Luna and Dean helped him pick a nice one out: a verdant pixie knitted coat. It's gorgeous. Everyone says green is his color, even Harry.
Jason wakes up on a Thursday afternoon groggy and exhausted from staying out late with Harry the night before. He's got free periods all morning so luckily he's not as tired as he would be otherwise. He gets ready for Herbology and reflects on the great time and deep feelings he has about his new friendship with Harry. They had a long chat about their home life, childhood and dating life last night. Jason, who's never been in a relationship, had very little to say about the latter. Harry just rambled on about Cho and how heartbroken he was last year. It hurt Jason, seeing Harry swallow the pain he still clearly bears and make light of it. However, the fact that Harry feels comfortable enough to share all this, he was content that they've become so close.
Before heading out to class Jason puts on his knitted coat and checks the recipe for Felix Felicis to see if he should be on the lookout for anything in particular in class today. Herbology, though one of the weirdest classes Jason takes, is also very much a useful one due to the incredible variety of plants situated in Professor Sprout's greenhouse. He can always manage to take a little something for a potion or two. Jason has been falling behind on the schedule to complete the Felix with how social his after school life has become now. Though, now that he thinks about it, why is Jason still continuing to pursue the creation of this potion? Jason basically got what he's been working towards: Harry Potter's friendship. Is there any reason to see through with this project? He's come so far with his relationship with Harry, but it almost seems a waste to give up on the potion now. Jason contemplates the idea of abandoning the Felix while making his way to the Greenhouse on the Castle Grounds.
When he finally arrives at Herbology he sees that everyone's tables are put into groups of 4, and everyone was already seated. He finds Harry among his classmates and waves. Harry notices and gives him a weak smile while looking away. Jason feels a slight unease but shakes it off.
"Bias!" Jason heard Professor Sprout call on him from her post. He made his way over to her. "I see you've made it to class in the nick of time."
"Sorry professor," he replied sheepishly, "I was up late last night, uh… studying," he lied.
"Yes well, you're technically not late but, mind you, there seem to be no groups left to join as you can see." Jason looked around. He saw Harry's table consisting of Dean, Hermione and Ron. Jason expects Harry to ask him to join their group. The thought makes Jason grin. He really didn't have many friends in most of his classes and always loathed group projects because they were always assigned by house. However for Herbology this year he was the only Slytherin taking the class.
"Alright, who's willing to take Bias here into their group?" Professor Sprout asked of the class. Jason looked straight at Harry, but he was talking to Ron and Hermione, not paying attention to Jason at all. Instead the person who volunteered to accept Jason into the group was Dean Thomas.
"He can sit with us!" Dean offered.
"Woah what?" Ron groaned, pausing his conversation.
"Oh shut up Ron," Dean snapped back.
"Very well," said the professor, ignoring the exchange. "Incrementum Desk!" She said as she pointed her wand at an empty spot on the ground.Jason watched as roots sprouted from the ground almost immediately. The Roots twisted and turned into the form of a desk, looking just like any other desk in the greenhouse. "Now have a seat Bias, we must be getting started!"
As he took his seat Ron gave him a dirty look. Jason could care less and gave him one back. He greeted everyone else in the group who greeted him back except Harry. He wouldn't even look at him. Jason shot him a confused look.
"Harry, hello?" Jason said with a wave.
Harry looked up at him finally. "Hey."
Jason's heart sank. It seems his feeling of unease earlier weren't unwarranted. What was wrong with Harry? Why was he being so cold? Did Jason do something wrong? Even Hermione gave Harry a questioning look.
Nevertheless class began and Professor Sprout began to explain what they would be doing today.
"Now then, at present I have put you all in groups because we will be handling Snargaluff," Sprout explained as she lifted what seemed to be a gnarled stump with rows of green pods growing from the sides and placed it on her desk. "Now the Snargaluff looks harmless enough, but try getting close to its pods—" She lifted a prodding stick with fingers at the end and took a few steps back. She moved the stick towards the stump and it began grabbing at the pods. Immediately it sprang to life, long and thorny vines broke out of the middle and grabbed at the prodding stick, "and it shows you just how innocent it can be." She eventually had to let go of the prodding stick and it was broken and discarded by the Snargaluff vines before retreating back to the stump.
"What I ask of you, students, is to try and get a hold of as many Snargaluff pods as you can," said the professor. Ron groaned once again. Jason rolled his eyes. "For this project you will be needing your dragon-hide gloves. You won't be wanting Snargaluff vine thorns on you, they flare up like an arrow head once they prick ya."
She began showing them the best technique to make sure the vines don't interfere with the pod extraction. It was almost like watching a wrestling match. Finally Professor Sprout showed off the best tactic that will buy you the most time with the Snargaluff vines.
"Now…as...you can…see," she said, struggling with the vines before getting them into a tight knot, "These vines are very strong. Managing to tie them into a knot, though difficult, will always work for at least a moment. Enough to grab a few pods."
She continued on, showing off a few more unorthodox tactics that are far more difficult to pull off. Jason thought this was a waste of time, why make it more difficult on yourself and risk pain just for an extra second window to collect a pod?
"Ooh, I think I'm gonna try that spiral maneuver later," said Ron. Everyone at the table just ignored him. Of course Ron would think an unnecessary risk is worth it just to show off.
"You should!" said a girl from the table across from where they were. Jason looked and saw it was the Gryffindor girl, Lavender Brown. She was practically swooning over Ron as she said this. Ron just smiles. Jason notices Hermione roll her eyes. Could she be jealous? Jason would normally think this situation hilarious if not for the sinking feeling in his stomach he has from being ignored by Harry. He can't stop thinking about what he could have done to justify Harry acting this way.
Finally Professor Sprout finishes her lecture on the handling of the Snargaluff Vines and everyone is allowed to begin. Jason's group decided to draw straws to see who would be first to try and wrangle up the vines and Dean was unlucky enough to end up with a short one.
"Oh bogs," says Dean.
After almost half an hour of wrestling with prickly vines, light squabbling between Jason and Ron, sore hands, a direct hit to Ron's face due to an insufficient knot of the vines that Jason may have orchestrated, and minimal interaction between Harry and Jason, the group's collection basket if full of the green, slimy pods.
"Finally," says Harry, with a sigh of relief. "We all done then?" he asks.
"No actually," Jason replies. He points to the collection bin at the far end of the greenhouse. "I think Sprout wanted us to go and drop these off in that bin and continue til class is over."
"What?" asks Ron incredulously, "But there's no more pods—"
BLUP, BLUP, BLUP.
Ron is cut off by the sound of the green slimy pods growing back on the Snargaluff.
"Are you bloody serious," says Ron, rubbing his cheek where he was smacked by a vine earlier while looking at Jason. Jason looks away to smirk and volunteers to help hold one side of the basket to carry to the collection bin hoping that Harry would help hold the other side. He looks at Harry but he just looks down and fiddles with a thorn stuck in his dragon-hide glove. It's as if Harry has no interest in Jason at all. He won't even acknowledge Jason exists. A far cry from the Harry he's gotten to know the last month.
I'll help you, Jason," offers Dean. Not the response Jason was wishing for, but at least he wasn't looking like a fool waiting for someone to help carry the basket for any longer. He already knew he was the outcast of the group but this was just ridiculous. The cold shoulder he's getting from Hermione, Ron, and Harry is starting to get him irritated. It must show because Dean starts to ask if he's okay.
"Yeah, dude. I'm fine. Just annoyed that those three treat me like I'm invisible." He explains as they carry the basket across the green house.
"Oh that makes sense! I was beginning to think you were cross with me." Dean laughs. Jason looks at Dean. He sees a genuinely relieved face smiling back. That's when he realizes that he's basically been ignoring his friend all class by focusing on trying to get Harry's attention. Jason wishes he could apologize but that would require an explanation. Instead he just laughs and acts as if it was a careless miscommunication. Jason quickly tries to change the subject.
"I hear you're gonna be the replacement for Katie Bell in Gryffindor's Quidditch team! Congrats!" Jason commends him.
Dean looks pleased and shoots a beaming smile. "Yeah, I'm pretty happy with myself. Shame how I got the spot though," he mentions.
"Oh, yeah. Real shame," says Jason, maybe a bit too sarcastically but Dean doesn't seem to notice. "But don't think about that part! At least you get to play on the same team as Ginny," Dean looks a little stern at this.
"Yeah. That's true," Dean says, almost without emotion. Jason senses that Dean and Ginny are in conflict. He can't allow this.
"Uh oh, you wanna talk about it?" Jason asks Dean as they drop the basket on the floor and start dropping in the pods. Jason feels the slimy, moist, almost gelatinous yet firm orbs in his hand. They're cold and Jason can feel that holding them even a tad too tightly will cause them to burst, which is why he and Dean are loading them in the bin one by one instead of dropping them all at once.
"It's just," Dean begins, opening up about Ginny and his relationship, "We were so great. The summer before going back to Hogwarts, we were inseparable. Ringing each other up every night after Diagon Alley, neither of us wanting to hang up first. Then we went back to Hogwarts, and it's even better! Til her first Quidditch practice," Dean admits. "She came back from it and I guess I was a little snappy cuz I didn't make the team. But I'm over it and got over it as soon as I saw her play. Yet, it feels as if she's angry at me. Like I've done something else wrong. But for the life of me I can't figure what it is," Dean elaborates. Jason just nods. "When I got asked to be Katie's replacement I was thrilled. She didn't look too excited about the idea though. But I don't think it's just about me and the Quidditch anymore."
"What could it be then?" asked Jason, determined to fix this clearly sinking relationship. "You gotta think man. Was there anything you did that might have struck a chord with her before? Something you didn't think was a big deal?" Jason says, trying to spark Dean's memory. He looks pensive for a bit.
"I guess the most she's ever been maddened by something I said was when I joked that she was cheating on me with Harry," Dean Chuckles. Jason looks back at Harry, still at the table, listening to Ron ramble on about whatever he wants to whine about today. He looks back at Dean who quickly glances Harry's way as well before giving a clear faux smile.
"Dean? Are you jealous of Harry?" asks Jason. Dean is just silent, grin slightly wavering as he focuses on dropping more pods in the bin. Jason knows exactly why Dean would be envious of Harry. He doesn't doubt there's a soul in Hogwarts that doesn't know about Ginny's long standing crush on Harry Potter. Peeves the poltergeist made sure of that in their second year when he read aloud Ginny's stolen diary in the Great Hall. But Jason plays dumb for Dean when he explains that whole ordeal to him. He suggests the joke might have opened up old wounds. Not to mention he kind of accused her of cheating on him.
"It was just a joke, I didn't know she'd get so bent up about it!" Dean defends himself.
"I know Dean but, in Ginny's defense, it was kind of a horrible joke," says Jason, acting serious. Dean looks at him almost offended when Jason cracks a smirk. Dean can't help but smirk as well. They both laugh.
"I guess I did add fuel to the fire when I left early at the Three Broomsticks that day," says Dean, accepting his own faults. "I won't fib, when I found out Ginny leaves potions as soon as it ends to rush off to the Great Hall, it made me steam. Especially when I always see her next to Harry before I arrive. I guess I am a little jealous of him," Dean confesses. As they dump the last of the Snargaluff pods into the collection bin, they brainstorm a good way to get Dean into Ginny's good graces again. Jason doesn't want to seem too invested, so he takes a firm nudging approach to ideas instead of dictating. By the time they're finished washing their hands off with a hose, they've come up with a nice romantic grand gesture for Dean.
"Finally," thinks Jason. He hopes it's enough to keep Ginny with Dean and away from Harry. Jason knows that if Ginny and Dean were to break up, she'd go right into Harry's arms. And that can't happen.
Jason and Dean are walking back towards their group when they see Ron trying the Spiral Maneuver Professor Sprout showed them earlier.
"Ron, wait!" yells Hermione. "You're crossing the vines incorrectly—" but it was too late. The Snargaluff starts spiraling out of control, spinning in place rapidly. Pods go flying all around. Next thing Jason knows he's covered in Snargaluff pods and their gooey, runny ooze dripping all over him and his new coat. Everyone is staring at him and Ron.
"Are. You. Serious." Jason barely manages to utter in a quiet tone. He looks at Ron. Jason must be clearly fuming because before Ron even gets to chuckle at the fruits of his incompetence, he takes one look at Jason's face and only expresses slight fear.
"Er, my bad Bias," he says. Jason has never heard Ron speak so clearly. But it wasn't enough to cure the rage Jason feels. The slime from the pods are already starting to chill, which even inside the greenhouse, feels as if Jason was just dowsed by a hose of cold water. Worse yet, since water at least drips from a body rapidly. This freezing viscid gunk runs down Jason's front at a snail's pace.
Professor Sprout says she'll go fetch some towels in the cabin out back for Jason to wipe himself down. He sits back down in his seat, trying not to shiver so violently while he waits for her return. Jason seems to be the only one to have gotten hit by the flying pods, which only made Jason even angrier.
As he sits there, waiting for the towels, Jason looks at Harry. He looks back at Jason, giving a look that says "Sorry, but I can't very well tell my best friend off, can I?" Needless to say, Jason's mood did not improve. He glares at Ron, the harbinger of his misery today, who is trying to avoid Jason's gaze. Eventually Ron gives in to the piercing gaze that Jason has initiated.
"What?" Ron asks, as if he's done nothing wrong. "I already apologized." He almost mumbles.
"You call that an apology?" Jason retorts back. Ron tries to defend himself but Jason isn't having it.
"You know Ron I wonder sometimes if you even have any brain cells left alive in that skull," Dean says. "Why you would even try to pull a stunt like that, it boggles the mind." he states.
"I wanted to be done with the bloody plant already," Ron explains. "Honestly you can't blame it all on me he's drenched like that." He goes on, speaking as if Jason isn't right there across from him. He starts sounding as if he wasn't solely responsible for the mishap. "We all had the sense to duck. He's a Slytherin, green is his color anyways."
For some reason, that last offhand dig at him hurt. Perhaps it was the cold, the anger, the mixture of emotions spiraling out of control inside him finally coming to the forefront. He looks at Harry, wondering why his friend won't speak or stand up for him. Jason's eyes are almost pleading for support from the one person he needs it from. Even a simple "Shut up Ron," would do. Harry isn't even looking at him. Realization submerges Jason.
Harry is embarrassed to be Jason's friend. It's all clear to him now. Why Harry only wants to hang out on an empty Quidditch field far away from anyone on nights that there's no practice and only after dark. Why Harry almost acts as if Jason doesn't exist in class when surrounded by his friends. All the anger he had earlier is converted to sorrow and embarrassment. Jason feels tears fall down his cheek.
That's when Dean's fist hits Ron in the face.
A fight between them breaks out and Jason can't even bring himself to look. Sadness washes over him, crippling him. Ron and Dean might as well be fighting a million miles away because Jason isn't processing a single thing. All he wanted was the friendship of the Boy Who Lived, instead he's shamed for being a Slytherin by him. Jason feels broken.
Professor Sprout is finally back from the cabin after grabbing some very thin and dusty towels and immediately breaks up the fight between Dean and Ron. She decides to escort them both to McGonagall and dismisses the class. Jason just wants to get out of there as quick as he can.
He quickly grabs his things and is basically running away from the class. There's a shortcut to the Dungeons where the Slytherin dorms are located on a path leading away from the Greenhouse. Jason's all alone since no one else in that class is a Slytherin or a friend of one. The solitude is welcome. That's when he hears Harry shouting "Wait!" behind him. Jason pauses. He's the last person he wants to talk to right now.
Jason turns around to see Harry. He can feel more tears dripping down his face. Harry looks at them, his eyes full of shame. Jason turns back around and runs off without saying a word, feeling more distraught than before.
Jason arrives to his room, wipes himself and his tears as he cries quietly to himself. He looks at the recipe he's following to concoct liquid luck. Harry might be ashamed to be Jason's friend, but he won't feel that way soon. Felix Felicis will make sure of that.
