Chapter VIII: N.E.W.T. Herbology
The silence between Harry and Ron was not as awful as Harry thought it would have been. That night, Ron switched rooms with Neville so that he and Harry did not have to spend their nights near each other. As far as he knew, Hermione did not know what had happened and assumed it was just 'boy stuff'.
In the morning during breakfast, Harry did not go to the Great Hall but instead asked Neville to bring back some food for him. He spent the morning doing homework that he had forgotten to do. That day, he had Potions 107 first, which was basically a remedial Potions class for a seventh year student. Snape had almost failed him the previous year, so he had to do the basics. He didn't mind though since his teacher was Flitwick.
After Potions, Harry a double of N.E.W.T. Herbology. He didn't really want any NEWT level course, but it looked good if you had some. Then, he would have his lunch break with Dumbledore, and then his favorite class with Charlie. Medieval Dragons was a new course and would only be offered for a few years or however long Charlie would be around.
And so after Harry attacked his small breakfast that Neville had nibbled on the way to the Gryffindor Tower, he headed to the Potions room. As he walked inside, the first person he saw was Cho. He hadn't seen her in what seemed like an eternity even though he saw her in the hallways the other day. The last person he thought would be taking a remedial Potions class was Cho but there she was, sitting there all alone and staring into her notebook.
Harry did not know what to say. They had stopped talking for most of their 6th year but never stopped completely being friends. He knew Cho always thought that he and Hermione were a couple; yet, that was never true at all.
"Hello," Harry said in a tranquil voice. He placed his hand on Cho's desk and smiled politely.
"Oh, Harry," she responded. "I heard what you said about Ron during breakfast yesterday."
Great, Harry thought, now my chances are ruined. She probably thinks I'm a jerk when all I said was the truth!
She continued. "Is it true that they're 'together' now?"
Harry's face froze. It was probably a false rumor but a very good one for him. Harry nodded. "Yes. Ron has liked Hermione for a while. They've been on and off."
She smiled. "So, if Ron's with Hermione, does that mean you and her aren't…" She trailed off, watching Harry's face closely.
"Ah, never. We're just friends. I've told you that before. Didn't you believe me then?"
"Well, of course," Cho lied. "Hey, now that we have a class together… Maybe we can study tonight?"
Is she asking me on a date? Harry asked himself. Maybe. But wait, Snape and his stupid detention…
"I can't! I have detention from 8 to 10."
Cho seemed disappointed. "That's dreadful, but all right, another day then. Oh, here come our fellow students."
Harry turned to watch a few Ravenclaw 7th years stroll in, two Slytherins (Crabbe and Goyle without their ringleader) and three Hufflepuff students. Behind them came Professor Flitwick. He jumped onto the desk, pointed upward with his wand and shouted, "Welcome! Let's skip the formalities and start making some potions!"
***
After class, Harry walked Cho to her Magical Creatures class hosted by Hagrid of course. He desperately wanted to kiss her, but he got a hug instead. As they squeezed each other, Ron walked by with Hermione by his side staring at the two hugging. Luckily, Harry did not see them and was too busy thinking about how much he dreaded spending his nights with Snape.
About ten minutes later, Harry found himself outside his Herbology room. Inside there were nine students who he did not know at all. They were all in other houses except for one, Luna Lovegood. Just as Harry was about to sit down, Draco Malfoy walked into the room wearing his shiny Head Boy badge and carrying his sparkling blue Silverstar in his hand.
"Miss Lillifoot? Where should I place my Silverstar?" He asked in an obnoxious voice. The short teacher with long red and blonde hair braided all over the place pointed to the corner of the room. She did not seem impressed at all by Malfoy, which pleased Harry very much.
"Find a seat young man," she said to Draco.
"Oh, Draco, there is a seat right here," Harry said, patting the seat next to him. This will be perfect, thought Harry. If Harry had to suffer a class with Malfoy, he might as well make Draco suffer as well.
Malfoy glanced around the room to find another seat. The only other empty one was next to Luna Lovegood, or rather Looney. It seemed as though Draco was willing to put up with her than Harry when he began to walk in the other direction.
"Mister Malfoy! The boy here has offered you a seat! But a good lad and sit up here near me."
Draco's eyes widened. He wanted to ignore his new teacher but knew he could not. After a few seconds, Draco sat down next to Harry and grabbed his parchment.
"Now class, we shall start out our long time together with a basic quiz. I will assign each of you a partner. You will quiz each other using the questions I pass out by performing whatever task is given and identifying what you've made. The team that gets the most questions right will receive points for their houses. The team that gets the fewest questions right will lose points."
Miss Lillifoot grabbed a stack of papers and tossed them in the air.
"Are you mad?" Draco asked, watching the papers fly everywhere.
"Perhaps," she responded and took out her wand. "Sedabitis!"
Suddenly, all the papers organized themselves in the air and fell in front of each student neatly stacked. The teacher smiled and turned to Draco.
"You, Mister Malfoy, will be partnered up with," she looked around the room. As her eyes met Harry's, Harry shook his head and begged with his eyes not to be with Malfoy. He actually wanted points this time. "Luna Lovegood."
"Ugh," Draco said and walked across the room to her.
"Harry Potter," she said. "Well, actually… May I see your…"
He already knew what she was going to ask. He lifted his hair covering his scar and leaned forward.
"Amazing. Well, now, pick a partner," she told him.
"Wait a minute! I didn't get to pick!" Draco yelled, hearing that Harry could chose whoever he wished.
"Because you, Mister Malfoy, need to learn some manners! Next time you shout out I will deduct points."
"That's not fair at all!"
"Twenty-five points from Slytherin!"
He was smart enough to shut up while he was ahead. After Harry chuckled a bit, he turned his head around the room and really did not recognize anyone. Suddenly, he got an idea.
"Could you be my partner, Miss Lillifoot?" he asked.
"Well, I would really like you to pick a classmate."
"But we have an uneven number anyway. Either that or I'd have to pair up with another group."
Lillifoot thought to herself and fiddled with her plaid overall button. "All right. Find a group you would like to work with. Hurry up now."
Harry smiled. He knew just whom he would partner up with. He got up quickly and raced to the opposite side of the room. Then, after tapping the shoulder of Draco, Harry said,
"Hey, Draco, buddy! I'm joining your group here!"
Malfoy sneered. "What? Fine, sit down, Potter. Wait, why would you want to be my partner?"
Harry thought quickly of a response. "I'm sorry Draco, but I must confess that you are rather brilliant, and I need your help." He tried not to laugh.
"About time," Draco said. "Now, I'll quiz you first. Using a…" Draco looked up.
"Continue please."
"Using a broomstick in the room, sweep the floor and sills of dust and dirt. Collect enough to fill up a teaspoon. Then, mix it with the water provided. Add a drop of liver oil at the end. Once completed, you will identify the mixture you made and what plants it would benefit."
Harry grinned. There was a stack of ugly broomsticks in the corner used for sweeping, and then, there was the Silverstar. Harry got up and motioned toward the ugly ones. At the last second, he grabbed Draco's Silverstar.
"What are you doing?" Draco yelled across the room. "Miss Lillifoot! He's taking my Silverstar! Stop him!"
"Actually, Miss Lillifoot, your directions clearly state to use a broomstick. This here is a broomstick," Harry said smugly.
"Harry is correct. I did not specify which broomstick."
Draco's face dropped. Harry smiled back at him and started to sweep the floor with Draco's Silverstar. At this point, the class started to notice and laughed hysterically.
"Look there! Draco's Silverstar is nothing more than an ordinary sweeper!"
"Shut up!" Draco yelled with his blue eyes jutting out.
When Harry collected enough dirt, he used the tail end of the broomstick as a dustpan to lift up it up. He then piled the dusty soil into a beaker and dropped the Silverstar on the table. The end of it cracked a little and was vulgarly scratched.
"There we go! I collected everything," Harry said. "Now for the water and liver oil…"
"You, you," Draco stuttered, "You broke my Silverstar! You broke, you broke…" He then picked it up and started petting the scratched up end of it. For a second, it seemed Malfoy was going to cry.
"The mixture's done, Miss Lillifoot!" Harry yelled. The teacher walked to him, picked up the beaker and nodded.
"Tell me, Mister Potter. What is it and what does it do? Actually, better yet, Mister Malfoy, you answer since you seem so dedicated to my class."
Draco turned, placing the Silverstar on his lap. "What?"
"Yes, I see you are paying much attention. Twenty-five more points away from Slytherin. Now, you, Luna, I hope you can answer me."
Luna smiled. "That there is called Loamywood, and it is used on both billnuckel vines and devil snare to nourish its roots."
"Very good!" Lillifoot yelled. "Fifty points for Gryffindor. Now, there are two more questions. Carry on."
Harry beamed and stretched his lips upward so all his white teeth could stick out. He was so incredibly happy, so incredibly happy that Draco was suffering this time, and he was not.
"Ah," Harry said, grabbing the emerald pendant. It was very chilly and numbed his chest.
"What's the matter?" Luna asked.
"Nothing. Just chest pains."
"You should go to the hospital wing."
"No!" Harry hissed back, his eyes a very dark and deep blue. "No…"
He swallowed and took several breaths. After a minute, he felt normal again. Harry continued on with his quiz, wondering only briefly why his pendant was so cold. It was nothing, a voice in his head told him. Nothing.