A/N: Sorry for the delay but this chapter has taken about three months to write! So it better be bloody appreciated! This appreciation should come in the form of LOTS of reviews please!!
Read on…
Chapter Four: Dragon Hearts, Faint HeartsI rush headlong into Potions, earning me a couple of strange looks. I suppose it's not an entirely new occurrence to have me hastening to class but I'm not usually first in line for two hours of Snape.
I make for the back of the dungeon to the bench usually occupied by myself, Ron and Harry. There's still no sign of them, which has me slightly concerned. Okay, they're not the most punctual of boys, but I realise that I've not seen either of them since before breakfast, a meal they're not accustomed to missing.
I try desperately to ignore the giggles emanating from a cluster of girls gathered round Parvati and Lavender. I just need something to engage myself with, to calm me down in the few minutes its taking Snape to write our instructions on the blackboard. A good book perhaps, or I could…add another few inches to that seven foot essay due next lesson…
One fruitless rummage through my bag later, I try to make searching through my pockets look like a highly important and absorbing task which prevents me from acknowledging Lavender's particularly loud stage-whisper:
"Yeah I know! How cute!" She's addressing this to some Hufflepuff girl whose name I cant remember.
Ohhh! This is probably the most embarrassing thing to ever happen…. why me? Why Me?!
Aha! This crumpled piece of cardboard hidden in the corner of my pocket will save me! It'll help me! It'll tell me everything's going to be just fine in soothing motherly tones, perhaps even sing me a calming ditty – lullaby or similar –
STOP! I am letting the hysteria of the situation affect me! Besides, it's just a Chocolate Frog Card, that one Ron gave me. Last Tuesday. In the common room. We were sitting by the fire…
I jump as the dungeon door bangs open. Finally.
"Potter, Weasley you appear to be…." Snape checks his watch, "Five minutes late, so that means, I think, five points from Gryffindor House. Sit down."
"Where have you two been?" I hiss at them as they unpack their things next to me. Ron and Harry exchange an almost nervous look, and then shake their heads in what they obviously deem to be a careless manner. However, as this involves Harry shaking his head so fast it appears a dark blur and Ron's eyebrows twitching uncontrollably, I'm not entirely convinced.
Snape has a tiresome habit of deducting points from Gryffindor for the least misdemeanour, so I decide to concentrate on what he's saying. What's more, this means I postpone the very embarrassing conversation that is bound to occur for oooh! - At least three minutes.
"We shall be deciphering the enigmatic features of one of the most lethal potions to ever be discovered, Veritaserum." Snape pauses, standing imposingly at the front of the class. "The potion alone will force the consumer to reveal its secrets, and is often used to interrogate prisoners who remain uncooperative…"
His eyes flash dangerously around the dungeon. "The instructions are on the board. The potion will not be completed for a month, as many of the ingredients require certain special brewing methods. I have no difficulty in predicting that most of you shall fail in creating this most complex of potions, yet it is my unhappy task to get you all through your first year of NEWTs coursework and so we must persist in this assignment, however pointless it may prove to be."
I follow Harry and Ron over to the large store cupboard to collect some ingredients along with most of the class. Malfoy and his cronies are already there, performing some inane activity involving squeezing dragon hearts to see if they burst. Honestly.
Oh no. Parvati and Lavender are striding towards Ron and I purposefully, eyes glinting. Ron CANNOT find out what they've been saying about us! I've already embarrassed myself in front of him quite enough for one day…. must distract him, quickly!
I stare around wildly and grab the first thing that comes to hand, which happens to be one of Crabbe's discarded dragon hearts. Goodness, they really are incredibly slippery! So slippery, in fact, that it shoots straight out of my hands and into the face of…Draco Malfoy.
Harry's mouth drops open. I notice the crowd of students is oddly quiet and I realise that to all appearances I, Hermione Granger – I quote: "cleverest witch of her age" – has attacked somebody without provocation. I feel reckless! I feel wild! I-I-I'm out of control!
Oh dear. Neville Longbottom appears to have fainted.
"You stupid Mudblood! You've got dragon slime all over my hair!" Malfoy bellows, running his hands over his head in an attempt to clean himself.
"OY! Call her that again and I'll smash your face in Malfoy!" Ron's marching over to him as he speaks, like some gallant knight of old. Hold on a second!
Ron - chivalrous? This defence of me is highly unexpected. But rather sweet, really…
Standing in the doorway is Parvati Patil, and from one look at her expression, I can see she has clearly put my unlikely rebellious actions down to the fact that I am madly in love. She smirks knowingly, watching Ron, who is currently fighting through the group of Slytherins to give Malfoy a good thumping. On my behalf! For me! Aw.
But I am NOT; repeat NOT in love with Ron! Whatever Lavender and Parvati seem to think! I suddenly realise I'm grinding my teeth and rolling my eyes in untamed frustration. Ah. That must be why Neville is on the floor quivering. I did wonder.
"Just what is going on here?" I see Snape's perusal of the sight, eyes wandering over Malfoy covered in slime, being held at the scruff of his neck by a red-faced Ron, to me standing irresolute with remnants of dragon heart still on my hands.
"Ah yes…" Snape murmurs with relish. "Detention I think, Mr Weasley and," he glances from my grubby hands to Malfoy's head, "Miss Granger will join you…"
Great.
A/N: Review! Please…