A/N: Thought I'd forgotten about this, didn't you? Hardly. Just had writer's block, that's all. And I'd like to take this opportunity to give a great big thank you to everyone who reviewed the final chapter of Written in the Stars. Thanks for all the birthday wishes. It was, indeed, a good day :). Now, on to this story. Well, I hope you guys like this. I want to thank Paula and Nathan for all their help with this. Well, that's all I really have to say. Here we go.
Chapter Five
Sneak Attack
Draco wasted no time calling his closest advisors to order. He looked around him at the other four. "That was an outrage!"
Pansy nodded her head. "We were skipping and frolicking!" she moaned, turning pale at the memory.
Neil looked at the others. "That was a low blow and they know it!"
Draco nodded his head. "Agreed. We need to strike back at them quickly, with something even more humiliating."
"What's more humiliating than skipping and frolicking in public?!" Pansy was close to tears.
"That's what we're going to have to figure out, and fast. We need to put the attention back on them," Draco answered.
The room was silent. After a moment, Neil smirked to himself.
"An idea Neil?"
"Yeah," Neil said, grinning evilly.
"What is it?" Pansy asked.
He told them.
***
Two shadows crept into the dungeon, one holding a box from which the occasional clink was heard.
"Where are they?" one whispered to the other.
"Snape always sticks them in that cupboard over there," the other whispered in response.
The two figures moved silently to the cupboard and tried opening it manually. It was locked. "Alohomora," one of the shadows muttered, resulting in the cupboard door swinging open.
They looked around until they found what they were looking for--ten vials marked with red marker. Stealthily they replaced the vials with ten identical ones, then shut and locked the cupboard door. The whole thing had taken less than five minutes, and then the two shadows were gone.
***
Breakfast the next morning was an extremely tense affair. The Gryffindors were bleary-eyed and on edge, having been up all night on watch duty.
The Slytherins, it seemed, were still slightly upset about the "singing lesson" prank. Well, ok, maybe "slightly upset" isn't quite strong enough a phrase. "Livid" would be closer, and "homicidal" would be just about accurate.
In any case, the two houses put some of the Muggle-borns in mind of a traditional western shoot-out. Each side was just waiting for the other to so much as look at them wrong so they could grab their wands and curse them into next week.
Despite the tension--which made the other houses uneasy--nothing happened. At least, not during breakfast. To make matters worse for the Gryffindors--the seventh years in particular--the first class of the day was Double Potions. With Snape. And the seventh year Slytherins.
When breakfast was over, the seventh year Gryffindors stood and began to trudge as a pack towards the dungeons, where Potions class took place. The rest of the Gryffindors, as well as some of the older Hufflepuffs, looked on with empathy.
The soldiers on the death march--er, the seventh year Gryffindors took as long as they dared in getting from the Great Hall to the dungeon. But get there they did. Unfortunately. They sat as far from the Slytherins as they could while still being in the same room, and eyed their rivals warily.
The tension in the room shot up astronomically when Snape began the day's lesson. It was a continuation of last time's lesson, about energy potions. During that lesson, they had brewed the Energia Potion--meant to provide a burst of energy to the drinker--and they were to test them this lesson.
The first half of class went along more or less as usual. The Gryffindors were sitting quietly and studiously taking down their notes while Snape called on them and took points away for getting correct answers.
It was during the second half of class--the practical part--that disaster, or, more precisely, the Slytherins struck.
Snape had been particularly evil the previous lesson, when they had brewed their potions, paring Harry with Draco, Ron with Neville, and Hermione with Pansy.
The entire class had collected their potions and prepared to test them. All they were waiting for was Snape to give the word. He eyed the assembled students. "Test your potions," he told them.
The students took their vials, opened them, and quickly downed the contents. The results were instantaneous and radically different, depending on the house the drinker was from. The Slytherins, once they had finished gagging, were physically incapable of standing still. Some were bouncing from foot to foot; others had begun to pace. Still others were fiddling with anything they could get their hands on. It probably would have been highly amusing to the Gryffindors--had they not been preoccupied with their own lack of reaction to the potion. Vocally preoccupied. All at once.
"I wonder what happened?"
"Oh my! I must have done something wrong! Pansy's potion worked. But I just know I brewed it correctly . . . "
"Oh no, not again. I hope Professor Snape doesn't realize my potion didn't work. I don't want to get another Howler from Gran . . . "
"Why is everyone talking to themselves? It's like they're saying everything they're thinking . . . "
Professor Snape was glaring at the Gryffindors. "Quiet!" he hissed. But the din of confused voices just got louder.
"Please don't look at me, please don't look at me . . . "
"I remember I put the crushed sunflower root in before the orange peel, just like the instructions said . . . "
" . . . in a green dress, in a green dress . . . "
"Why is everyone still talking? Snape'll take points off if they don't shut up . . . "
The Slytherins began to laugh loudly at the utterly bewildered Gryffindors, but the laughter died down when Snape shot an admonishing look at them. He turned to stare at the Gryffindors, a piercing gaze taking in the mélange of voices. But then a malicious smirk crossed his face. "The Cogitoris Potion," he said quietly, while surveying the Gryffindors. "Can anyone tell me what the Cogitoris Potion does?" he asked the room at large.
The din of voices grew a little quieter as most just vocally hoped that Snape wouldn't call on them. Hermione's hand had raised when Shape had asked the question, her face pale. But she spoke as though to herself. "The Cogitoris Potion . . . causes the drinker to vocalize every single thought he or she has. That must be why everyone keeps talking. But how is that even possible? We didn't even have the all the proper ingredients to make that potion . . . "
The Gryffindors' babble took on a very nervous quality.
"We say everything we think? Oh no. Ok, ok, just don't think about Hermione, or how pretty she is . . . um, Quidditch! Yes, I can't wait until the first game . . . I hope I do well as Keeper . . . "
"What'll I tell Gran?! I'll get a Howler for sure . . . "
"I'll bet those dirty Slytherins did this, just to get back at us for that harmless singing prank! Well, at least it isn't dancing this time . . . or kissing Ginny . . . no, don't think about that, what if Ron hears me? He'll kill me for sure . . . something else . . . got to think of something else . . . "
"What am I going to do? There's no antidote to this! What if I accidentally think about Ron--ack! Shut up, just shut up! Don't think about him . . . "
Snape regarded the chaos coldly. He spoke quietly, but the still chattering Gryffindors were able to hear him. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for brewing the wrong potion . . . " There were horrified gasps from the Gryffindors. "Fifty points for speaking out of turn . . . " The gasps had become cries of indignation and outrage. "And fifty points for disobeying a professor."
The Gryffindors, unable to stop themselves, were shouting their protests, while the Slytherins looked on with glee and not a small amount of smugness. Even Neville had joined in, despite his fear of getting a Howler, and his fear of Professor Snape.
Unable to stop the assault of voices, Professor Snape cancelled the rest of class, forcing the Gryffindors into the Great Hall. They were unable to go back to their common room because the Slytherins kept trailing them.
Eventually the potion wore off, but not before they had found out all kinds of things about the seventh year Gryffindors. And certainly not before the entire school had witnessed what truly went on in the minds of the seventh year Gryffindors. They'd heard all about Neville's teddy bear, Parvati's diet, Hermione's fear of flunking her classes, and a lot about who most of the seventh year Gryffindors were crushing on or dating. It had been most enlightening, and the Slytherins were taking notes, seeing the opportunity to use the information later.
When the rest of the Gryffindors found out what had happened--at lunch--they were outraged, particularly when they heard that Snape had taken one hundred and fifty points away from Gryffindor, for what was obviously the Slytherins' fault.
Needless to say, all of the Gryffindors were ready to get revenge on
the Slytherins. It was only a matter of time before they would strike.