Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't even own Dudley.
Ron and Ginny walked down the Great Hall, and found a strategic seat with no open spots anywhere close to them, so Harry wouldn't be coming near them. Ron was worried about Ginny. She had a crush on Harry for the longest time; now Harry seemed to be casting her off. Dumbledore walked into the Great Hall, and called for everyone's attention.
"There was an unfortunate event last night," Dumbledore said, "Draco Malfoy attacked a student with an unforgivable curse." At his words, the entire hall went into disbelief. "I assure you, Malfoy is no longer here at Hogwarts, and the student he attacked is quite well. However, it was determined that he was acting on Voldemort's behalf, and as a precaution, classes are closed today while the teachers investigate exactly what happened," Ginny and Ron gave each other guilty looks, quickly realizing that the only unforgivable curse that would make Harry unconscious was cruciatus. They shuddered, as everyone else in the hall was torn between excitement and anxiety about the attack.
"Can I sit down here?" asked Ginny softly. Harry didn't look up, but nodded.
"I'm sorry about before. I should've believed you," Ginny said.
"Dumbledore made an announcement," Harry said, not really asking.
"Yes," Ginny admitted.
For awhile, the two of them simply sat there at the lake's edge, before Harry whispered, "It's partly my fault."
"It's not your fault, Harry. Draco would've ended up attacking someone," she said back strongly.
"Not that. I mean, your not trusting me," Harry explained softly, "For the longest time, it's been Ron, Hermione, and me. You were always excluded; it's no wonder you don't trust me."
"I do trust you, Harry," Ginny said back.
"It's my turn to trust you, Ginny," he said, finally looking at her. "I'm going to tell you something only Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, and I know. Something which I did that could even end me up in Azkaban," he said, making her shiver. "Two years ago we played guest to Sirius Black. You might know that he was my godfather, and was selected to be my parent's secret keeper. When they died, everyone thought that he betrayed them to the dark lord. But at the last minute, my parents switched to Peter Pettigrew. He betrayed them, and then faked his own death. Ron, Hermione, and I heard the truth, and actually saw Peter. In the end we saved Sirius from the dementors and Buckbeak from the executioner. The two are in hiding, and I've been in contact with Sirius since."
Ginny looked shocked at the news. Clearly she had no idea what all happened her second year. He helped out a convicted murderer, and freed a condemned and dangerous creature? He said Black was innocent, though, and Peter Pettigrew was guilty. And he must have had a good reason for releasing Buckbeak. But if the ministry found out, without believing Sirius Black was innocent…Ginny realized just how much it took for Harry to tell her that. Her dad was even an official at the ministry! She whispered, "Thank you," and grabbed Harry's hand.
Harry stood up, and Ginny said, "Oh, classes have been cancelled today."
He smiled at her, and said, "No, I was thinking we could practice some more dancing." She smiled back at him, and the two set off back for the castle.
After getting back from a few hours of dancing, Ginny walked back up to her dorm, leaving Harry downstairs in the commons with Ron. Ron and Harry sat in the comfy chairs by the fireplace, and Harry knew at any moment Ron would bring up what happened earlier that day. "Harry, about this morning," Ron started. Harry started sniggering. Ron looked at him, and said, "Harry, I don't know why you're laughing."
"Ron, I don't know whether you know this or not, but you probably did believe me. You were just acting that way for Ginny," explained Harry.
"What?" asked Ron, clearly confused.
"Oh, come on, Ron. You're Ginny's big, over-protective brother. You challenged me twice just about us dancing. She was hurt, and you were trying to help," Harry consoled.
"Even still," Ron started, but Harry brushed away the apology. Hermione and Ginny came walking down the stairs and entered the commons, and sat down with them.
"Well, at least one good thing came from all this," Ron said, "We don't have to worry about Malfoy anymore."
"I hear that!" exclaimed Hermione, who probably hated Malfoy even more than Harry.
"Don't forget, we also didn't have to learn about Sheath Snakes today, either!" Harry pointed out.
That caught Ginny's attention, "What? You're covering sheath snakes, too?"
Hermione said, "That's odd. I thought it strange that Hagrid would be covering sheath snakes at all. They're barely magical. And the 4th years are learning about them as well, Ginny?"
Ginny nodded, and Harry said, "It's even odder, because we were supposed to spend another two weeks on Bicorns."
"And Herbology we started learning about English Poppy, when we were still in the middle of Venemous Tentacula," mentioned Hermione.
Ron said, "Oh, and we switched out of Orbs back to Palmistry early as well."
"Orbs?" Ginny asked.
"A piece of crystal, set on a length of wood. They're kind of like wands," explained Harry.
Ginny nodded, then grew excited. She seemed to have pieced something together, and said quickly, "Wait a minute! Sheath Snakes eat Northern Shrieking Quills!"
"So?" asked Ron.
Hermione seemed to pick up, and grew excited too. "Ron," she explained, "Northern Shrieking Quills eat English Poppy. It's their favorite food!"
Fred and George came through the portrait, and complained, "We just went to visit Hagrid, and he was still muttering about the centaurs."
This seemed to spark Ron's mind. "Wait here a minute!" he cried, running up to his dorm. A few minutes later, he appeared with his History of Magic report for Professor Binns about Professor Dumbledore. He started quickly skimming it, as if looking for something.
"Er, I think Hermione's having an influence on him," Harry whispered to Ginny. Hermione heard him, and hit him playfully on the arm.
"Here it is!" cried Ron, and shoved a piece of parchment to the other three. Harry read along, until he came to:
Draught of Knowledge:
Powdered Centaur Hoof (1/2 Cup)
Dragon's Blood (1 Cup, Germanic Red Drake)
Amber (Two 1/2 lb Stones)
Rhodochrosite (One ½ lb Stone)
Draught of Rest:
Powdered Poppy Seed (1/2 Cup)
Dragon's Blood (1 Cup, Germanic Red Drake)
Malachite (Two ½ lb stones)
Lepidolite (One ½ lb stones)
"This explains everything," Ron said excitedly, "Someone's trying to make these potions! The centaurs are worried, because someone apparently wants one of their hooves. We're tending to poppy for the Draught of Rest. And the Sheath Snakes are protecting it from any Quills that might come along. And… and we stopped learning about orbs because both of the potions require crystals."
"Ron, no one can make those potions," Ginny said.
"Why not? They've got most of the ingredients already." Harry said.
"Because," Ron realized, "The Germanic Red Drake died out about twenty years ago. And dragon blood wouldn't last 20 years, even if it were chilled."
Hermione said, "Ron, potions isn't simply mixing preset ingredients together. High level potions work is understanding exactly why the potion works. If you can do that, you can usually modify it to make it work with different ingredients. You could probably use a different dragon than the Germanic Red Drake, but you'd have to know how to modify the potion accordingly."
"But," Ginny asked, "Who would know how to do that?"
"Snape," muttered Harry.
"So?" asked Ginny. She clearly didn't know about Snape's past.
Hermione slowly said, "Well, it appears that Dumbledore wants the Draught of Rest. After all, we're cultivating the poppy. But someone wants the Draught of Knowledge as well, and it's probably not Dumbledore."
"And I bet we could all guess who that would be," darkly muttered Ron.
"But, Snape wouldn't help Voldemort, would he?" asked Ginny.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. Remembering his words that they would no longer exclude her, Harry said, "Ginny, Snape used to be a death eater. Dumbledore says he no longer works for Voldemort, but…"
Ginny asked softly, "So you don't know whether Snape would give his results to Dumbledore or You-Know-Who?" But no one found the voice to answer her question.
Snape stood in front of his master, unsure of how to proceed. Before he could decide what to say, his master asked "Have you finished researching the modifications to the potion?"
Snape shook his head no, and said, "I have narrowed it down to using the Spanish Fire Drake's blood. But I still haven't determined which crystals are needed. I am optimistic about Garnet and Smoky Quartz working, however." Snape looked at his master, and ventured "You know the enemy is seeking to make the other Draught. Do you wish me to give them the potion as well?"
A simple nod, and Snape's workload was doubled as he had to solve both the Draughts conversion.
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THERE! Snape's now the focus!
Oh, kudos to Atheis and Aeris (again!) who said the Triwizard is held every 5 years. You know, I've read the 4th book about ten times now; it's amazing what little details like that you can still miss!
So I guess you can consider the Triwizard policy changed, due to the age line prohibiting certain graduating classes from entering. That and I'm already planning out a sequel, which the Triwizard tourney occurs in as well (at Durmstrang)
Please Review! Please?!?!