Disclaimer: No, still don't own Harry Potter… It's still the property of a wonderful woman called Joanne Kathleen Rowling.
Chapter 4: Potions Class
Rushing to the dungeons, Hermione could not help but feel ashamed for being late. She was never late to class, and most of all, she was never late for potions class.
Reaching the door, she took a second to gasp for breath, and then stretched out her trembling arm to grasp the dirty brass door handle.
"As most of you seem incompetent and unable to work by yourselves, even though working by yourself is a requirement starting this year, in today's lesson you will be working with a partner. Partly because most of you are clearly half-witted-" Professor Snape stopped mid sentence after he realised Hermione was standing at the door.
He glared at her and said "Are you planing on standing there all lesson?"
"I…I'm…"
"Well, sit down Granger, just because you are unable to process a simple instruction does not give you permission to hold up the class".
Draco Malfory sniggered.
Hermione hurriedly walked towards the seat Harry had saved for her, and tried to avoid the questioning looks her friends were shooting her.
"And that will be five points from Gryffindor for holding up the class" Snape said gladly, for docking off any points from houses other than his own was his favourite past time.
And now Malfoy smirked.
Hermione could feel her blood boiling. He was such a stupid, stuck up, prat. And his father, whom he was a splitting image of, was probably involved in her family's death. She wanted to walk across the room and punch him straight in the face, causing him harm, causing him pain for all her suffering and her family's.
'Bothersome git', she thought.
Remembering this was no time to be thinking murderous thoughts towards the son of the Death Eater who most likely killed her family, she quickly pulled out a roll of parchment and quill and began taking down notes.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, because most of you are clearly half witted," Snape glared briefly in Harry and Ron's direction where Ron was asleep on the table, and Harry was absentmindedly doodling on his parchment, before addressing the rest of the class.
"And also because the Headmaster has come up with yet another inter-house bonding scheme," Snape began to walk towards their desk.
"In today's lesson," he said whilst coming even closer. Hermione tried to warn Harry by kicking him, but he just looked up, confused and resumed drawing what resembled a cartoon of Professor Snape getting electrocuted.
"You will be working with a member of another house."
Harry smiled, happily, reminding Hermione of a toddler drawing, as he began perfecting his work of art.
"Although I am mystified to why some of you are still in my class when, clearly last year you were not up to standard, I will trust that you work well-"
Snape was hovering dangerously above Ron.
"- AND NOT WAVE YOUR WANDS FOOLISHLY AROUND!" Snape yelled, his spit flying everywhere.
At the same time, Harry (who had horrible timing) had decided to show Ron his work of art and shoved it in his face. But by doing so, had shoved it right in front of Snape, whose spit was flying over them both.
Ron awoke, startled, his face covered in spit and drool seeping out from the side of his mouth.
Harry horrified that he was now holding the work of art he had been working on since last year at Snape, could not move. Once you shoved a piece parchment in Professor Snape's face, you could not take it away.
"Thankyou for deciding to finally join us, Weasel."
Ron withered under the professor's murderous gaze. Droplets of Snape's spit were dripping off his flaming red hair.
"And what is this?" Snape asked, sarcasm oozing from every word.
"Err… Nothing professor!" Harry quickly said, attempting to hide the parchment. He was unsuccessful, as Snape had snatched it from Harry's grasp and was now examining what had taken months of Divination lessons.
Snape's mouth was twisted in a nasty smile. "Planning to be an artist, are we now, Potter?" he snarled at the black haired boy, whose emerald green eyes were wide at the amount of spit raining on him. Thank goodness I wear glasses, he thought.
Hermione at the same time thanked the gods that Harry had not begun writing speech bubbles yet, or Snape would know who it was.
He thrust the parchment in Harry's face and marched back to the front of the classroom, his every movement watched by the class as they wondered what Harry and Ron's punishment would be.
"Since some of you are clearly incapable of being mature, I will choose your partners for you."
The class glared at Harry and Ron. Harry was staring at the ceiling, pretending he had done nothing wrong, and Ron still looked half asleep, as his eyes came dangerously close to closing again.
"Potter, Weasly, detention, one week!" Professor Snape barked out.
"Now... Where was I before I was rudely interrupted again? … Ah, we will be starting Phisoligious potion today, which is strongly associated with fortune telling. It is of course, not anything like the mumbo jumbo some of you learn in Divination. Copy down the instructions on the board and then turn to page58 in your text book"
It was only the second day of school, and Hermione had managed to get five points knocked off her house. This never happens, she thought as she copied down the instructions on the board. Today is just not my day… In fact, it won't be for a while, she thought, still brooding over the thought of no longer having a family.
"Pavati…Crabbe"
"Zambini … Weasley"
"Blunstone… Potter"
"Longbottom…. Goyle"
"Granger…. Parkinson"
Hermione winced at who she was paired with. Pansy glared at her.
"Lavender… Malfoy"
Hermione snorted inwardly. Lavender would be glad with that. And she was. Lavender happily got up and sat next to the Ferret boy, who looked at her like she was a disgusting parasite that had just told him that he had to kiss her in order to pass potions.
After Snape had handed out the rest of the pairings, Hermione grabbed her book and sat herself down next to Pansy, who looked disgusted by the thought of Hermione sitting next to her.
"Granger," Pansy said to her. Hermione glanced at the plastic looking, air headed girl.
"You don't want to do this more than I do, but we have to work together. If we actually did literally work together, I would naturally end up doing all work, being the smarter one. So you'd better do it and maybe the mudblood in you might learn something" Pansy said, very full of herself.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. Who did this girl think she was? There was no absolute logic in what she just said. Hermione was surprised Pansy even knew the meaning of 'literally'. Oh well, Hermione thought. I'd better do it in case she drops her lip gloss in the potion and it blows up. Then she'll blame it all on me, that I didn't warn her dropping a lip gloss into potion was harmful.
Hermione hastily, but carefully measured her ingredients.
'One gram dragon scales,' she muttered.
'Two cups ferrets blood, a teaspoon of fairy glitter….'
'Five strands unicorn hair'
'Eight millilitres dragon's blood'
'One flobber worm….'
Whilst Hermione had begun mixing the ingredients in the cauldron, Pansy was busy applying make-up. Why anyone would need to wear make-up in a potions class was beyond Hermione, but she just ignored Pansy and continued making the potion.
As the potion was not difficult to make, Hermione completed it in no time. She began answering the questions Snape had written on the board. Pansy was still applying make-up. Hermione sighed, and rolled her eyes.
She studied her fellow classmates, wondering what they were doing. Was anyone else keeping a secret from the rest of the world?
'Don't be silly,' she told herself
'Everyone keeps secrets'
'You're probably just wondering if anyone else has a worse secret than you, a sadder one… i.e. has anyone else had their parents die lately?'
Hermione scanned the room. Pavati and Crabbe were clearly not getting along well. Crabbe kept on trying to look down her shirt, and Pavati kept on shooting death glares, as if that would help. But what else could she do?
Ron and Blaise seemed the only pair who were actually working well together. Both their brows were knitted in concentration, and they were actually working as a team. Hermione forced a painful smile, it contradicted everything she was feeling right now, but she had to feel happy for Ron, because for once in potions, he was actually paying attention.
Harry and Millicent looked like they were having an argument of some sort. And from what she could see, it looked like it was over ingredients. Millicent looked ready to pour the ferrets blood on Harry, and he looked as if he were about to blind her with fairy glitter. That pair looked as if they were fighting a war.
Lavender looked like she was about to faint from sitting so close to the ferret boy, and Malfoy's mouth was upturned at the ferrets blood ingredient. Someone had chosen to curse him today, of all days.
Neville and Goyle seemed to be struggling. Goyle was dumbly clanging the mixing spoons together, fascinated with the sound they made. Neville was looking confusingly at the potion he had stirred up in the cauldron, which was frothing and bubbling dangerously. He glanced back at the board. What had he done wrong? It was supposed to be blue…
"Now… some of you I can see are incapable of brewing up one of the simplest potions, and as punishment, you are to test them. Does anyone know how to test the Phisoligious potion?"
Hermione's hand shot up. 'Oh… please pick me… I know the answer!' Hermione thought furiously to herself. She didn't know what it was, but every time a teacher asked a question, she just felt her arms tingling, and her hand just automatically shot up by itself. She didn't ask her arm to move, it just did. Her arm would always reach the highest it could, wanting to grab the teacher's attention. Normally teachers would oblige. But not Professor Snape. He would look around the dungeon, ignoring her, his eyes passing straight through her.
"Anyone? Anyone other than Granger?" Professor Snape asked the class.
"No one? Alright then…To test the Phisoligious potion, you place a strand of your hair into it. A projection of your possible future will then holograph above the potion."
"Hmmm…. Whom should I pick? Longbottom and Goyle…"
Neville's head shot up like a startled deer, droplets of sweat ran down his forehead. He clearly wasn't ready for this. He gulped, and then placed a strand of his hair in his cauldron.
His potion frothed and bubbled even more, at the intrusion of a piece of hair. Nothing happened for a second, the potion if anything was simmering down….
Then, suddenly, the red liquid shot out of the cauldron, over flowing. The red acidic solution flowed over the sides of the shiny black cauldron, seeping all over the floor, and onto Neville.
Professor Snape sneered.
"You are obviously incapable of brewing the most simplest of potions, Longbottom."
"20 points from Gryffindor for your stupidity, and ruining Goyle's potion."
The Gryffindor students gapped at him. The Slytherin students smiled, most of their faces were twisted in mad, evil grins.
Malfoy seemed to have doubled over in laughter at the sight of Neville, covered in what appeared blood. He managed to choke out "If you continue stuffing up potions Longbottom, you'll end up in St. Mungo's- just like your parents!"
Hermione could not believe he would even dare bring up something as sensitive as that. It was proof that Malfoy really didn't have a heart; he was as cruel as he made out to be. She opened her mouth to give Malfoy a piece of her mind, for she knew what it must be like for Neville, when Harry got up strolled across the room, his shoes echoing across the dungeons. His cheeks were red and blotchy; Harry knew what it was like too. He was about to take a swing at the pale, albino-like Slytherin boy, when Snape thundered "Move that arm any further, and you will find yourself expelled before you know it Potter"
The class was silent; exclaims of outrage to what Malfoy had said could no longer be heard. The whole class- both Slytherin and Gryffindor were awaiting Harry's verdict. Harry's arm seemed to be trembling slightly. He didn't want to get anymore detentions; he had Quidditch practice to attend!
"Take a seat Potter"
Harry sat down, relieved but also slightly disappointed that he could not make Malfoy pay for what he had said to Neville.
Neville seemed to be in shock, his fists were clenched in anger, his nails digging into his palms. Neville it seemed had wanted to smash Malfoy's face in as much as Harry did.
"Everyone bottle your potions, and bring them up here to me. For homework, you will write a 3 foot essay on the history of the Phisoligious potion"
The students of Gryffindor breathed a sigh of relief, for their most popular student, their star Quidditch player was not going to serve another week of detention.
"Class dismissed", Snape drawled.
Hermione went back to where she was sitting at the beginning of the lesson and began gathering her things. Outside the classroom, she met Harry and Ron.
"I can't believe how cruel Malfoy is," Harry muttered to them, his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah…" agreed Hermione, unsure of how much more she should say, in case she got overly emotional over the death of her family.
"I have never been covered in so much spit in my entire life!" announced Ron, who was clearly out of it.
Hermione glared at him.
"I though Snape was going to take away my work of art!" Harry proclaimed in response, noticeably no longer wanting to discuss the Malfoy/Neville event.
"Well, you're lucky that you hadn't started writing speech bubbles, or you would have gotten into trouble" Hermione said in response.
"Hey, why didn't you warn me that Snape was coming, Hermione?" Harry asked accusingly, as if it was her fault that he got a week's detention.
Hermione sighed. "I did try and warn you! I kicked you, and you just continued drawing!"
"Oh…" was the response she got.
They continued walking in a comfortable silence.
"Oh yeah," said Ron, suddenly remembering, "Why were you late to Potions?"
"I err… Got a late start. Rough night with the books"
"Jeez Hermione… Take a break once in a while! Smell the air, live life!" said Ron.
"I will live life when I want to!" Hermione snapped back.
"And when is that?" Ron threatened.
"You won't be so glad that you were 'living life' when you fail your exams!" and with that, she stormed off.
"I honestly don't know what's gotten into her lately" Ron said, running his hands through his hair.
"Yeah…" agreed Harry.
"First she doesn't show up to breakfast, and then she's late to potions… and now this!"
"Probably just girl stuff", offered Harry.
"Yeah…" agreed Ron.
Hermione stalked off to an unknown section of the library, where not many students roamed to. She sat herself down huffily.
Ron, honestly! The likes of him… He's got his own future ahead of him, and he chooses to sleep on potions class. And Harry too! Drawing that stupid picture…
Hermione fumed.
Suddenly, a thought entered her mind.
'Shouldn't you tell them…?'
'Tell them what?'
'Of your current situation… That you're parentless?'
'And why would I do that? They won't understand… Ron's got so many brothers and sisters for heaven sake!'
'Well, what about Harry?'
'What about Harry?'
'Harry would understand. He's been without family for most of his life'
'Be quiet. I don't need their pity'
Argh… she was talking to herself again.
'This is the first sign of insanity…'
Shut up, she told the voice.
And with that, Hermione began to use her spare period usefully by starting her Potion's essay.
Immersing herself in work always distracted her from what was really going on in life. Whilst working, she was able to ignore her feelings and that deep sad feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was threatening to surface anytime soon, and push her to the brink of tears.
Argh… I am so tempted to make it Hermione/Draco! But alas, it will never be.
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