When Harry and Ron had noticed that Hermione was not with them for Potions later that morning, they were more than a little concerned.

"What do you think has happened to her?" asked Ron. "She's… Hermione! It's not like her to miss classes, even Snape's!"

"I don't know," said Harry. "I think we should go to McGonagal, or someone…"

Suddenly, Snape's voice, very irritated, interrupted their conversation.

"Potter! Weasley! Unless I am mistaken, students are supposed to be in their seats by the time the bell has rung!"

"But the bell hasn't rung!" argued Harry as the bell rang.

Snape sneered. "Five points from Gryffindor apiece, Potter and Weasley."

Harry and Ron seethed as they sat in their seats. Well, just Ron, anyway. Harry wasn't really seething after he sat on a tack suspiciously placed right on the edge of his seat.

"Ow!" yelped Harry, immediately jumping up. The entire class turned to look at him. Embarrassed, he removed the tack from his seat and sat down. How did that get there?

"Today," sneered Snape, "we will be taking our first steps towards making a very advanced potion, far more advanced than anything you have attempted to make before. Pay attention, for if you fall behind, catching up will be almost impossible."

Neville looked at Snape so intently that his eyes almost popped out of his head.

Harry suddenly felt a piece of paper hit the back of his head. He immediately knew that it was a note, probably written by Ron. They had done this so many times during boring classes… such as Snape's.

Harry opened the note, and immediately recognized Ron's messy handwriting. However, the message was different, to say the least. Horrifying, actually. The front of the note contained a single phrase: I love you.

As if this was not disturbing enough, Harry turned the note around to the back, attempting to find an explanation. However, the back read I want to have your children.

Harry turned to Ron, his mouth wide open.

Ron looked from the paper to Harry, and then let his mouth fall open in shock. He shook his head furiously and tried to mouth something at Harry, but, unfortunately, Snape had noticed the un-crumpled piece of paper still held in Harry's hands.

"Potter!" hissed Snape. "Ten points from Gryffindor! And give me that note you wrote!"

"Oh, no," Harry said frantically, "I didn't wri-,"

"WHO was this note meant for?" said Snape.

"But-,"

"WHO?" shouted Snape. "Five points for every second you waste!"

"Um, uh, I don't know, I didn't wri-,"

"FIVE POINTS! TEN… FIF-,"

"Y-YOU!" blurted out Harry, desperate not to lose any more points.

Snape sneered at Harry. "Me, eh?"

"Oh, no," said Harry quickly, "I didn't mean y-,"

"QUIET!" barked Snape. He looked at the note, and read the message scrawled on the front.

Snape's jaw nearly hit the floor. He looked from Harry back to the note. His hands shaking and white, he turned the note over, much like Harry had. He read the message on the back.

He fainted cold.


Even though Snape was eventually revived, he only weakly dismissed the class early, avoiding Harry's eyes. After class, Harry immediately met up with Ron.

"Ron, WHAT WAS WITH THAT NOTE?" shouted Harry.

"It- it wasn't for you!" said Ron, his face extremely red. "And the message wasn't meant to come off like that!"

"Then who WAS it for?" asked Harry.

However, the conversation was cut off when Malfoy, accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle, blocked their path.

"How'd you like THAT, Potter?" Malfoy laughed, with Crabbe and Goyle mindlessly laughing along with him.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, confused.

Malfoy's eyes widened. "My… payback…"

"Do you mean… that tack thing?" asked Harry, still confused.

"Yes… don't tell me that the unbearable pain, torture, and embarrassment of sitting on a tack has worn off already…"

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

Malfoy's face changed from normal to red and then to purple faster than a traffic light.

"Um… I think you should see a doctor about that…" said Ron uncertainly.

"POTTER!" screeched Malfoy, causing many people in the hallway to stop and turn to see what the entire racket was about. "YOU MAY HAVE FOILED ME YET AGAIN, BUT I SWEAR, I SHALL GET YOU BACK!"

Suddenly, the hallway was filled with smoke. Malfoy had thrown a smoke bomb and disappeared.

…Or so he thought. Apparently, due to the way he had thrown the bomb, the majority of the smoke had billowed up directly into his face. He was left on the ground, coughing and sputtering, gasping for air.

Normally, Harry and Ron would have had a good laugh. However, the issue of Hermione, whose whereabouts were still unknown to them, was still unsolved. They decided to hurry up and try to see Professor McGonagal before the next class.

Arriving at McGonagal's office, Harry tried the door. It was locked.

"Aw, man, the door's locked!" said Harry, needlessly stating the obvious.

"Yeah. That means we can't go in!" said Ron, also needlessly stating the obvious.

"The sky's blue!" said Harry, taking the whole thing too far.

"Harry, this is no time for respecting McGonagal's privacy!" said Ron, getting back to the point. "Hermione's missing! Alohomora!"

The lock clicked, and the door swung open.

"Sorry for busting in like this, Professor," said Harry quickly, "but something very serious-," Harry stopped suddenly. Not unlike Snape, Harry's jaw nearly hit the floor, as did Ron's.

They both simply could not believe what they were seeing.