Chapter 5
'Who the hell does she think she is!' thought an enraged Harry as he stomped his way down to the dungeons for the first class of the year: potions. He was still fuming from his encounter with Pansy in front of the Great Hall a few minutes before. 'She's just lucky that those people came out of the Hall when they did. If I ever get her alone… she'll be in trouble.' His internal rantings had brought him to the door of his potions class without him even realizing it. He waited outside the door for a few seconds hoping that his anger would subside. The last thing he needed was to go off on Snape and lose points for Gryffindor or worse get detention. He took a deep breath and opened the door to walk in.
She made her way through the crowds of students to make her way to the dungeons for potions. She didn't know which emotion she felt more, anger or relief. If those people hadn't come out of the Great Hall when they did, there's no telling what would have happened. 'I probably would've ended up in the hospital wing, that's what would have happened. How dare he threaten me. He'll pay,' thought Pansy as she neared the potions classroom. She stopped just before to collect herself mentally, then she stepped inside. She was quite pleased to see that Harry had not arrived yet. Then she remembered, 'That's right, he took the long way! Idiot,' she thought happily. 'I hope he's late. Snape'll murder him.' Pansy turned to look at Ron and Hermione. They were immersed in a deep conversation. Hermione looked worried so Pansy figured they were talking about Harry. She vaguely wondered if the even noticed him leaving the Great Hall. Just then the door opened and Snape walked in. Everyone fell silent at once. A small smile crept on Pansy's face. Even though there were still a few minutes until class officially started, Snape would be livid that Harry got there after he did.
Snape looked around. A small sneer crept across his own face, much like Pansy's. "And where, might I ask is Mr. Potter?" As if on cue Harry came walking in. he looked at no one and just went straight to his usual seat at the back of the dungeon next to Ron and Hermione. However, instead of sitting next to them, he sat in between them. The looked slightly confused but said nothing. 'Maybe they'll notice me if I'm keeping them apart,' he thought cruelly, 'Serves them right.'
"Now that Mr. Potter has decided to grace us with his presence, we shall begin. Oh, and by the way, five points from Gryffindor. I shall expect my students, at least the competent ones, to arrive here before I do so that when I do arrive we can begin…with no interruptions," said Snape, glaring at Harry. Harry tried to pretend like he didn't here what Snape had said, but he was so angry that there was a funny ringing in his ears. "Now, I want to inform you all that for the first few weeks of this class you will be working with partners. You will work with the same person for one week and then you will switch. We will keep doing this until everyone has been partnered with everyone." One look around the class would tell you that no one was happy. The entire class looked mutinous, including the Slytherins who usually adore Snape. One of the students quickly raised their hands.
"Excuse me Professor, but we only have to partner once with everyone from our own house right?" asked Malfoy hopefully.
"No, Mr. Malfoy. You will partner once with everyone in the class. There will be emno/em exceptions. Do I make myself clear?" replied Snape. He took the silence as a yes.
The same thought was racing through every student's mind: we have to work with one of them?! But perhaps the four student who were most outraged were Harry, Ron Hermione and Pansy. Ron and Hermione couldn't stand the thought of working with any one but each other, Harry couldn't stand the thought of working with Pansy and Draco, and Pansy would just as rather shave her head than have to work with Harry. However, Pansy unlike the other three thought of marvelous possibilities. 'I could ruin the potion and blame it on him!' she thought excitedly. She thought perhaps it would all be a waist of time.
Snape continued, "Listen carefully because I will be calling out the names of the parings for this week: Malfoy and Longbottom (Neville looked like he wanted to cry), Weasley and Goyle (Ron let out a very audible groan), Finnigan and Crabbe, Granger and Bulstrode (Hermione looked rather frightened but determined all the same, nothing would get in the way of her getting a perfect score), Potter and- both Harry and Pansy waited for the worst- Parkinson. Both of their fears had been confirmed. Snape continued on without a care in the world. Harry could have killed Snape right there, but thought it a bad idea. Pansy, however, placed and evil grin on her face and turned to look at Harry. They locked eyes for a moment and the hatred between them was thicker than the air, so thick you could choke on it. Harry thought he actually might. He decided to send Pansy a silent warning. He reached inside his robes and casually pulled out his wand. He began twirling it in his fingers as he looked at Pansy. She got the message loud and clear and turned back around in her seat.
Snape's voice rang through the dungeon once more. "Now that you have all been partnered you will sit with you partner for the remainder of the week and work on the potion. Today we will be doing preparatory work. First you will take notes then you will set up your cauldrons. Well, what are you waiting for? Sit next to your partners!" Everyone grudgingly did as they were told. Ron and Hermione were acting as though they were never going to see each other again and it made Harry sick. He almost wished he didn't have to partner either of them. Then again, he thought, it would be better than partnering Pansy. 'Not by much,' he thought. He went to sit next to Pansy. He never looked at her once. He simply sat, took out some parchment and began listening intently to Snape.
"Now, the first thing I must tell you is the potion you will be making. It will be a potion that will allow you to see a persons most recent memories," said Snape cruelly. It is quite complex and will take the entire week to brew. Now listen carefully, we will be working with a few dangerous ingredients over the next few weeks. One of those ingredients we will be using tomorrow. The ingredient is ground dragon fangs and it is highly dangerous. You will need to measure it out almost exactly for your potion to be successful. If you put too little you will have top begin the potion from scratch. However, if you put too much the results could be deadly. Your potion could either explode in your face or cause the person who drinks it to become delusional. All the would see are memories instead of what is happening right in front of them. I cannot stress the importance of paying direct attention to the notes I am about to put on the board." With a flick of his wrist, Snape had put the ingredients and the procedure of the potion on the board. Everyone began to take down exactly what they were. No one wanted to mess this up, no one except for Pansy. She already had a plan forming. Taking down the notes took the rest of the class. With a few minutes to go, Snape added one last thing. "Professor Dumbledore thinks me a competent enough teacher to give you students this potion and the ones to follow. Do not prove him wrong. When you are finished you are dismissed."
Everyone made sure that they had gotten the notes word for word before they left. After class the Gryffindors went to Herbology while the Slytherins went to Transfiguration. The rest of the day went by without incidents. Unless you count Harry and Pansy glaring at each other from across the Great Hall at lunch and dinner. For the rest of the day Harry made sure he was not alone while Pansy was around. He was afraid of what he might do to her. When he went to bed that night, he still could not believe that he had waisted his time caring about her or her problems. 'Whatever it was, I'm sure she deserved it,' he thought. He fell asleep seeing Pansy's crying face in his mind.
He found himself in the Great Hall looking for a snack. He wondered why he didn't just go to the kitchen. He looked around and found all of the tables empty. Then he saw someone else come through the doors. Someone in green silk pajamas that had blonde hair. She was crying. He wanted to help whoever it was. When he moved closer and saw who it was, he was shocked.
"Pansy?!" he cried in disbelief. Her tears seemed to be never ending. Her pajamas were wet with them. How long had she been crying? Then, in a split second she had changed. She was in her school uniform and she was no longer crying, but smirking instead.
"What's the matter Potty, did your friends leave you all alone…again?" she was smiling wickedly, and Harry felt all of his sympathy disappear. He wanted to hurt Pansy, hurt her so she would feel what he felt.
His wand was in his hand. He didn't know how it got there and he didn't care. He raised it. He remembered the words of an enemy, "You have to really mean it. You have to want to cause pain. You have to enjoy it." He focused all of the anger he had ever felt. "CRUCIO!" he yelled. Pansy's sceams filled the Hall and echoed horribly off the walls. Harry was smiling and yelling at the same time, "NOW YOU KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!" he lowered his wand and walked over to Pansy. She was in her pajamas again and crying harder than ever.
She looked up at Harry. "Why…father?" was all she whispered before she passed out.
He woke. He felt awful. He hated Pansy, but not that much. Was he really capable of that? And why did she call him "father"?