Chapter Four:
Potions Class
The next morning, Harry caught Hermione sitting before the fire and walked up behind her chair, leaning in behind her to give her a kiss on the cheek. She looked up to see him and smiled.
"Hey," she started as she finished writing something on a piece of parchment and put it hastily away.
"What's this?" he asked as he watched her put the parchment in her bag. He reached for it and smiled as he spotted the heading. "Herbology homework? You're slacking off now too?"
She smiled as he gave her another kiss on the cheek and came around to sit beside her on the couch.
"You've rubbed off on me," she said as she pulled the fancy note out of her pocket without him noticing and held it in her palm nervously. She'd braved the O.W.L.'s, and she'd never had nerves like these before.
"Is that a good thing?" Harry asked as he looked deeply into her eyes.
She nodded as their faces got closer.
"Definitely," she said before they shared a kiss.
Harry heard a chuckled and looked up to see Ron standing behind them, grinning.
"Well, you two waste no time getting into the swing of things," he said as he came around the couch and sat in the armchair opposite them. Harry smiled. "You two ready to brave Snape's class?" he asked, and awaited Harry's groan.
But, Harry didn't groan.
"I can handle it," he said flatly as if Snape's class were nothing and took Hermione's hand. "As long as Hermione's with me, I can brave anything Snape throws my way."
Ron rolled his eyes in an if-you-say-so manner and they got up and headed out the portrait hole towards the staircase, Hermione and Harry holding hands in the front, Ron behind them.
The sight of the two of them holding hands made him a little down, so he didn't realize he was lagging behind until Harry said something.
"Ron – you okay?"
Ron nodded his head fervently, wanting to look as though it were nothing. But, really, it wasn't nothing at all. It was everything.
Nobody knew the way he felt.
And they probably never will, Ron thought angrily to himself. But, he had to put on a happy face for Harry and Hermione. Harry was his friend, after all, and he didn't want to lose a friendship over something...
He shook his head.
It was nothing. Nothing at all.
He had to sprint to catch up to them, but he did eventually, and they made their way down the marble staircase towards the dungeons where their most hated class was held.
Harry took a seat beside Hermione in the third row of desks. Ron, seeing that there weren't enough seats in a row, took the seat behind Harry. He hated not being included in the group. What if he had to sit beside someone like...Malfoy?
I wish we could be a threesome, he thought with a chuckle, shaking the thought from his head. Leave it to his sense of humor.
Taking out a piece of parchment and a quill, Ron put his feet up on the basket beneath Harry's desk. He hated the hard wood desks, but if he positioned himself just right, he could handle sitting in them for a block.
Things were starting to look okay for Ron, until Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle entered the dungeon.
Malfoy definitely looked different. His hair wasn't its usual slicked-back style. It was messy and almost... Muggle, Ron thought to himself. Harry and Hermione paid no attention to Malfoy because they were too busy paying attention to each other.
Malfoy snickered at Ron, and Ron realized that despite the new, friendlier look on Malfoy, he was still his same old self.
"What's this, Weasley?" he started as he took a seat in the row across from Ron's. "Did the trio split up?"
Crabbe and Goyle guffawed stupidly and Ron groaned, letting his head fall to the desk into his folded arms. It was going to be a long Potions class.
Snape eventually entered the dungeon; his same old black-clad self. Ron wasn't surprised. That was how greasy-haired Snape always was. He looked down his long nose at Harry and Hermione as he passed by them, pulling his wand from his robes and preparing to use it on the cauldron before him.
"Right, then," he said in his nasal-toned voice. "Today we have a long sheaf of notes to take."
The whole class, except for the Slytherins groaned. Snape took no notice of this as he went on.
"But, first off, I would like to section you off in groups. I can't help but notice the little snogging party going on in the third row between Potter and Granger. Don't look so sad, Potter. It's only for a block, after all."
Harry groaned. That was the last thing he needed. But, he wasn't going to lose it in front of Hermione now that they were a couple. He was determined to have a little more self-control over his anger towards Snape and the Slytherins.
"I would like Potter with Goyle," he started, after running down the list of students, pairing them up and moving them around the room to different couples of desks. "Granger with Patil, and...let me see...Weasley with Malfoy. Hurry up, or it will be two sheaves of notes to copy. I can easily conjure more."
Ron grudgingly got up from his desk and placed his things in the desk beside Malfoy. Malfoy grinned with a twinkle in his eye as if this were like a gift to him. He'd have poor Ron to pick on all during class. And he didn't like taking notes, so this wasn't his happiest class of the day. He couldn't wait to get to Herbology now.
"Now that you're all settled in..." Snape started, but Ron wasn't paying attention because Malfoy started whispering snide comments at him across the desk.
"So, Weasley, what's going on between the freak and the Mudblood?"
Crabbe heard this and snickered.
Ron was determined to keep his mouth shut and glanced back at Harry who looked like he shared the same idea. Harry nodded; understanding how Ron felt and Ron looked back up at the blackboard where the chalk started writing notes in a scribbling that was Snape's handwriting.
"What's the matter?" Malfoy pressed on. "Not going to say anything back? I asked you a question."
Still, Ron said nothing.
"Well then. If you're not in a telling mood, you must be in a hearing mood. So, I hear they kicked you off the Quidditch team?"
Ron knew this was true, though he didn't want to take it as being kicked off. He knew he couldn't really play Quidditch without some extra training, so bowed out for the first half of the season. He'd be a stand- in for the other Keeper if he got injured or sick.
"I also heard they kicked you off because of what was going on in the locker rooms, too." This made Ron look up and Malfoy grinned. "Too much excitement in there for you, huh?"
This made Ron's face turn red with anger.
"I know how you and Potter find those...what's the word? Special moments in the showers. Everybody knows, Weasley."
Ron knew that Malfoy was just trying to get a reaction out of him, so he tried to look as though he were paying close attention to the notes on the board. Apparently Malfoy had come up with some more adult ways of trying to get a rise out him, and he wasn't going to fall for them.
"Yeah. It's a pity you haven't got a girlfriend, Weasley. But, you know it's okay to admit it. Everyone's come out sooner or later."
That was it. Ron couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Look, Malfoy –"he started to hiss, but was cut off by Snape.
"Weasley. If you think I haven't seen you talking this whole time, you are mistaken."
Ron gave him a disbelieving stare as Snape walked towards his desk and looked down at his parchment.
"Why are there no notes on this parchment?" he asked as he picked up the parchment. It was blank except for the words, Potions Notes at the top.
"I – it was all Malfoy's –"
"Stop making silly excuses you disgrace of a student, and see me this evening for detention."
"Detention?" Ron said exasperatedly.
"For three hours." Snape finished as he got to his desk and began writing on a spare piece of parchment, reading what he wrote aloud. "Weasley refuses to take notes in class and constantly talks behind Professor's back. Will serve three hours of detention and copy notes then, after scrubbing all the cauldrons until they're sparkling clean and mop dungeon floors."
He finished writing and handed the parchment to Ron who gave a resigned sigh and looked back at Harry who looked like he felt just as bad as Ron did. No doubt he could hear the things Malfoy had been saying. Of course, none of them were true. But, they still got to Ron.
"To get on with class," Snape started again as he gave Ron a glance, a sparkle in his eye. "Continue copying notes and then we will proceed with doing the potion task."
Ron continued to copy the notes, trying to get as much of it done as he could, until they were finished and were instructed to retrieve their cauldrons and begin the lab.
Ron hated working beside Malfoy. He kept making snide comments like, "Too bad your boyfriend's not here to defend you," and, "Potter finally went in the right direction with his relationship, huh?"
Ron was glad when the class was finally over. They had a break for a while, though Hermione rarely took breaks, spending her 15-minute break before lunch going to the Library to bury her nose behind a bunch of books about the History of Magic.
Harry caught up to Ron with Hermione not far behind.
"Ron – I'm sorry about what happened."
Ron felt awful and his face didn't hide it.
"At least somebody's sorry about it," he said as his lips trembled. Harry hated seeing Ron hurt, so put a hand on Ron's shoulder as Hermione got on the other side.
"If it helps, we'll wait for you outside the Dungeon until you get out." Hermione suggested, but Ron shook his head.
"You two can just go off and do something else. I can handle it."
"Okay," Hermione said as she pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Harry.
"What's this?" he asked as he looked down at the square of folded parchment.
"It's a note I wrote for you." she replied plainly as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll catch you two at lunch."
With that, she hurried out of sight down the hallway.
Ron seemed a little distracted from his bad mood by the note, and Harry looked over at him before he started to open it.
But a hand shot out and snatched it from him before he even got a chance to see the flowery handwriting that was Hermione's on the page. Malfoy stood before them, snickering with Crabbe and Goyle beside him as he looked down at the note.
"What's this, Potter?"
"Give me that back! It's mine!" Harry said heatedly as he reached for the note, but Malfoy raised it up over his head.
"Now, now, Potter. No need to be greedy," he said as he unfolded the note and started laughing. "It's true then?" he said with a chuckle. "Potter and the Mudblood are a couple! Finally decided to dump Weasley, did you?"
This set Harry off. He lunged at Malfoy, attempting to grab the parchment, but Malfoy stepped aside before Harry could reach him, and started to read the note aloud.
"Harry, I can't sleep. Keeping her awake now, Potter? I thought you only did that for Weasley. I keep thinking about tonight. It's running through my head like a never-ending film, though most of the details are fading away like water through my fingers. Ooh. When they use a metaphor, Potter, they must be serious. I didn't think you attracted them that much.
"I'm glad we had that moment alone by the lake." He paused to give everyone a chance to laugh. "What'd you do by the lake, Potter? Didn't know you were that capable... I've never felt anything like it before. I should say not. Nobody like's Mudbloods. They're out of season. For once, I felt perfect. Too bad she isn't really. Viktor, one of the most famous Quidditch players in the world, couldn't make me feel as good as you do. I await eating lunch with you this afternoon. Love Always, Hermione."
Harry would have lunged at Malfoy if Ron weren't holding him back by the arm.
"Wow Potter. That was so sweet."
This received a chuckle from all the Slytherins who had been attracted by the reading of Harry's note.
"You are going to pay, Malfoy," Harry said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, am I?" Malfoy replied. "I'll just inform Snape that you were threatening me and you can join Weasley in detention. Oh, but you'd enjoy that too much. Can't be parted from one another for long, can you? You only spend half the summer at the Mudblood-lover's house!"
Ron couldn't hold Harry back any longer, and Harry lunged at Malfoy, ripping the note from his hands and slugging him in the gut. Malfoy gasped as the fist hit his stomach and he gasped for air, Harry stepping back and pushing Ron down the hallway.
"Come on," he said as they made their way quickly towards the Great Hall. "Before he gets a chance to call for Snape."
Potions Class
The next morning, Harry caught Hermione sitting before the fire and walked up behind her chair, leaning in behind her to give her a kiss on the cheek. She looked up to see him and smiled.
"Hey," she started as she finished writing something on a piece of parchment and put it hastily away.
"What's this?" he asked as he watched her put the parchment in her bag. He reached for it and smiled as he spotted the heading. "Herbology homework? You're slacking off now too?"
She smiled as he gave her another kiss on the cheek and came around to sit beside her on the couch.
"You've rubbed off on me," she said as she pulled the fancy note out of her pocket without him noticing and held it in her palm nervously. She'd braved the O.W.L.'s, and she'd never had nerves like these before.
"Is that a good thing?" Harry asked as he looked deeply into her eyes.
She nodded as their faces got closer.
"Definitely," she said before they shared a kiss.
Harry heard a chuckled and looked up to see Ron standing behind them, grinning.
"Well, you two waste no time getting into the swing of things," he said as he came around the couch and sat in the armchair opposite them. Harry smiled. "You two ready to brave Snape's class?" he asked, and awaited Harry's groan.
But, Harry didn't groan.
"I can handle it," he said flatly as if Snape's class were nothing and took Hermione's hand. "As long as Hermione's with me, I can brave anything Snape throws my way."
Ron rolled his eyes in an if-you-say-so manner and they got up and headed out the portrait hole towards the staircase, Hermione and Harry holding hands in the front, Ron behind them.
The sight of the two of them holding hands made him a little down, so he didn't realize he was lagging behind until Harry said something.
"Ron – you okay?"
Ron nodded his head fervently, wanting to look as though it were nothing. But, really, it wasn't nothing at all. It was everything.
Nobody knew the way he felt.
And they probably never will, Ron thought angrily to himself. But, he had to put on a happy face for Harry and Hermione. Harry was his friend, after all, and he didn't want to lose a friendship over something...
He shook his head.
It was nothing. Nothing at all.
He had to sprint to catch up to them, but he did eventually, and they made their way down the marble staircase towards the dungeons where their most hated class was held.
Harry took a seat beside Hermione in the third row of desks. Ron, seeing that there weren't enough seats in a row, took the seat behind Harry. He hated not being included in the group. What if he had to sit beside someone like...Malfoy?
I wish we could be a threesome, he thought with a chuckle, shaking the thought from his head. Leave it to his sense of humor.
Taking out a piece of parchment and a quill, Ron put his feet up on the basket beneath Harry's desk. He hated the hard wood desks, but if he positioned himself just right, he could handle sitting in them for a block.
Things were starting to look okay for Ron, until Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle entered the dungeon.
Malfoy definitely looked different. His hair wasn't its usual slicked-back style. It was messy and almost... Muggle, Ron thought to himself. Harry and Hermione paid no attention to Malfoy because they were too busy paying attention to each other.
Malfoy snickered at Ron, and Ron realized that despite the new, friendlier look on Malfoy, he was still his same old self.
"What's this, Weasley?" he started as he took a seat in the row across from Ron's. "Did the trio split up?"
Crabbe and Goyle guffawed stupidly and Ron groaned, letting his head fall to the desk into his folded arms. It was going to be a long Potions class.
Snape eventually entered the dungeon; his same old black-clad self. Ron wasn't surprised. That was how greasy-haired Snape always was. He looked down his long nose at Harry and Hermione as he passed by them, pulling his wand from his robes and preparing to use it on the cauldron before him.
"Right, then," he said in his nasal-toned voice. "Today we have a long sheaf of notes to take."
The whole class, except for the Slytherins groaned. Snape took no notice of this as he went on.
"But, first off, I would like to section you off in groups. I can't help but notice the little snogging party going on in the third row between Potter and Granger. Don't look so sad, Potter. It's only for a block, after all."
Harry groaned. That was the last thing he needed. But, he wasn't going to lose it in front of Hermione now that they were a couple. He was determined to have a little more self-control over his anger towards Snape and the Slytherins.
"I would like Potter with Goyle," he started, after running down the list of students, pairing them up and moving them around the room to different couples of desks. "Granger with Patil, and...let me see...Weasley with Malfoy. Hurry up, or it will be two sheaves of notes to copy. I can easily conjure more."
Ron grudgingly got up from his desk and placed his things in the desk beside Malfoy. Malfoy grinned with a twinkle in his eye as if this were like a gift to him. He'd have poor Ron to pick on all during class. And he didn't like taking notes, so this wasn't his happiest class of the day. He couldn't wait to get to Herbology now.
"Now that you're all settled in..." Snape started, but Ron wasn't paying attention because Malfoy started whispering snide comments at him across the desk.
"So, Weasley, what's going on between the freak and the Mudblood?"
Crabbe heard this and snickered.
Ron was determined to keep his mouth shut and glanced back at Harry who looked like he shared the same idea. Harry nodded; understanding how Ron felt and Ron looked back up at the blackboard where the chalk started writing notes in a scribbling that was Snape's handwriting.
"What's the matter?" Malfoy pressed on. "Not going to say anything back? I asked you a question."
Still, Ron said nothing.
"Well then. If you're not in a telling mood, you must be in a hearing mood. So, I hear they kicked you off the Quidditch team?"
Ron knew this was true, though he didn't want to take it as being kicked off. He knew he couldn't really play Quidditch without some extra training, so bowed out for the first half of the season. He'd be a stand- in for the other Keeper if he got injured or sick.
"I also heard they kicked you off because of what was going on in the locker rooms, too." This made Ron look up and Malfoy grinned. "Too much excitement in there for you, huh?"
This made Ron's face turn red with anger.
"I know how you and Potter find those...what's the word? Special moments in the showers. Everybody knows, Weasley."
Ron knew that Malfoy was just trying to get a reaction out of him, so he tried to look as though he were paying close attention to the notes on the board. Apparently Malfoy had come up with some more adult ways of trying to get a rise out him, and he wasn't going to fall for them.
"Yeah. It's a pity you haven't got a girlfriend, Weasley. But, you know it's okay to admit it. Everyone's come out sooner or later."
That was it. Ron couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Look, Malfoy –"he started to hiss, but was cut off by Snape.
"Weasley. If you think I haven't seen you talking this whole time, you are mistaken."
Ron gave him a disbelieving stare as Snape walked towards his desk and looked down at his parchment.
"Why are there no notes on this parchment?" he asked as he picked up the parchment. It was blank except for the words, Potions Notes at the top.
"I – it was all Malfoy's –"
"Stop making silly excuses you disgrace of a student, and see me this evening for detention."
"Detention?" Ron said exasperatedly.
"For three hours." Snape finished as he got to his desk and began writing on a spare piece of parchment, reading what he wrote aloud. "Weasley refuses to take notes in class and constantly talks behind Professor's back. Will serve three hours of detention and copy notes then, after scrubbing all the cauldrons until they're sparkling clean and mop dungeon floors."
He finished writing and handed the parchment to Ron who gave a resigned sigh and looked back at Harry who looked like he felt just as bad as Ron did. No doubt he could hear the things Malfoy had been saying. Of course, none of them were true. But, they still got to Ron.
"To get on with class," Snape started again as he gave Ron a glance, a sparkle in his eye. "Continue copying notes and then we will proceed with doing the potion task."
Ron continued to copy the notes, trying to get as much of it done as he could, until they were finished and were instructed to retrieve their cauldrons and begin the lab.
Ron hated working beside Malfoy. He kept making snide comments like, "Too bad your boyfriend's not here to defend you," and, "Potter finally went in the right direction with his relationship, huh?"
Ron was glad when the class was finally over. They had a break for a while, though Hermione rarely took breaks, spending her 15-minute break before lunch going to the Library to bury her nose behind a bunch of books about the History of Magic.
Harry caught up to Ron with Hermione not far behind.
"Ron – I'm sorry about what happened."
Ron felt awful and his face didn't hide it.
"At least somebody's sorry about it," he said as his lips trembled. Harry hated seeing Ron hurt, so put a hand on Ron's shoulder as Hermione got on the other side.
"If it helps, we'll wait for you outside the Dungeon until you get out." Hermione suggested, but Ron shook his head.
"You two can just go off and do something else. I can handle it."
"Okay," Hermione said as she pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Harry.
"What's this?" he asked as he looked down at the square of folded parchment.
"It's a note I wrote for you." she replied plainly as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll catch you two at lunch."
With that, she hurried out of sight down the hallway.
Ron seemed a little distracted from his bad mood by the note, and Harry looked over at him before he started to open it.
But a hand shot out and snatched it from him before he even got a chance to see the flowery handwriting that was Hermione's on the page. Malfoy stood before them, snickering with Crabbe and Goyle beside him as he looked down at the note.
"What's this, Potter?"
"Give me that back! It's mine!" Harry said heatedly as he reached for the note, but Malfoy raised it up over his head.
"Now, now, Potter. No need to be greedy," he said as he unfolded the note and started laughing. "It's true then?" he said with a chuckle. "Potter and the Mudblood are a couple! Finally decided to dump Weasley, did you?"
This set Harry off. He lunged at Malfoy, attempting to grab the parchment, but Malfoy stepped aside before Harry could reach him, and started to read the note aloud.
"Harry, I can't sleep. Keeping her awake now, Potter? I thought you only did that for Weasley. I keep thinking about tonight. It's running through my head like a never-ending film, though most of the details are fading away like water through my fingers. Ooh. When they use a metaphor, Potter, they must be serious. I didn't think you attracted them that much.
"I'm glad we had that moment alone by the lake." He paused to give everyone a chance to laugh. "What'd you do by the lake, Potter? Didn't know you were that capable... I've never felt anything like it before. I should say not. Nobody like's Mudbloods. They're out of season. For once, I felt perfect. Too bad she isn't really. Viktor, one of the most famous Quidditch players in the world, couldn't make me feel as good as you do. I await eating lunch with you this afternoon. Love Always, Hermione."
Harry would have lunged at Malfoy if Ron weren't holding him back by the arm.
"Wow Potter. That was so sweet."
This received a chuckle from all the Slytherins who had been attracted by the reading of Harry's note.
"You are going to pay, Malfoy," Harry said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, am I?" Malfoy replied. "I'll just inform Snape that you were threatening me and you can join Weasley in detention. Oh, but you'd enjoy that too much. Can't be parted from one another for long, can you? You only spend half the summer at the Mudblood-lover's house!"
Ron couldn't hold Harry back any longer, and Harry lunged at Malfoy, ripping the note from his hands and slugging him in the gut. Malfoy gasped as the fist hit his stomach and he gasped for air, Harry stepping back and pushing Ron down the hallway.
"Come on," he said as they made their way quickly towards the Great Hall. "Before he gets a chance to call for Snape."