Chapter 18: Interruptions
Hermione and Harry arrived just in time to meet their fellow Gryffindors in front of the dungeons.
"Potter, where´ve you been? Having another go at Weasley?", snarled Malfoy.
"Shut your filthy mouth", replied Harry.
Ron looked surprised at Harry. "What was that about?"
Harry shrugged as if he hadn´t understood a single word of what Malfoy had said. Potions weren´t too bad anymore. Now that Snape was no longer their Potionsmaster, it was quite fun to brew potions.
But the Slytherin didn´t seem to like it very much. They had been offended by Snape, changing the subject.
To their dislike, Fleur proved that the Slytherins were in no way better in Potions then the Gryffindors, the only difference was, that Snape had favoured the Slytherins and has always given them extra points.
Even Neville, who happened to be very bad at Potions, seemed to enjoy the classes. He was no longer afraid of them and made fewer mistakes. Most of those who were in the Potions class had only been allowed to continue them, because Fleur allowed even students with an ´Acceptable O.W.L. in her class.
As the bell rang, all the students entered the room and took their seats. Fleur was already waiting for them. Her English had improved a lot since she worked at Hogwarts. She only used to mix French and English when she was angry or upset about something.
"Today, ve are going to make a potion vich makes ze one ´oo drinks it appear like ´e is dead. ´e will not die, though. ´e vill vake up after some time, depending on ´ow much ´e drank from ze potion. ´e thinks that ´e ´as only been sleeping for some time and no ´arm will be done to ´im."
"But what is the use of such a potion. You ought to show us how to make potions to really kill somebody", spat Malfoy and all the Slytherins howled with laughter.
"First, I do not think that it is funny to make jokes about such serious things. And secondly, I am your teacher, so I decide vat you vill learn. Quel enfant abominable! (What an horrible child !)"
Fleur looked quite angry and kept muttering French to herself, while the students copied down the instructions from the blackboard and started with their potions.
As Harry wanted to add some giranolas (white flowers which make you feel whizzy if you smell too much of them) to his potion, Fleur called him to her desk.
He wondered what this was about, but he was immensily relieved, to find Fleur smiling at him. In a low whisper, she told:
"I ´ave joined ze Order. Dumbledore told me to offer you my ´elp ven needed. So if you ´ave troubles, feel free to bother me vith them."
Harry smiled back at her, feeling uncomfortable that Dumbledore told Fleur about him. She would think, like so many others did, that he was a delicate boy. He nodded at her and went back to his seat.
Hermione and Ron looked eagerly at him, wanting to know what Fleur had told Harry. In a low voice, he told them about Fleur joining the Order, but not the other thing she said. He had the feeling they would laugh at him, he was too ashamed to tell his friend that everything treated him like a breakable thing.
At the end of their lesson, each student filled some of his potion into a tiny bottle and handed it in.
Then the Gryffindors all headed to their next class, which was Charms. Tiny Professor Flitwick, standing on his pile of book as usual, showed them how to perform the Head-Bubble-charm. Both Fleur and Cedric Diggory had used this charm in their second task of the Triwizard tournament. This charm was very helpful, so they were able to breathe under water.
Harry´s minds kept wandering off. Ron behaved oddly. How much had he heard of Harry´s conversation with Ginny? And could he have made out anything of what Malfoy just had said?
"Mr.Potter! Pay attention, you´re not doing your charm the right way. You must make the swish correctly. Try again!"
Professor Flitwick had just passed through the classroom and controlled if all students were doing well.
Due to Harry´s lack of attention, he was the only one who had to write an essay to Flitwick about how to perform the Head-Bubble-charm correctly.
At lunch, Harry´s good mood from the morning had turned into anger. Angry with himself, Snape and Malfoy. Why couldn´t he be a normal boy, without this stupid scar on his head and everyone bothering him?
He felt slightly better, when Ginny took the seat opposite him and smiled at him. He grinned at her and some of his grief lifted. Meanwhile, Ron was looking from Harry to Ginny as if suspecting something. Harry and Ginny didn´t notice anything, they were to busy looking into each others eyes.
But Hermione noticed. As she didn´t want to disturb Harry and Ginny´s eyecontact, she began a conversation about S.P.E.W. with Ron. Ron immediately forgot about his friend and his sister and enjoyed his chat with Hermione.
It was the first time they talked normally to each other since the Hogsmeade trip with Oliver Wood.
It was only when Snape passed their table and muttered in a dangerous sort of voice: "Mr. Potter, Mrs. Weasley. Behave yourselves!"
Ron looked away from Hermione into the blushing faces of Harry and Ginny.
"What - ?" Ron startled.
"Oh, it´s nothing bad. Snape just caught Harry and me talking about buying some dungbombs, down in Hogsmeade. He said if we would order some, he would go straight to Dumbledore and tell us off", lied Ginny quickly.
Harry tried to look as if this story was known to him. Ron frowned and still kept gazing at his sister and Harry. But after some time, he seemed it would be best to believe this story and picked up his conversation with Hermione.
Why hadn´t he noticed before? She was so beautiful. Ron barely heard a word she told him, he kept nodding and stared into her eyes. Into those beautiful hazelbrown eyes.
"Ron? Are you listening to me? RON!"
Ron suddenly came back to his mind. It was as if he had just waked up out of a trance.
"Ehm... yes, I agree with you", he said. He had no idea what Hermione had been talking of.
Harry, Ginny and Hermione burst into giggles. Ron looked flabbergasted. What? What had he done wrong this time?
"Oh, you agree with me that it´s time for class? Right. Let´s go", she said, still grinning.
Ron´s ears went red, he had made a complete fool of himself, again. When would he stop behaving like that, in front of her?
Together, the four of them left the Great Hall. Ginny went to the Transfiguration classroom; Harry, Ron and Hermione left the castle to meet Hagrid in the grounds.
Hagrid waited for them, a large trunk placed in front of him.
"Hello, I´ve got a surprise fer yeh all! Gather ´round!"
They all looked scared. The reason was, Hagrid seemed to consider monsters as pets and undangerous creatures meant boredom to him.
He opened the trunk and in it lay leaves. Simple green leaves. But then, they noticed that the leaves were moving, they had even got legs and faces.
"These are leavemen. They look like leaves and can disguise themselves helpfully when they are in danger. But the leavesmen have many uses for the humans. Does anybody know why?", Hagrid asked.
No one was surprised to see Hermione´s voice raised. "Leavesmen have healing powers. They can heal trees and other plants. Also do leavesmen built yellow houses which can be useful to brew waking potions."
"Right ye´re! Now, what yer all have ter do is, watch the leavesmen built their houses and then you have to offer them an ill branch of a tree, they can heal. In that way, they won´t pay attention to their houses and you can collect them. The trick is, to make the tree look really bad. Good luck!"
They all started with their work. Is was not so easy as it first seemed, because the leavesmen didn´t want to leave their houses alone. They didn´t trust men and peered out of their houses, looking at the branch. Then slowly, more and more students succeeded in leading the leavesmen away and collect their houses. Once the branch of tree was mended, the leavesmen returned and built new houses.
Finally, the bell rang and the Gryffindors hurried to arrive in time at their Transfiguration class.
The Gryffindor fifth-year came storming out of the classroom. Among them was Ginny, who´s red hair shone in the crowd of students. She beamed and Harry and he smiled happily at her.
Ron noticed and he again wondered what was going on. Had his best friend missed to tell him something he should know? But Ginny would never fall for Harry, or would she? ´No Ron, don´t be silly. She has given him up for ages, so no need to worry about them.
In Transfiguration, they had to transform kittens into cats. McGonagall kept telling them that this was very advanced magic and that they should take their time to do it correctly.
Everybody was relieved to hear the bell announce the end of the schoolday. At dinner there wasn´t much trouble and afterwards, the headed to their dormitory to finish their homework.
Harry and Ginny wanted to wait for everyone to have left the common room, but unfortunately, Ron was the last to stay and he didn´t seem to want to leave them alone.
´He knows´, Harry thought for a moment. But how could Ron´ve known.
Harry accompanied Ron upstairs after sighing and looking meaningful at Ginny.
"Ron, wait. I´ve forgotten something downstairs. I´ll be right back."
Harry ran downstairs again and there stood Ginny, waiting for him. Just as he wanted to kiss her, he heard Ron´s shout: "Is everything alright? Come on, Harry."
Harry sighed again. Why didn´t Ron leave him alone? He waved goodbye at Ginny and climbed back up the stairs to his dorm.
Meanwhile, Ron had decided not to leave Harry and Ginny alone. He didn´t trust them. He didn´t like the idea of Harry and Ginny becoming a couple. He knew he couldn´t stand seeing them together, when he himself was so unlucky in love. He had to keep Harry away from his little sister.
Hermione and Harry arrived just in time to meet their fellow Gryffindors in front of the dungeons.
"Potter, where´ve you been? Having another go at Weasley?", snarled Malfoy.
"Shut your filthy mouth", replied Harry.
Ron looked surprised at Harry. "What was that about?"
Harry shrugged as if he hadn´t understood a single word of what Malfoy had said. Potions weren´t too bad anymore. Now that Snape was no longer their Potionsmaster, it was quite fun to brew potions.
But the Slytherin didn´t seem to like it very much. They had been offended by Snape, changing the subject.
To their dislike, Fleur proved that the Slytherins were in no way better in Potions then the Gryffindors, the only difference was, that Snape had favoured the Slytherins and has always given them extra points.
Even Neville, who happened to be very bad at Potions, seemed to enjoy the classes. He was no longer afraid of them and made fewer mistakes. Most of those who were in the Potions class had only been allowed to continue them, because Fleur allowed even students with an ´Acceptable O.W.L. in her class.
As the bell rang, all the students entered the room and took their seats. Fleur was already waiting for them. Her English had improved a lot since she worked at Hogwarts. She only used to mix French and English when she was angry or upset about something.
"Today, ve are going to make a potion vich makes ze one ´oo drinks it appear like ´e is dead. ´e will not die, though. ´e vill vake up after some time, depending on ´ow much ´e drank from ze potion. ´e thinks that ´e ´as only been sleeping for some time and no ´arm will be done to ´im."
"But what is the use of such a potion. You ought to show us how to make potions to really kill somebody", spat Malfoy and all the Slytherins howled with laughter.
"First, I do not think that it is funny to make jokes about such serious things. And secondly, I am your teacher, so I decide vat you vill learn. Quel enfant abominable! (What an horrible child !)"
Fleur looked quite angry and kept muttering French to herself, while the students copied down the instructions from the blackboard and started with their potions.
As Harry wanted to add some giranolas (white flowers which make you feel whizzy if you smell too much of them) to his potion, Fleur called him to her desk.
He wondered what this was about, but he was immensily relieved, to find Fleur smiling at him. In a low whisper, she told:
"I ´ave joined ze Order. Dumbledore told me to offer you my ´elp ven needed. So if you ´ave troubles, feel free to bother me vith them."
Harry smiled back at her, feeling uncomfortable that Dumbledore told Fleur about him. She would think, like so many others did, that he was a delicate boy. He nodded at her and went back to his seat.
Hermione and Ron looked eagerly at him, wanting to know what Fleur had told Harry. In a low voice, he told them about Fleur joining the Order, but not the other thing she said. He had the feeling they would laugh at him, he was too ashamed to tell his friend that everything treated him like a breakable thing.
At the end of their lesson, each student filled some of his potion into a tiny bottle and handed it in.
Then the Gryffindors all headed to their next class, which was Charms. Tiny Professor Flitwick, standing on his pile of book as usual, showed them how to perform the Head-Bubble-charm. Both Fleur and Cedric Diggory had used this charm in their second task of the Triwizard tournament. This charm was very helpful, so they were able to breathe under water.
Harry´s minds kept wandering off. Ron behaved oddly. How much had he heard of Harry´s conversation with Ginny? And could he have made out anything of what Malfoy just had said?
"Mr.Potter! Pay attention, you´re not doing your charm the right way. You must make the swish correctly. Try again!"
Professor Flitwick had just passed through the classroom and controlled if all students were doing well.
Due to Harry´s lack of attention, he was the only one who had to write an essay to Flitwick about how to perform the Head-Bubble-charm correctly.
At lunch, Harry´s good mood from the morning had turned into anger. Angry with himself, Snape and Malfoy. Why couldn´t he be a normal boy, without this stupid scar on his head and everyone bothering him?
He felt slightly better, when Ginny took the seat opposite him and smiled at him. He grinned at her and some of his grief lifted. Meanwhile, Ron was looking from Harry to Ginny as if suspecting something. Harry and Ginny didn´t notice anything, they were to busy looking into each others eyes.
But Hermione noticed. As she didn´t want to disturb Harry and Ginny´s eyecontact, she began a conversation about S.P.E.W. with Ron. Ron immediately forgot about his friend and his sister and enjoyed his chat with Hermione.
It was the first time they talked normally to each other since the Hogsmeade trip with Oliver Wood.
It was only when Snape passed their table and muttered in a dangerous sort of voice: "Mr. Potter, Mrs. Weasley. Behave yourselves!"
Ron looked away from Hermione into the blushing faces of Harry and Ginny.
"What - ?" Ron startled.
"Oh, it´s nothing bad. Snape just caught Harry and me talking about buying some dungbombs, down in Hogsmeade. He said if we would order some, he would go straight to Dumbledore and tell us off", lied Ginny quickly.
Harry tried to look as if this story was known to him. Ron frowned and still kept gazing at his sister and Harry. But after some time, he seemed it would be best to believe this story and picked up his conversation with Hermione.
Why hadn´t he noticed before? She was so beautiful. Ron barely heard a word she told him, he kept nodding and stared into her eyes. Into those beautiful hazelbrown eyes.
"Ron? Are you listening to me? RON!"
Ron suddenly came back to his mind. It was as if he had just waked up out of a trance.
"Ehm... yes, I agree with you", he said. He had no idea what Hermione had been talking of.
Harry, Ginny and Hermione burst into giggles. Ron looked flabbergasted. What? What had he done wrong this time?
"Oh, you agree with me that it´s time for class? Right. Let´s go", she said, still grinning.
Ron´s ears went red, he had made a complete fool of himself, again. When would he stop behaving like that, in front of her?
Together, the four of them left the Great Hall. Ginny went to the Transfiguration classroom; Harry, Ron and Hermione left the castle to meet Hagrid in the grounds.
Hagrid waited for them, a large trunk placed in front of him.
"Hello, I´ve got a surprise fer yeh all! Gather ´round!"
They all looked scared. The reason was, Hagrid seemed to consider monsters as pets and undangerous creatures meant boredom to him.
He opened the trunk and in it lay leaves. Simple green leaves. But then, they noticed that the leaves were moving, they had even got legs and faces.
"These are leavemen. They look like leaves and can disguise themselves helpfully when they are in danger. But the leavesmen have many uses for the humans. Does anybody know why?", Hagrid asked.
No one was surprised to see Hermione´s voice raised. "Leavesmen have healing powers. They can heal trees and other plants. Also do leavesmen built yellow houses which can be useful to brew waking potions."
"Right ye´re! Now, what yer all have ter do is, watch the leavesmen built their houses and then you have to offer them an ill branch of a tree, they can heal. In that way, they won´t pay attention to their houses and you can collect them. The trick is, to make the tree look really bad. Good luck!"
They all started with their work. Is was not so easy as it first seemed, because the leavesmen didn´t want to leave their houses alone. They didn´t trust men and peered out of their houses, looking at the branch. Then slowly, more and more students succeeded in leading the leavesmen away and collect their houses. Once the branch of tree was mended, the leavesmen returned and built new houses.
Finally, the bell rang and the Gryffindors hurried to arrive in time at their Transfiguration class.
The Gryffindor fifth-year came storming out of the classroom. Among them was Ginny, who´s red hair shone in the crowd of students. She beamed and Harry and he smiled happily at her.
Ron noticed and he again wondered what was going on. Had his best friend missed to tell him something he should know? But Ginny would never fall for Harry, or would she? ´No Ron, don´t be silly. She has given him up for ages, so no need to worry about them.
In Transfiguration, they had to transform kittens into cats. McGonagall kept telling them that this was very advanced magic and that they should take their time to do it correctly.
Everybody was relieved to hear the bell announce the end of the schoolday. At dinner there wasn´t much trouble and afterwards, the headed to their dormitory to finish their homework.
Harry and Ginny wanted to wait for everyone to have left the common room, but unfortunately, Ron was the last to stay and he didn´t seem to want to leave them alone.
´He knows´, Harry thought for a moment. But how could Ron´ve known.
Harry accompanied Ron upstairs after sighing and looking meaningful at Ginny.
"Ron, wait. I´ve forgotten something downstairs. I´ll be right back."
Harry ran downstairs again and there stood Ginny, waiting for him. Just as he wanted to kiss her, he heard Ron´s shout: "Is everything alright? Come on, Harry."
Harry sighed again. Why didn´t Ron leave him alone? He waved goodbye at Ginny and climbed back up the stairs to his dorm.
Meanwhile, Ron had decided not to leave Harry and Ginny alone. He didn´t trust them. He didn´t like the idea of Harry and Ginny becoming a couple. He knew he couldn´t stand seeing them together, when he himself was so unlucky in love. He had to keep Harry away from his little sister.