Ganya thanks you for your patience and asks that you keep in mind she is not a professional.
She also would like you to know that -to her- fanfiction means: You take someone else's characters and you do what you damn well please with 'em. (So don't commit seppuku if someone is a bit out of (J.K. Rowling's) character.)
R/R and tell me if I should commit seppuku...
Chapter Tres * * *
Meanwhile, in the Great Hall.....
"That was an occasion." Harry said.
"Yep. But Professor Trelawney's still a fake." Ron replied. "Anyhow, bless cats with the gravy, Har'," Ron asked.
"Stop talking like an imbecile, Ron." Hermione said as she joined them.
"I like that phrase. Got it from Sirius." Ron said.
"Anyway, we have an extended lunch break because it turns out we have no defense against the dark arts teacher and therefore no defense against the dark arts class. After that we all have potions together," Hermione said.
"That'll be the only class we all have together, Hermione! You have to lower your average a bit so we can be together more often...like the old days," Ron said.
"I bet once they find a defense against the dark arts teacher we'll have that together," she replied.
Just then, the chandelier that was above Harry began to shake and one of its heavy, silver arms fell, narrowly missing his head and landing on his plate. The plate was cracked and the food that was on it splattered all over Harry.
Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy bust out laughing. Ron, as expected, without saying a word, stood and rolled up his sleeves.
"No, no, Ron! You mustn't fight! You might get suspended!" Hermione yelled.
"Put your sleeves back down, Weasley. I didn't do that." Malfoy said.
"Yeah, right." Ron replied.
"Well even if it was me, what are you getting mad for? Why doesn't Potter ever fight for his own damn self?" Malfoy asked. Harry was turning red. He wanted to say something to Malfoy but his mouth was full of squash and he'd look stupid if he tried to speak.
"Well, Malfoy, you see the thing is, I hate you and I gladly take any opportunity I can to grace that irritating, little, rat mug of yours with my fists." Ron replied.
But just then Professor McGonagall came and made Ron go back to his seat. "Ouch! What was that for ?" Malfoy asked, for she had slapped him across the head.
"Just in case." Professor McGonagall replied. "Half of you go up to the library and study and the other half of you go help Hagrid clean up the mess the Deku scrubs made near the Herbology room. Don't think you're going to waste time doing whatever you want. This is still class time, not free time!" she hollered.
Harry, Ron and Hermione went to help Hagrid, ofcourse. Harry and Ron had to talk Hermione into sacrificing her reading time though.
* * *
Harry, and everyone else for that matter, would much rather have remained picking deku nut shells from baby mandrakes' hair than go to potions class, but they had no choice.
Almost everyone who was not a Slytherin hated Professor Snape. Mainly because he hated almost everyone who was not a Slytherin. As the students walked into his classroom, ( which was actually a dungeon ) Professor Snape glowered at them. ( Except Malfoy, his favorite student. )
Luckily for Ron, his mother beckoned him home because of an emergency which we will hear about later.
"Sit down and open your textbooks to page 552. We're going to have a lab that covers most of the topics we learned last year." Professor Snape said. The class responded with grunts, sighs and swears.
"It wouldn't bother you if you'd learned a damn thing last year! But, well
-you're right- I'm asking for too much. You're going to make the Blue Stalfos and Ikana Valley Spell Resistance potions. Do not think you're just going to read the text book or your old notes and throw together some mess.
You'll be graded on each step it takes to make the potions- for example, you'll be given 2 points if you clean your cauldrons out properly. Incase you haven't noticed, there are seven ravens in the room.
There'll be one observing each group and judging whether or not you're doing anything worthwhile. I've been kind enough to place the materials you'll need at each of your desks. Remember - you will be graded for everything.
This is a two hour class and there are three of you at each table so you should be able to finish today. Tomorrow you will drink your potions and I, personally, will be putting them to the test.
A well made Blue Stalfos potion alone can protect you from such curses as Imperius and Cruciatus, which I might use on you so DO A GOOD JOB! Now begin," said Snape, smiling in his spiteful Snape way.
"I hate him," Harry said.
Meanwhile...
"Lo! Wake up, Lolo!" Puck said as he shook Lothlorien, who had fallen asleep after she ate lunch.
"Wha...what happened?" she asked as she woke.
"Get up, you're twenty minutes late for class! You fell asleep," he answered.
"Huh? Why are you just waking me up now?" Lothlorien asked groggily.
"I..uh..was in, you know, where they keep the owls and I didn't notice the time. Come on, we have potions," He said. And they ran down to Professor Snape's room.
The professor was yelling at Neville for neglecting to wash his Stalfos mushrooms when Lothlorien walked in. He became silent and wide eyed.
"Um...I'm sorry I'm late, Professor, but..."
Professor Snape backed off of Neville, looked at Lothlorien and told her to find a seat before she could finish.
"Go sit over there! Next to Potter!" Malfoy said in a loud whisper, pushing Goyle away.
Malfoy stood tall and smiled. "How do you do? I'm Draco Malfoy, and this is my...uh...friend (?) Vincent Crabbe," Malfoy said.
"Hello. I'm Lothlorien," She said with a smile. "What are we doing here? Ikana Valley...sounds familiar," she muttered.
Malfoy was sloppily skinning a silver bog frog.
"Can I do that?" Lothlorien asked.
She skinned the frog while Crabbe washed the mushrooms and herbs and Malfoy mixed some other ingredients. All the while she and Malfoy chatted happily. They became friends quickly.
Harry was watching them from the back, wondering why anyone would be happily talking to Malfoy.
"What the devil do you think you're doing!" Harry said to Goyle, loudly enough to let out his anger but quietly enough not to get Snape involved, for Goyle had shoved him roughly out of his way.
Goyle, who was dumb as an ox, did not realize he shoved Harry and did not hear him either. Since Malfoy was all the way at the front, Goyle didn't find it necessary to bully Harry.
What he was doing, however, was getting in the way of Hermione's work- as she was the only one doing anything useful. She put a sleeping charm on Goyle and he sat down, for he was pacing around looking for an herb he dropped, and fell asleep.
Snape did not notice any of this. He was watching Lothlorien with his supercilious/disinterested expression that he usually wore if he wasn't scowling. He always looked either as if everything bored him or annoyed him.
He seemed to be in a reverie and for an instant a smile -not a spiteful one but a normal one! - appeared on his face and he blushed.
(Surprisingly his blood hadn't forgotten the way to his pale-as-death face.)
Nobody noticed this.
Malfoy, Crabbe and Lothlorien had completed both the Blue Stalfos and Ikana Valley Resistance potions by the time there was ten minutes of class remaining. Malfoy announced that he was done and the everyone else grumbled and sighed.
Professor Snape then examined the potions and, finding nothing wrong with them, bottled them and stood infront of the class.
"Only one group has finished? The rest of you had better hurry up. 50 points to Slytherin, since you three did well," he said.
Lothlorien raised her hand. "I'm in Gryffindor, sir," she said.
Professor Snape never, NEVER gave points to any house beside Slytherin. Especially not Gryffindor. Snape stared at Lothlorien blankly for a few seconds, as if to say "So?", then the bell rung a bit early and everyone bounded out of the classroom.
Ron, who had retuned to school half an hour after classes finished, was looking for Lothlorien but she was once again locked away in her room - having dinner with Puck. He wanted to ask her what it was she had read that made her say something about intrigues.
Ron's emergency was that his father, Arthur Weasley, had been promoted from head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department to Deputy Minister of Magic and his mother wanted the whole family (Hermione and Harry were invited also - if they got permission - they would be missing school days) home on Thursday to celebrate. She wanted to tell them in person so there would be no misunderstandings - it was to be a surprise party and they went over the plans.
"Don't you forget to ask your parents if you can come, Hermione. And you write to Sirius, Harry." Ron said.
Sirius was Harry's godfather and guardian. Since he, Harry, Ron and Hermione had managed to clear Sirius' name by getting a hold of Peter Wormtail the previous year, Harry had been living with Sirius.
No longer did he have to endure putting up with the dreadful Dursleys. Hermione and Harry replied in the positive. Hermione magicked a phone and asked her parents' permission and Harry sent Hedwig to Sirius. They were both allowed to go.
* * *