Note: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling is the official writer of the
books, as you all know.
~ Here's Chapter 11. Please Review. Thanks a bunch!
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Chapter 11: Eggs, Worms and Confessions
It was a cool January, Monday morning and the day where second term starts. After the highly successful Yule Ball, the remaining weeks of the Christmas holidays were spent on doing several paper works and researches left to the students by most of their teachers before first term ended. And now it is the first day of the second term and it seemed that no one in Harry's dormitory were delighted to wake up.
But Harry and his roommates had no choice but to get up. After taking their showers and putting on their robes, the 5 gloomy boys went down the spiral staircase to the common room, wishing that Christmas holidays were extended until February.
"Finally!" Parvati said standing at the foot of the staircase of the boys' dormitories. "Now please hurry up or we'll be late for breakfast!"
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THE GREAT HALL
Busy students packed the Great Hall, the scene you would usually see on a normal school day. Harry and his friends took a seat on the Gryffindor table and started filling their plates up with good Hogwarts food.
"What subject do we have this morning?" Dean asked, spreading butter over his pancakes.
"Ugh. Double Divination." Ron replied having a look of disgust on his face. Parvati and Lavender gave him a sharp look. "and double Potions in the afternoon." He added stuffing his mouth with some blueberry muffin.
"This day is boring . . ." Neville said, stirring his untouched porridge dully.
"Oh c'mon you guys! It's about time our focus returned to our spell books and not to something irrelevant." Hermione said cheerfully. Everyone stared at her with utter disbelief except for Harry who was quite of amused of the way Hermione tries to lighten everybody up.
Things changed between Harry and Hermione after the Yule Ball. After that kiss, they never really talked about it since then and treated each other normally like they used to, though both a bit conscious about their actions towards one another. What both of them feared about was how that moment was witnessed by the whole school but they knew what was coming; whispers and odd stares by people passing by them were no longer a surprise. They would just walk casually pretending not to be bothered though both of them knew inside that it was really awkward.
The bell rang and Harry and his friends, excluding Hermione who was off to Arithmancy class, made their way to the North Tower where Divination class was held.
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DIVINATION TOWER
The scent stung Harry's nose once again as he entered the dim lit Divination classroom. He and Ron made their way to the table they usually occupied. Parvati and Lavender joined them. Ron and Lavender have been good friends these past few weeks. They managed not to argue a lot about shallow things though Lavender got extremely furious one time when she found out that Ron had been making up all his Divination homeworks.
Professor Trelawney waited patiently as everyone settled down and when everyone seemed ready, she spoke with her usual light and misty voice.
"Good Morning my beloved students. Today, we will be learning to foretell the future by Ovomancy." She paused glancing at her students with much interest, her eyes fully magnified by her eyeglasses, and continued. "Ovomancy works by breaking eggs in a container of water and observing the shape of the egg white suspended on it."
Ron snorted. Lavender gave him a light kick from under the table.
"Open your books to page 110 for further instructions. The containers are at the shelves at the back of the room. You can find water filled kettles on top of the long tables to my right. 10 eggs will be distributed to each table. You may now begin."
Everyone got busy collecting the stuff they needed. Neville unfortunately broke one of Professor Trelawney's kettles, spilling water on the floor. Professor Trelawney was distributing 10 eggs to each table, staring at each of her students with great uncertainty. After everyone had what they needed, they immediately started. Harry and Ron were quite glad to be sharing a table with Parvati and Lavender who were the best at this subject. They didn't have to worry about making up stuff again.
"Can you just do this for us?" Ron said hopefully. Parvati and Lavender stared blankly at him, which obviously meant, no.
"Maybe you can just help us . . ." Harry said.
"Fine. I'll help Harry and Lavender, you help Ron."
Ron and Lavender exchanged shy looks. Both blushed.
Harry hated observing odd shapes and figures then later interpreting what the figure meant. He thought it was senseless and Ron shared the same thought too. Parvati broke an egg, removing the yolk and letting the egg white flow thickly as it suspended on the water. She and Harry observed as the egg white formed a sort of cloud shaped figure.
"It's a cloud." Harry said.
"Don't be deceived!" Parvati said sounding a bit like Professor Trelawney. "It may look like a cloud but the Inner Eye knows better. It is indeed a sheep!"
"A sheep?" Harry said incredulously. "That's stupid ---"
"Hush. It means warmth and friendship. Harry, you will be experiencing more warmth and comfort from those closest to you. With this, a stronger and a more unbreakable bond await your relationships. One of which may last for eternity. That of which will lead you in front of the altar."
Harry just stared at her clueless of what she was talking about. Parvati smiled prettily at her puzzled friend. 'In front of the altar?' Harry thought. He pondered about Parvati's prediction in silence.
An apple shaped figure was formed when Lavender broke the egg to predict Ron's future.
"Well that's obvious. It's an apple." Ron said.
"No it isn't." Lavender said observing the figure carefully. "It's a heart."
"Looks like an apple to me!"
"Well no! It is not an apple it's a heart!" Lavender said impatiently. She stared at it in silence. Ron yawned as he stared dully at the apple-shaped figure. His eyes were now feeling tired and weak but he fought hard not to fall asleep. His eyes blinked . . . and blinked . . . until he finally fell into peaceful slumber.
"Ron wake up!"
Harry said shaking Ron hastily for him to wake up. Divination was over and everyone was already heading for the Great Hall for lunch. Ron woke in surprise.
"I fell asleep?! I tried hard not to!" Ron quickly stuffed the Unfogging the Future Year 6 inside his bag and quickly made his way out of the room, with Harry trying hard to catch up with him.
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THE GREAT HALL
Students were busily eating their lunch. Everyone seemed to have a really dull morning. Ron came in the hall running towards Hermione and the others.
"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as Ron settled himself beside her. He glanced at Lavender who was sitting across her, but she was busily reading something written on parchment.
"From the North Tower. . . Ron here, fell asleep." Harry said as he started filling up his plate with Vegetable Bolognese.
"My sister will be starting her first year here next year. . ." Lavender said unexcitedly as she stuffed her mom's letter inside her bag.
"Really? That's nice." Ginny said.
"No it isn't!" Lavender argued. "She's a nasty little brat, if you ask me."
"You have a sister?" Ron asked unbelievingly. He never knew that Lavender has a sister, and has actually never met anyone from her family.
"Y-yeah." Lavender answered. "About 6 years younger than I am."
"Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin next week on Quidditch. You guys wanna watch?" Seamus said changing the topic.
"Nah. . . I've got loads of stuff I gotta do." Dean said thickly, his mouth full of mashed potatoes.
"Oh bloody hell, I forgot about that one! We have our match against Ravenclaw next month!" Ron said in a panicky voice.
"Relax, Ron. We have more than 5 weeks to train." Harry said calmly.
"Wait. Ravenclaw?" Parvati asked in her usual girly tone. "So you have to race up against Cho Chang again?" she added teasingly to Harry. Harry rolled his eyes coldly at Parvati. His feelings for Cho Chang have been long gone. It never really bothers him anymore whenever she's around.
"Oh my gosh. . .I'm so sorry, Hermione!" Parvati said full of remorse.
"What? I don't get it?" Hermione said, clueless.
"I mean. . .I shouldn't have mentioned. . .Cho in front of you. . .knowing that. . . y'know. . ." Parvati's look of guilt turned into a look of teasing. ". . . you and Harry. . ."
Ron snorted. Seamus and Dean chuckled. Hermione stared at Parvati with narrowed eyes as Parvati still smiled teasingly at her.
The bell rang and the students hurriedly dashed out the Great Hall to their respective afternoon classes.
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DUNGEONS
Students were packed at the door of the Potions classroom. They seem to have been looking at something posted on the door. Harry and his friends arrived without a single clue of what was going on.
"What's up? Why aren't they going inside?" Lavender asked, tip-toeing behind the tall Slytherins to see what they were staring at.
"Hey, Brown!" Pansy Parkinson greeted Lavender sourly. As usual, Blaise was with her.
"What do you want pug face?" Ron said harshly. Pansy stared menacingly at Ron.
"Have you seen the parchment posted on the door?" Blaise said girlishly. A couple of students were now entering the classrooms while the other Gryffindors moved closer to see what was written on the parchment.
"Look, if you lay your hands on my Draco I swear, Brown. . .I won't hesitate to hex you. . ." Pansy moved closer to Lavender, staring at her with fuming eyes.
"What?" Lavender said questionably.
"Go see for yourselves." Blaise motioned Ron and Lavender towards the door.
Lavender walked quickly towards the door, Ron following closely behind him.
"Permanent seating arrangements for this term. Great, huh?" Harry said sarcastically.
"What?!" Ron said angrily staring at the parchment. "You're seated next to Malfoy!" he added turning to Lavender, who looked shocked, herself.
"He arranged Gryffindor and Slytherin alternately. I wonder why. . ." Seamus said as he and Parvati entered the classroom.
"C'mon let's go inside. . . We don't wanna be late now, do we?" Hermione pulled Harry towards the classroom. Neville and Dean followed. Ron scowled as he entered the room with speechless Lavender tailing behind him.
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POTIONS CLASSROOM
The students followed the seating arrangement posted outside the door. Professor Snape sat silently on his chair waiting for everyone to settle down. Lavender awkwardly sat beside Draco, who pulled the chair politely for her, to Ron's utter disgust. Ron unfortunately sat next to Blaise Zabini and they were just behind Draco and Lavender. Ron had this sudden urge to hit Draco hard on the head but before he could act a deep, dark voice spoke.
"From now on you'll be seated in that way." Snape said as he stood up from his chair. "You will also be working mostly by pairs during class . . . more complicated antidotes and potions are to be taken up this term. . ." Snape walked slowly, back and forth in front of them.
"Please turn to page 396 of your textbooks. You will see the detailed instructions on how to make a Hairgrowing Potion. Cauldrons and ingredients are already on your desks. Work in pairs. The person beside you will be your partner for the rest of the term. You may now, begin."
Everyone started with their Hairgrowing potion. Ron sulkily opened his book to page 396 while Blaise started cutting the gargoyle ears into strips. Lavender felt awkward, as she crushed 3 pieces of wolf fangs with a mortar and pestle as instructed in the book. Every now and then she glanced back at Ron, but he doesn't seem to notice her glance. Harry was unfortunately paired up with Pansy, who started telling him stories of how great Draco was and that Draco has always been better than him. Hermione was unluckier for being paired up with Goyle, who was just sitting down, doing nothing, leaving all the work to Hermione. Neville was completely bullied by Crabbe, whose only work was to read Neville the instructions on how to do the potion and would threaten Neville if he didn't do it correctly.
It was the worst Potions class especially for the Gryffindors. Ron and Blaise were having a hard time with each other. Ron was so irritable that he didn't realize that he was crushing his vulture claw very hard that it's almost powdery in texture.
"What are you doing?" Blaise said in an annoyed tone. "It's not supposed to be crushed into powder! Weren't you reading the instructions on the book? Couldn't you read?"
"Shut up, I know what I'm doing!" Ron retaliated.
"Professor Snape!" Blaise raised her hand in the air, catching Snape's attention. "Ron Weasley here is not cooperating with me!"
"I am!" Ron answered back angrily. Everyone was now looking at them.
"What is the problem Ms. Zabini?" Professor Snape said as he approached them.
"Ron is not doing what is instructed on the book! If we do this wrong it's all his fault!"
"Oh I would love to test a wrong potion on you, Blaise!" Ron said sarcastically.
"C'mon Ron, just shut up." Hermione whispered to herself as she avoided watching the little scene Ron and Blaise were doing.
"Or maybe this would make you look better!" Ron poured a bowl of soil worms onto Blaise's head, and she screamed in horror. The worms were crawling on her now filthy hair, Blaise in tears, trying to sweep it all off her. A couple of Gryffindors broke into soft laughter. Pansy approached her horrorstruck friend, giving each Gryffindor a look of disgust as she passed by them.
"Ms. Parkinson bring Ms. Zabini to the hospital wing and clean her up." Snape said. Blaise quickly stood up and ran out of the room, Pansy followed.
The Gryffindor students' laughter is now becoming louder (Seamus and Dean in the lead), while the Slytherins remained silent. Professor Snape glared at each Gryffindor with narrowed eyes; noticing this the Gryffindors finally fell silent.
"25 points from Gryffindor!" Snape turned to Ron "And you Mr. Weasley will get a zero in today's activity."
But Ron wasn't bothered at all about getting a zero. He was too happy for pouring worms all over Blaise's head to worry about his Potions grades.
After 2 long hours of brewing potion, finally, the class ended and everyone proceeded to their assigned common rooms.
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GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM
The Gryffindor common room was back to its usual noisy atmosphere during ordinary school days. Harry and his friends sat on the best place in the room, the couch near the fireplace.
"Blaise sure looked pretty with all those worms crawling on her head! Ha!" Seamus said trying to control his laughter.
"She deserved it!" Neville said grinning.
"Hey, what's up? Why are you all so. . . HAPPY?" Ginny came down from the Girls' dormitories and sat next to Parvati.
"Well, Ginny, you're brother here had done something we can never ever forget." Parvati said smiling.
"And what's that?"
"He poured a bowl of soil worms over Blaise Zabini's head!" Parvati said, laughing hysterically.
"Really?!" Ginny said excitedly.
"Too bad you weren't there, Gin. It was absolutely hilarious!" Dean said catching his breath.
"But honestly, Ron you shouldn't have done that. I mean, 25 points were taken from our house. Now Slytherin is in the lead!" Hermione said bossily.
"Hermione, can you just forget about that for a second. . . I mean, we never had a good laugh for a long time!" Harry said smirking.
"I know. . . but. . .Ron got a zero for it!"
"You got a zero? If mom knew about that---"
But before Ginny could finish, a cheerful voice interrupted.
"Knew about what, Ginny?"
"Mum?!" Ron jumped in surprise as he watched Mrs. Weasley's head float by the fire in the fireplace.
"Mrs. Weasley? Where are you?" Harry asked.
"Oh hello Harry. . ." Mrs. Weasley smiled. "I'm here at Grimmauld. . . you know perfectly where." She added in a whisper.
"Well. . . why did you pop out here for?" Ron asked questionably.
"I just wanted to check on you and Ginny. . ."
"Why didn't you just send an owl?"
"Er. . .is Lavender there?" Mrs. Weasley asked cheerfully. Lavender stared at the fire in surprise.
"Yeah mum, she is." Ginny said excitedly. Lavender kneeled in front of the fire next to Ron, smiling at Mrs. Weasley. Ron blushed in embarrassment.
"Oh there you are dear!" Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully. She deifintely likes Lavender.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley." Lavender greeted.
"I've got something for you." Mrs. Weasley placed a box in the fire. "Just a little. . .something I made for you. . .come on now, get the box. . . the fire is harmless. . ."
Lavender slowly reached for the box. Ron was so embarrassed at her mom.
"You should've sent it by owl, mum!" Ron said, his ears turning red.
"Oh shut up, Ron."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." Lavender said nicely.
"Oh it's nothing, Lavender. Well . . . I have to go . . ." Mrs. Weasley turned to Ron. "Your father and I are going to Ludo's place. It's his birthday."
"Oh. . .ok. . .see you, mum." Ron said.
"Bye, mummy." Ginny said, blowing kisses to her mom.
"Goodbye. . .Harry, Hermione. You lot take care now! And Lavender. . .please watch Ron for me will you?" Mrs. Weasley gave her a friendly wink, and suddenly vanishes from the fire.
"I've never seen someone do that before. . ." Neville said in amazement, his eyes still on the fire.
"Mum and dad do that all the time. . ." Ginny said.
"Anyway, it's time for dinner! C'mon guys." Dean said as he hurriedly stood up and walked out of the common room followed by Harry and the others. Before Ron could exit the portrait hole, Lavender called for him from behind.
"Ron!" Lavender approached him. Ron turned to face her.
"Yeah?" Ron asked softly.
"Um. . .I just wanna let you know. . .that. . .you have a wonderful family." Lavender said awkwardly. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I mean. . .yes, you're quite. . .poor but---"
"Not quite." Ron said miserably.
"Ron, Who cares if you're poor?"
"I do! I hate being poor."
"Well I don't mind if you are."
"It's because you're rich. You don't know what we've gone through."
Lavender fell silent. Ron had a point. She came from a wealthy family and never was she aware of what Ron's lifestyle was like. The kindness Mrs.Weasley showed her, touched her so deeply that she wanted to help them.
"Why did you even bring this up?" Ron said softly.
"Nothing. . .I just thought. . .maybe I could help." Lavender said with great difficulty.
"We don't need help." Ron said coldly. "Dad, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George can earn enough money for us."
"Well. . . I thought ---"
"You know what, just forget about it." Ron said in a frown. "It's not your concern."
"It is!" Lavender exclaimed. Ron stared at her in surprise.
"Why?"
"Because I like you!" Lavender said so sudden that she quickly realized that she just revealed her deepest secret. Ron stared at her, shocked.
"I mean. . . I. . .like you. . .as a friend." Lavender said blushing furiously.
"Well. . .I like you too. . ." Ron said nervously. "As a friend, yes. . .but. . .maybe. . .something more than that. . ."
Ron couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. They both stared at each other. Lavender's heart was pounding madly. Ron was so embarrassed, that he wanted to run away. They stared at each other in silence. The silence was broken only by Ginny who entered the common room.
"Hey. . .what are you two doing?" Ginny asked but Ron and Lavender didn't answer. "Dinner's waiting at the Great Hall."
Ron, Lavender and Ginny made their way down to the Great Hall. Ron was still in a state of shock, though he was kind of relieved for at least giving Lavender a clue about how he feels. Lavender on the other hand wanted to scream in joy. She realized how she liked Ron so much. Ginny walked ahead of them as they entered the Great Hall and in a great coincidence Ron and Lavender caught each other's eye once again. They both smiled at each other as they walked towards their friends, Lavender still carrying the box Mrs. Weasley gave her.
End of Chapter 11
~ Please Review!
~ Here's Chapter 11. Please Review. Thanks a bunch!
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Chapter 11: Eggs, Worms and Confessions
It was a cool January, Monday morning and the day where second term starts. After the highly successful Yule Ball, the remaining weeks of the Christmas holidays were spent on doing several paper works and researches left to the students by most of their teachers before first term ended. And now it is the first day of the second term and it seemed that no one in Harry's dormitory were delighted to wake up.
But Harry and his roommates had no choice but to get up. After taking their showers and putting on their robes, the 5 gloomy boys went down the spiral staircase to the common room, wishing that Christmas holidays were extended until February.
"Finally!" Parvati said standing at the foot of the staircase of the boys' dormitories. "Now please hurry up or we'll be late for breakfast!"
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THE GREAT HALL
Busy students packed the Great Hall, the scene you would usually see on a normal school day. Harry and his friends took a seat on the Gryffindor table and started filling their plates up with good Hogwarts food.
"What subject do we have this morning?" Dean asked, spreading butter over his pancakes.
"Ugh. Double Divination." Ron replied having a look of disgust on his face. Parvati and Lavender gave him a sharp look. "and double Potions in the afternoon." He added stuffing his mouth with some blueberry muffin.
"This day is boring . . ." Neville said, stirring his untouched porridge dully.
"Oh c'mon you guys! It's about time our focus returned to our spell books and not to something irrelevant." Hermione said cheerfully. Everyone stared at her with utter disbelief except for Harry who was quite of amused of the way Hermione tries to lighten everybody up.
Things changed between Harry and Hermione after the Yule Ball. After that kiss, they never really talked about it since then and treated each other normally like they used to, though both a bit conscious about their actions towards one another. What both of them feared about was how that moment was witnessed by the whole school but they knew what was coming; whispers and odd stares by people passing by them were no longer a surprise. They would just walk casually pretending not to be bothered though both of them knew inside that it was really awkward.
The bell rang and Harry and his friends, excluding Hermione who was off to Arithmancy class, made their way to the North Tower where Divination class was held.
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DIVINATION TOWER
The scent stung Harry's nose once again as he entered the dim lit Divination classroom. He and Ron made their way to the table they usually occupied. Parvati and Lavender joined them. Ron and Lavender have been good friends these past few weeks. They managed not to argue a lot about shallow things though Lavender got extremely furious one time when she found out that Ron had been making up all his Divination homeworks.
Professor Trelawney waited patiently as everyone settled down and when everyone seemed ready, she spoke with her usual light and misty voice.
"Good Morning my beloved students. Today, we will be learning to foretell the future by Ovomancy." She paused glancing at her students with much interest, her eyes fully magnified by her eyeglasses, and continued. "Ovomancy works by breaking eggs in a container of water and observing the shape of the egg white suspended on it."
Ron snorted. Lavender gave him a light kick from under the table.
"Open your books to page 110 for further instructions. The containers are at the shelves at the back of the room. You can find water filled kettles on top of the long tables to my right. 10 eggs will be distributed to each table. You may now begin."
Everyone got busy collecting the stuff they needed. Neville unfortunately broke one of Professor Trelawney's kettles, spilling water on the floor. Professor Trelawney was distributing 10 eggs to each table, staring at each of her students with great uncertainty. After everyone had what they needed, they immediately started. Harry and Ron were quite glad to be sharing a table with Parvati and Lavender who were the best at this subject. They didn't have to worry about making up stuff again.
"Can you just do this for us?" Ron said hopefully. Parvati and Lavender stared blankly at him, which obviously meant, no.
"Maybe you can just help us . . ." Harry said.
"Fine. I'll help Harry and Lavender, you help Ron."
Ron and Lavender exchanged shy looks. Both blushed.
Harry hated observing odd shapes and figures then later interpreting what the figure meant. He thought it was senseless and Ron shared the same thought too. Parvati broke an egg, removing the yolk and letting the egg white flow thickly as it suspended on the water. She and Harry observed as the egg white formed a sort of cloud shaped figure.
"It's a cloud." Harry said.
"Don't be deceived!" Parvati said sounding a bit like Professor Trelawney. "It may look like a cloud but the Inner Eye knows better. It is indeed a sheep!"
"A sheep?" Harry said incredulously. "That's stupid ---"
"Hush. It means warmth and friendship. Harry, you will be experiencing more warmth and comfort from those closest to you. With this, a stronger and a more unbreakable bond await your relationships. One of which may last for eternity. That of which will lead you in front of the altar."
Harry just stared at her clueless of what she was talking about. Parvati smiled prettily at her puzzled friend. 'In front of the altar?' Harry thought. He pondered about Parvati's prediction in silence.
An apple shaped figure was formed when Lavender broke the egg to predict Ron's future.
"Well that's obvious. It's an apple." Ron said.
"No it isn't." Lavender said observing the figure carefully. "It's a heart."
"Looks like an apple to me!"
"Well no! It is not an apple it's a heart!" Lavender said impatiently. She stared at it in silence. Ron yawned as he stared dully at the apple-shaped figure. His eyes were now feeling tired and weak but he fought hard not to fall asleep. His eyes blinked . . . and blinked . . . until he finally fell into peaceful slumber.
"Ron wake up!"
Harry said shaking Ron hastily for him to wake up. Divination was over and everyone was already heading for the Great Hall for lunch. Ron woke in surprise.
"I fell asleep?! I tried hard not to!" Ron quickly stuffed the Unfogging the Future Year 6 inside his bag and quickly made his way out of the room, with Harry trying hard to catch up with him.
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THE GREAT HALL
Students were busily eating their lunch. Everyone seemed to have a really dull morning. Ron came in the hall running towards Hermione and the others.
"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as Ron settled himself beside her. He glanced at Lavender who was sitting across her, but she was busily reading something written on parchment.
"From the North Tower. . . Ron here, fell asleep." Harry said as he started filling up his plate with Vegetable Bolognese.
"My sister will be starting her first year here next year. . ." Lavender said unexcitedly as she stuffed her mom's letter inside her bag.
"Really? That's nice." Ginny said.
"No it isn't!" Lavender argued. "She's a nasty little brat, if you ask me."
"You have a sister?" Ron asked unbelievingly. He never knew that Lavender has a sister, and has actually never met anyone from her family.
"Y-yeah." Lavender answered. "About 6 years younger than I am."
"Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin next week on Quidditch. You guys wanna watch?" Seamus said changing the topic.
"Nah. . . I've got loads of stuff I gotta do." Dean said thickly, his mouth full of mashed potatoes.
"Oh bloody hell, I forgot about that one! We have our match against Ravenclaw next month!" Ron said in a panicky voice.
"Relax, Ron. We have more than 5 weeks to train." Harry said calmly.
"Wait. Ravenclaw?" Parvati asked in her usual girly tone. "So you have to race up against Cho Chang again?" she added teasingly to Harry. Harry rolled his eyes coldly at Parvati. His feelings for Cho Chang have been long gone. It never really bothers him anymore whenever she's around.
"Oh my gosh. . .I'm so sorry, Hermione!" Parvati said full of remorse.
"What? I don't get it?" Hermione said, clueless.
"I mean. . .I shouldn't have mentioned. . .Cho in front of you. . .knowing that. . . y'know. . ." Parvati's look of guilt turned into a look of teasing. ". . . you and Harry. . ."
Ron snorted. Seamus and Dean chuckled. Hermione stared at Parvati with narrowed eyes as Parvati still smiled teasingly at her.
The bell rang and the students hurriedly dashed out the Great Hall to their respective afternoon classes.
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DUNGEONS
Students were packed at the door of the Potions classroom. They seem to have been looking at something posted on the door. Harry and his friends arrived without a single clue of what was going on.
"What's up? Why aren't they going inside?" Lavender asked, tip-toeing behind the tall Slytherins to see what they were staring at.
"Hey, Brown!" Pansy Parkinson greeted Lavender sourly. As usual, Blaise was with her.
"What do you want pug face?" Ron said harshly. Pansy stared menacingly at Ron.
"Have you seen the parchment posted on the door?" Blaise said girlishly. A couple of students were now entering the classrooms while the other Gryffindors moved closer to see what was written on the parchment.
"Look, if you lay your hands on my Draco I swear, Brown. . .I won't hesitate to hex you. . ." Pansy moved closer to Lavender, staring at her with fuming eyes.
"What?" Lavender said questionably.
"Go see for yourselves." Blaise motioned Ron and Lavender towards the door.
Lavender walked quickly towards the door, Ron following closely behind him.
"Permanent seating arrangements for this term. Great, huh?" Harry said sarcastically.
"What?!" Ron said angrily staring at the parchment. "You're seated next to Malfoy!" he added turning to Lavender, who looked shocked, herself.
"He arranged Gryffindor and Slytherin alternately. I wonder why. . ." Seamus said as he and Parvati entered the classroom.
"C'mon let's go inside. . . We don't wanna be late now, do we?" Hermione pulled Harry towards the classroom. Neville and Dean followed. Ron scowled as he entered the room with speechless Lavender tailing behind him.
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POTIONS CLASSROOM
The students followed the seating arrangement posted outside the door. Professor Snape sat silently on his chair waiting for everyone to settle down. Lavender awkwardly sat beside Draco, who pulled the chair politely for her, to Ron's utter disgust. Ron unfortunately sat next to Blaise Zabini and they were just behind Draco and Lavender. Ron had this sudden urge to hit Draco hard on the head but before he could act a deep, dark voice spoke.
"From now on you'll be seated in that way." Snape said as he stood up from his chair. "You will also be working mostly by pairs during class . . . more complicated antidotes and potions are to be taken up this term. . ." Snape walked slowly, back and forth in front of them.
"Please turn to page 396 of your textbooks. You will see the detailed instructions on how to make a Hairgrowing Potion. Cauldrons and ingredients are already on your desks. Work in pairs. The person beside you will be your partner for the rest of the term. You may now, begin."
Everyone started with their Hairgrowing potion. Ron sulkily opened his book to page 396 while Blaise started cutting the gargoyle ears into strips. Lavender felt awkward, as she crushed 3 pieces of wolf fangs with a mortar and pestle as instructed in the book. Every now and then she glanced back at Ron, but he doesn't seem to notice her glance. Harry was unfortunately paired up with Pansy, who started telling him stories of how great Draco was and that Draco has always been better than him. Hermione was unluckier for being paired up with Goyle, who was just sitting down, doing nothing, leaving all the work to Hermione. Neville was completely bullied by Crabbe, whose only work was to read Neville the instructions on how to do the potion and would threaten Neville if he didn't do it correctly.
It was the worst Potions class especially for the Gryffindors. Ron and Blaise were having a hard time with each other. Ron was so irritable that he didn't realize that he was crushing his vulture claw very hard that it's almost powdery in texture.
"What are you doing?" Blaise said in an annoyed tone. "It's not supposed to be crushed into powder! Weren't you reading the instructions on the book? Couldn't you read?"
"Shut up, I know what I'm doing!" Ron retaliated.
"Professor Snape!" Blaise raised her hand in the air, catching Snape's attention. "Ron Weasley here is not cooperating with me!"
"I am!" Ron answered back angrily. Everyone was now looking at them.
"What is the problem Ms. Zabini?" Professor Snape said as he approached them.
"Ron is not doing what is instructed on the book! If we do this wrong it's all his fault!"
"Oh I would love to test a wrong potion on you, Blaise!" Ron said sarcastically.
"C'mon Ron, just shut up." Hermione whispered to herself as she avoided watching the little scene Ron and Blaise were doing.
"Or maybe this would make you look better!" Ron poured a bowl of soil worms onto Blaise's head, and she screamed in horror. The worms were crawling on her now filthy hair, Blaise in tears, trying to sweep it all off her. A couple of Gryffindors broke into soft laughter. Pansy approached her horrorstruck friend, giving each Gryffindor a look of disgust as she passed by them.
"Ms. Parkinson bring Ms. Zabini to the hospital wing and clean her up." Snape said. Blaise quickly stood up and ran out of the room, Pansy followed.
The Gryffindor students' laughter is now becoming louder (Seamus and Dean in the lead), while the Slytherins remained silent. Professor Snape glared at each Gryffindor with narrowed eyes; noticing this the Gryffindors finally fell silent.
"25 points from Gryffindor!" Snape turned to Ron "And you Mr. Weasley will get a zero in today's activity."
But Ron wasn't bothered at all about getting a zero. He was too happy for pouring worms all over Blaise's head to worry about his Potions grades.
After 2 long hours of brewing potion, finally, the class ended and everyone proceeded to their assigned common rooms.
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GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM
The Gryffindor common room was back to its usual noisy atmosphere during ordinary school days. Harry and his friends sat on the best place in the room, the couch near the fireplace.
"Blaise sure looked pretty with all those worms crawling on her head! Ha!" Seamus said trying to control his laughter.
"She deserved it!" Neville said grinning.
"Hey, what's up? Why are you all so. . . HAPPY?" Ginny came down from the Girls' dormitories and sat next to Parvati.
"Well, Ginny, you're brother here had done something we can never ever forget." Parvati said smiling.
"And what's that?"
"He poured a bowl of soil worms over Blaise Zabini's head!" Parvati said, laughing hysterically.
"Really?!" Ginny said excitedly.
"Too bad you weren't there, Gin. It was absolutely hilarious!" Dean said catching his breath.
"But honestly, Ron you shouldn't have done that. I mean, 25 points were taken from our house. Now Slytherin is in the lead!" Hermione said bossily.
"Hermione, can you just forget about that for a second. . . I mean, we never had a good laugh for a long time!" Harry said smirking.
"I know. . . but. . .Ron got a zero for it!"
"You got a zero? If mom knew about that---"
But before Ginny could finish, a cheerful voice interrupted.
"Knew about what, Ginny?"
"Mum?!" Ron jumped in surprise as he watched Mrs. Weasley's head float by the fire in the fireplace.
"Mrs. Weasley? Where are you?" Harry asked.
"Oh hello Harry. . ." Mrs. Weasley smiled. "I'm here at Grimmauld. . . you know perfectly where." She added in a whisper.
"Well. . . why did you pop out here for?" Ron asked questionably.
"I just wanted to check on you and Ginny. . ."
"Why didn't you just send an owl?"
"Er. . .is Lavender there?" Mrs. Weasley asked cheerfully. Lavender stared at the fire in surprise.
"Yeah mum, she is." Ginny said excitedly. Lavender kneeled in front of the fire next to Ron, smiling at Mrs. Weasley. Ron blushed in embarrassment.
"Oh there you are dear!" Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully. She deifintely likes Lavender.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley." Lavender greeted.
"I've got something for you." Mrs. Weasley placed a box in the fire. "Just a little. . .something I made for you. . .come on now, get the box. . . the fire is harmless. . ."
Lavender slowly reached for the box. Ron was so embarrassed at her mom.
"You should've sent it by owl, mum!" Ron said, his ears turning red.
"Oh shut up, Ron."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." Lavender said nicely.
"Oh it's nothing, Lavender. Well . . . I have to go . . ." Mrs. Weasley turned to Ron. "Your father and I are going to Ludo's place. It's his birthday."
"Oh. . .ok. . .see you, mum." Ron said.
"Bye, mummy." Ginny said, blowing kisses to her mom.
"Goodbye. . .Harry, Hermione. You lot take care now! And Lavender. . .please watch Ron for me will you?" Mrs. Weasley gave her a friendly wink, and suddenly vanishes from the fire.
"I've never seen someone do that before. . ." Neville said in amazement, his eyes still on the fire.
"Mum and dad do that all the time. . ." Ginny said.
"Anyway, it's time for dinner! C'mon guys." Dean said as he hurriedly stood up and walked out of the common room followed by Harry and the others. Before Ron could exit the portrait hole, Lavender called for him from behind.
"Ron!" Lavender approached him. Ron turned to face her.
"Yeah?" Ron asked softly.
"Um. . .I just wanna let you know. . .that. . .you have a wonderful family." Lavender said awkwardly. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I mean. . .yes, you're quite. . .poor but---"
"Not quite." Ron said miserably.
"Ron, Who cares if you're poor?"
"I do! I hate being poor."
"Well I don't mind if you are."
"It's because you're rich. You don't know what we've gone through."
Lavender fell silent. Ron had a point. She came from a wealthy family and never was she aware of what Ron's lifestyle was like. The kindness Mrs.Weasley showed her, touched her so deeply that she wanted to help them.
"Why did you even bring this up?" Ron said softly.
"Nothing. . .I just thought. . .maybe I could help." Lavender said with great difficulty.
"We don't need help." Ron said coldly. "Dad, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George can earn enough money for us."
"Well. . . I thought ---"
"You know what, just forget about it." Ron said in a frown. "It's not your concern."
"It is!" Lavender exclaimed. Ron stared at her in surprise.
"Why?"
"Because I like you!" Lavender said so sudden that she quickly realized that she just revealed her deepest secret. Ron stared at her, shocked.
"I mean. . . I. . .like you. . .as a friend." Lavender said blushing furiously.
"Well. . .I like you too. . ." Ron said nervously. "As a friend, yes. . .but. . .maybe. . .something more than that. . ."
Ron couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. They both stared at each other. Lavender's heart was pounding madly. Ron was so embarrassed, that he wanted to run away. They stared at each other in silence. The silence was broken only by Ginny who entered the common room.
"Hey. . .what are you two doing?" Ginny asked but Ron and Lavender didn't answer. "Dinner's waiting at the Great Hall."
Ron, Lavender and Ginny made their way down to the Great Hall. Ron was still in a state of shock, though he was kind of relieved for at least giving Lavender a clue about how he feels. Lavender on the other hand wanted to scream in joy. She realized how she liked Ron so much. Ginny walked ahead of them as they entered the Great Hall and in a great coincidence Ron and Lavender caught each other's eye once again. They both smiled at each other as they walked towards their friends, Lavender still carrying the box Mrs. Weasley gave her.
End of Chapter 11
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