Chapter 5: I Held My Breath, I Closed My Eyes, I Took a Drink
Sango-sama
Author Notes: See the bottom of the fic. I do answer a few questions that have been brought up in the reviews, but seeing as how there are spoilers for all four books, I'm giving you the warning now.
Disclaimer: ::Sango-sama does a little "I do not own these characters" dance.:: Many of her readers are scared away. ^_-
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The last bit of the sweet orange liquid trickled back past Harry's lips. The empty cup clanged onto the table.
His face had started to turn blue. Nearly as bright blue as his protection amulet, which had popped out from under his shirt when he jerked rather violently. His mouth seemed to be locked, trying rather forcefully, and unsuccessfully, to cough.
From the other side of the table, Ron's eyes went wide, his jaw following suit. Hermione had paled. Her throat had gone bone dry; her voice cracked as she nearly shouted across the table, "Harry!"
Harry's mouth finally started working and he began coughing roughly. Ginny, who had been sitting next to him, was patting him on the back. She had turned him around, so he wasn't coughing on the table. It wasn't long before the coughs reduced to sputters.
Ginny's hand had remained on Harry's back, rubbing comforting circles. As the sputters subsided, Harry pushed up his glasses which had slid down the bridge of his nose as he had been coughing. His face still a brilliant pink, he looked to the side, eyeing the hand resting on his shoulder.
Ginny's cheeks flushed, her hand back at her side. "Sorry," she muttered.
"That's alright." His hand settled over his heart, as he tried to calm his pulse to a semblance of normal. "Guess it went down the wrong pipe. The house elves made it a bit thick this morning."
Ron leaned back a bit, sighing in relief.
Hermione's face was still quite pale. "Are you sure you're alright, Harry?"
"Yeah, Hermione. I'm fine." He frowned, somehow still looking amused. "If not for the fact that I nearly coughed up a lung, I'd say I'm feeling better than I have in weeks."
Hermione still looked a bit unsure. But the Boy Who Lived was grinning.
The potion had certainly worked as it should...and Harry--just Harry--was back with his friends, just as any normal 15 year old should.
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The day had gone quickly. Ron was so happy, he even managed to stay awake for most of Professor Binns' lecture. True, that he was writing a note to Hermione...but at least he was awake. Harry's head was down on the desk top, the feather of the quill blowing back and forth as he lightly snored. Ron smirked at the sight before he busied himself with scrawling on a blank sheet of parchment.
It actually worked!
The parchment slid on the desk in front of Hermione, who looked faintly irritated to be missing part of the lecture but looked at the note anyway.
Yes, I know, Ron. But he really had me scared this morning.
Hermione looked up. Professor Binns' drone had sent a few other students off to dreamland, but the soporific professor had his translucent head buried in his book.
The paper slid carefully back in front of Ron, who frowned. He knew she had been worried, but he thought it a bit ridiculous to still be worried now.
But he was all right, Hermione. It was just a coughing spell. I mean, the Boy Who Lived wouldn't just keel over and die from a coughing spell. You're worrying too much.
Hermione sighed loudly, and dipping her quill in the ink pot, she penned in her distinctly neat cursive. But we'll have to give it to him again in almost a weeks time. What if he reacts like that next time? Or what if we give him too much?
Ron's eyes bugged out. A week? Blimey! You mean we've got to keep this up once a week until the summer holiday?
That's exactly what I mean...It's going to be tricky to keep him from suspecting anything, too. We'll have to alternate the days that we do it on or something. But at least the potion will keep.
Ron stared at the words on the page, shaking his head in sheer disbelief. 'Blimey...once a week?' Hermione, if I have to get turned into a canary once a week till the summer...
I'm sure Fred and George will find some nice, new animal to transform you into if you like.
Ron glared at her, crumpling up the parchment and stuffing it into his pocket.
Professor Binns' had ended his lecture, closing the book on the podium with a hefty thump. A cloud of dust billowed out of the yellowed pages.
Hermione was still smirking as she packed up her books. "It's your own fault for sleeping late, Ron."
"Don't get smarmy." Ron pouted, gathering his own books. "I suppose you have a better idea on how else was I to stall him, then?"
"Don't be a prat. Of course I do." A wide grin dominated her features as she started towards the door. "I'll see you both later."
Ron nudged a sleeping Harry with his elbow. "Come on, Harry. We're going to be late."
Harry stared at his notes with half lidded eyes. "For what?"
Ron grimaced. "Double Divination..."
Harry groaned, dropping his head back to the desk.
Ron grinned. "At least you've got a new way to die for your lessons."
"Choking on my pumpkin juice." Harry smirked, grabbing for his notes and striding alongside Ron. "That's definitely a new one."
"Ahhh...but what a way to go!"
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Wow. I got a number of reviews for this past chapter. I'm glad you all seem to like the story so far. To answer a few questions from the reviews:
1) Harry is supposed to be the personification of your average guy, who just so happened to get thrown into a world were he's being idolized, had many attempts made on his life, and is still trying to live as normal a life as he can. He keeps having more and more piled up on his shoulders. Very few people can really sympathize with this, except perhaps Sirius, and so Harry feels fairly lonely. Harry's also paranoid with Voldemort having fairly well returned himself to power. He's come after Harry once...he likely will again. So considering all of that plus all the events piled up in the end of Book 4 (especially regarding Cedric Diggory), I kinda feel that Harry would be distancing himself. He's lonely, he blames himself, he's fairly depressed, and he's likely being stalked by Voldemort, but he wants his friends to be safe. It's not something I really want to get into, so I won't make a big deal about it in the story. This is mostly my impression of how I know I'd feel if everything here were happening to me.
2) The protecting amulet did come from Sirius, who is occasionally known as Snuffles. ^_^ Harry just couldn't say so much because it may still cause Sirius some problems, even if it is just Ginny.
