Hey all you readers who were so kind to read this. I hope this is a good chapter.
::::::::Celina K2 = thanks to my first reviewer! Here, have a cupcake.
Ron awoke the next morning with someone pounding on the door. He reluctantly got up, tousle-haired and groggy. The party had gone on until two a.m., when finally Professor Mcgonagall came in and ordered them to bed. The noise did not subside, so Ron ripped open the door and thrust his head out, not bothering to see who it was.
"What the bloody hell to you want?" he said crossly, "Can't I get a few hours in peace? Go-"
"Ron!" It was Hermione, just as mad. "What do you mean, a few hours? You've had ten! We're going to be late for potions."
"Oh, good heavens!" he said, throwing his hands up in mock exclamation. "Why on earth would I ever want to miss that!"
"Where's Harry, By the way?" Ron asked as they hurried to the dungeons.
"He's already there. I said I'd go and get you."
"How kind of you," grumbled Ron. Harry wouldn't have scolded me, he thought.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, who needs ten hours of sleep?"
Ron just shrugged.
They reached Professor Snape's class just as he himself entered.
"You're late, Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger. Explain yourselves." He said softly.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I – er – fell. I tripped on the stairs, that's why we're late." Said Hermione quickly.
"Well perhaps you should be more careful, you clumsy girl. Ten points from Gryffindor for tardiness. Now go to a table." Snape said icily. He turned and started walking into the room.
"You're late, too," Ron mumbled angrily. Unfortunately Snape heard him.
He stopped and twisted around to Ron walking slowly up to him. Hermione groaned.
"Another ten points from noble Griffindor," he smirked. "Now get in and keep quiet, unless you want more points taken from your House." He snapped.
The Slytherins were sniggering silently. Hermione and Ron made their way to the table where Harry was at while Snape swept away to the front of the class.
"Throughout the week we will be going through a series of advanced elemental potions that can turn the user into that element. Today we will try earth. The directions for this potion -" He made sweep with his wand "- are on the blackboard. You have thirty minutes. Begin now." He walked around his desk and, upon sitting down, began scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment.
"No Harry, that's too much crushed scarab beetle," Hermione told Harry.
"I wish Snape was a crushed beetle," Ron growled as Harry corrected his amount.
"Oh Ron, stop it. You should not have said that remark" said Hermione to him.
"Why are you defending him? Didn't you hear what he called you? That dirty, greasy-haired….." he was glaring at Snape, not paying attention to what he was doing. His cauldron was now overflowing with smoggy brown foam that smelled strongly of rancid milk.
"Ron!" Hermione shouted.
Ron suddenly realized his potion. Desperately he tried to reverse it but to no avail. With an explosion like dynamite his cauldron burst apart and he was blown ten feet back into one of the stone walls. His potion splattered the dungeon walls along with all the students. Harry and Hermione tried to get to Ron to see if he was alright through all the billowing black smoke filling the room.
"Ron! Ron, are you okay?" They called through the haze. They heard a groan ahead of them and were suddenly on the ground. There was Ron. He was covered in black soot and was holding his head. They had tripped over him.
"Ron, you okay?" asked Harry while Hermione helped him up.
"I think so -" he started.
"ENOUGH!"
Snape muttered an incantation and immediately the room was clear of smoke. All the students were looking dazed, many of them had hit into each other in the confusion. Snape was shaking with fury and his face was contorted with rage. He walked slowly up to Harry, Hermione and Ron, who back away into the wall.
"I didn't believe it possible, but you are worse at potion then I could ever have imagined, Mr. Weasley," he said dangerously soft. "Twenty five points from Gryffindor and detention, Weasley, for causing such a mess in my class. You may all leave," he added to the class.
Finally out of Potions, Harry, Hermione and Ron encountered their blond nemesis, Draco Malfoy.
"Great show, Weasel," he sneered, "Do it again next Potions. Maybe someone will pay to see it. Then perhaps you'll get enough money so you're mum could get some help with her weight."
The Slytherins howled with laughter. Both Harry and Ron pulled out their wands and made for Malfoy, but Hermione grabbed their arms.
"Oh, real witty, Malfoy," she snapped at him. "Come on guys, lets go," she muttered to Ron and Harry, who were shooting daggers at him.
"Uh, oh. Better wash your hands, you two. Don't want the disgusting Mudblood to infect you." He laughed along with the Slytherins.
Harry and Ron pointed their wands at him and before Hermione could stop them, yelled in unison, "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Malfoy flew backwards and slammed into the dungeon wall. Pansy Parkinson squealed and ran to him.
"Take that, you filthy ferret. Don't ever call her that again or Next time I'll actually try to hurt you," Ron said in a dangerously low voice.
Harry, who had been grinning at Malfoy sprawled on the floor, looked over at Ron in surprise. He had never heard him speak like that. Hermione, too, was shocked. Malfoy glared at Ron, but didn't speak. Cold fury was in his eyes as he wiped away the blood from his mouth.
"MR. WEASLEY!"
Ron almost dropped his wand in surprise as Professor Mcgonagall came hurrying down the hall.
"And Mr. Potter. You will come with me at once to my office. Ms. Parkinson, take Mr. Malfoy to the infirmary. Ms. Granger, you will come with me, too."
Hermione looked confused as she walked with Harry and Ron behind the infuriated Professor Mcgonagall. She looked at Ron, but he was staring at the floor. When she looked at Harry, he shrugged.
They reached Professor Mcgonagall's office and she motioned for them to go in.
"Sit down," she said sternly.
Harry sat down in one of the chairs in front of Professor Mcgonagall's desk. Hermione sat next to him, and Ron, after a moments pause, sat down next to her.
"Now," Mcgonagall said after sitting behind her desk herself, "I want you to tell me what happened in the dungeons."
A very tense pause followed her words. Mcgonagall glared from one guilty face to the next. Finally Ron sighed and looked up at her.
"I was mad because I dropped a vile in Potions, and I took it out on Malfoy."
Hermione and Harry looked at Ron. Professor Mcgonagall turned sharply to them, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. They tried to make their faces as neutral as possible as she stared at them. Still suspicious, she turned back to Ron.
"You were angry just because you dropped a vile?" she inquired.
"It was a mixture of small events," shrugged Ron.
After staring at Ron for what seemed like forever, Mcgonagall sighed.
"Very well. I must say I'm disappointed in you. Forty points from Gryffindor for attacking another student," she said. "You may go. Not you, Ms. Granger," she added.
Hermione's eyebrows were high in her bangs as she sat back down in her chair.
"Meet you back in the common room," Harry muttered to her. She nodded in reply.
As Harry and Ron left the office, Madam Pomfrey came bustling past them into it. Harry's attention turned back to Ron. He was going to find out what was happening right now.
"Ron, what's the matter?" he asked as they made their way to the Gryffindor tower.
"What do you mean?" Ron said airily.
"Ron, what happened back there? You never spoke like that before."
"He got on my nerves, that's all," dismissed Ron.
"He's gotten on your nerves before, and you never did that," Harry persisted.
"Well now I did," Ron said curtly.
Harry stopped his questions. He knew he wasn't going to get anything out of him.
"Checkmate," said Ron. His bishop moved to Harry's king and smashed it to bits. "Another game?"
"No, I can't stand losing so many times," said Harry grumpily.
At that moment Hermione came through the portrait hole.
"Hi guys. Why don't we go down for dinner?" she asked.
"Hey, Hermione. Sure, how about it, Ron?" Harry said cheerfully.
"All right," agreed Ron.
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Thanx for reading. More is coming, believe me so review if you want it.
^.^
