Second shot, Enjoy.
The dungeons corridors were blackened out with the lack of moon light. As Harry stared into the abyss which laid before him his thoughts wondered to outside the stone walls. Was the sky filled with cloud? Was it a clear star filled night? Was a full moon in the air?
If there was one thing Harry missed, it was the night's sky, the bitter cool of the night time breeze. He had only ever seen the moon since coming to Hogwarts, never before had he been allowed out at night, he had always been locked away in the cupboard when the moon had rose high into the sky.
He had always felt an attraction to the moon, the silver veil it spread onto the world in the darkness. It reminded him of his life.
He was the moon, shining as much light as he was able to. Dumbledore had been the Sun, illuminating the world, banishing the darkness. And Voldemort was the darkness, ever growing in the lack of light. A pang of sadness struck Harry's heart as Dumbledore's face appeared in his minds eye.
Mentally Harry smacked himself. It wasn't the time to think about such things. He had a potion to test, and test it he would.
Without a thought Harry began his trek through the dungeon's corridors. The darkness was everywhere, no matter where he looked his eyes landed on nothing but darkness. All was silent in the world except the sounds he was making.
His breathing sounded harsh in his mind, the rasp like inhaling seemed to echo off the walls and rebound back to him, magnified tenfold. Every time his feet fell to the ground the crunch of the rubber soles meeting the stone floor reached his ears. The more he tried to ignore the sounds the more they seemed to push into his thoughts.
If anyone was around he was certain that the sounds he was making would be enough for them to locate him in the darkness, the one thing he didn't want, especially in the dungeons. If anyone was going to find him it would likely be one of the Slytherin house members, after all, they had their common room in the dungeons, they could simply say that they needed to go to the toilet to explain away them being there.
Filch was another problem truth be told, although he couldn't get Harry expelled, he would sure as hell make life a lot harder. Muffliato would have been a good idea now that he thought about it. But then, he shouldn't need it, Luck was on his side after all.
Instantly his face supported a grin at the thought of the potion, it had worked. He was sure of it, the potion had been perfect. For a moment Harry lost control of his mouth, but it was long enough for a small chuckle to escape his lips.
Harry was instantly on alert as a short intake of breath from somewhere near him signalled the presence of another person. His body instantly went rigid as he became determined to make not even utter the smallest sound. Hopefully whoever it was would simply put it up to the ghosts or the resident poltergeist; Peeves.
Sadly, Harry's luck had run out, that is if he had ever had it.
"L-lumos." murmured a shaky female voice from behind Harry, causing him to further petrify. His eyes were wide with surprise and disappointment. The potion hadn't worked. Once again Harry mentally smacked himself.
It wasn't HIS potion! He was certain of it… wasn't he? It must have been more then his imagination, someone had mixed a love potion into the test tube by a spell. The idea seemed simple and easy enough to do, a simple fourth year switching spell would have been able to do it.
A sigh escaped Harry's lips as his body loosened; he was so deeply immersed in his thoughts that he barely heard the person behind him murmur his name.
"Harry?" gone was the uncertain aspect of the voice and in its place was a downplayed confidence which he could almost place.
The voice was nagging at the corner of his mind, on the edge, almost in his minds reach. And then it clicked.
Romilda Vane.
Who else had ever tried to use a love potion on him? As the twinges of anger began to surface in his body, Harry spun around angrily and set his eyes on Romilda's. Instead of the bold and confident eyes which he was use to, Romilda's eyes had become different. His anger was quickly lost as Romilda stared up into his eyes innocently. Joy seemed to radiate from the dark pools which were her eyes putting Harry off guard.
Unnoticeably, Romilda inched forwards towards him until she was inches away. Suddenly Harry became quite aware of the distance between himself and Romilda and stepped backwards, putting some much needed room between himself and her. A frown appeared on Romilda's lips as she watched Harry move away from her.
"Don't you want to kiss me?" she asked with faint curiosity, it was overridden quickly by the disappointment mirrored in her eyes.
The fury was reignited. It was as much a confession as he needed. Romilda had tampered with the vile full of Valens Felicitas. A snarl escaped his lips as he stepped forwards towards Romilda. On a normal day he would have been more refined about his approach, but it was suppose to have been his highest achievement in the wizarding world.
"You tampered with the potion in the test tube." he murmuring accusingly, his voice remained level throughout the sentence and ended in a cold finality. Romilda's eyes widened in surprise and a light blush consumed her cheeks. She tore her eyes away from Harry's no longer able to endure the loathsome glare Harry was sporting.
Slowly she raised her right hand upwards and reached into her robe. After a few seconds she withdrew her hand, within her finger tips a shapely bottle was grasped. Inside the clear bottle a mixture of silver, gold and violet liquids remained separate.
"I tried to switch the content in the test tube you were holding with a potion I made, it's called Amorsucus. Because of the difference in volume I guess I misjudged the amount in each." She explained guiltily.
Despite his anger at her, Harry's curiosity was piqued.
"You made?" he asked unsurely.
Romilda's disposition changed slightly, her posture took on a more confident attribute, making her more like the Romilda Harry knew, if not barely. She moved her eyes back onto Harry's. She was unsure again, it mirrored in her eyes.
"I want to be potions mistress when I leave school." She admitted, the confident tone remained, as if she was certain her preferred future would come about. "Professor Slughorn thinks I might be able to do it to. He-he said that my skills almost rivalled yours." Although uncommonly timid in the beginning, Romilda's voice was once again filled with confidence and pride at the end.
"An admirable goal." murmured Harry.
For some reason his anger at her wouldn't hold. Every time he tried to retain it she seemed to do or say something which made him pause and stop his thought pattern. She wanted to be a Potions mistress? Harry was about to give her a crash course in handling potions. In the best neutral tone he could muster, Harry began;
"Romilda, you know of the three schools of potions I'm sure. So I have to ask you, why did you take a chance at mixing two potions?" Romilda's face took on a pained expression as the reality of her actions hit her. "You mixed a Malicious with a Supplementary." Romilda's expression turned too horrified as the text book scenario's raced through her mind.
Without thinking she moved forwards to Harry, to quick for him to react too, in seconds her hands were on his chest, pressing against him abdomen. After the initial lack of reflex, Harry's hands quickly went to hers and stopped her 'feeling him up'. To the end she struggled and then snapped at Harry.
"I'm trying to find out if I hurt you!"
The particular explanation was not one Harry expected. It took a few seconds for him to counter her intention.
"If I was hurt I wouldn't be walking around right now."
Once again Romilda blushed and reluctantly stopped trying to assess Harry's physical health.
"Luckily the two potions effects aren't anywhere near each other. In fact they are polar opposites if you ask me."
"What potion did you make? I didn't recognise the finish product." Like Harry, Romilda's inner potions freak was coming to the surface. At that point she didn't care as much about Harry as the potion. Even as He and Slughorn were making the potion, she couldn't help but pay more attention to the potion then to Harry, something which surprised her.
Harry was conflicted. On one side he wanted to keep his potion a secret encase it failed. He didn't want to be reminded of something he tried to do which couldn't be done. On another there was a chance that Romilda could be a death eater and was searching for information about his operations. And then there was the side that wanted to confide the details about the potion in another besides Slughorn, to know their opinion.
In the end cautious and want won out.
"Romilda…could you show me both your arms please?" he asked calmly.
Confusion appeared on Romilda's face as she processed his request. Although unusual she could see nothing wrong with it. And it might even help her win him over even quicker she reasoned.
Bending down, Romilda placed the bottle of Valens Felicitas and Amorsucus on the ground then grasped the bottom of her robes and began to pull them upwards as she stood up. A blush appeared on Harry's cheeks and an expression akin to horror popped up.
"Stop!" Harry demanded in an uneven voice, he had no wish to see what she was wearing under her robe, or more to the fact what he suspected she wasn't wearing. Romilda had gotten up to her knees, and he still hadn't sighted any form of clothing under her robes. Romilda didn't seem like the kind of girl to act that way- Or at least he hoped she wasn't.
"Just your sleeves." Harry stressed the just part.
A frown appeared on Romilda's face, but she let go of the bottom of her robe, allowing it to cascade downwards back to her feet. Delicately she rolled both of her sleeves up until her pale arms were easily visible to Harry. She stretched her arms out to Harry, it didn't take long for Harry to reach out and take her arms into his hands, examining every square inch for a sign of the Dark Mark.
A relieved sigh escaped his Lips as Romilda's arms remained tattoo free. As Harry lessened his grip on Romilda's arms, another set of hands gripped his forearms. Tilting his head upwards slightly, he wasn't surprised to see Romilda's hands on his arms; she was the only person there.
What he was surprised to see however, was the slight violet sheen coating her pupils. With strength unbefitting a girl her stature, Romilda pulled Harry towards her. No matter how hard Harry pulled his arms back, his efforts remained futile. Moments away from Romilda pulling him into an uncomfortable proximity a stroke of brilliant struck his mind.
Instead of pulling away from Romilda' Harry pushed his entire weight upon her. In a brief glimpse at her tinted eyes he saw with satisfaction that confusion plagued their depths. But the confusion was short lived. Romilda's grip had relaxed tremendously and given Harry the small chance he needed.
With a single push against the cold stone floor, Harry sent his body backwards and away from Romilda. Sadly his body did not make it more then a meter before gravity took hold and brought him back to the ground. Romilda had already recovered her wits and her eyes had already found him again.
Reaching into his pocket, Harry grasped his wand in his right hand and brandished the magical instrument at Romilda's nose.
"Stop or I will hex you." Exclaimed Harry angrily.
His demands fell on deaf ears, the bewitched Romilda slid her hand into her robe and withdrew her own wand, But Harry was quicker then she was.
'Expelliarmus!' echoed Harry in his mind as he flicked the tip of his hand towards Romilda's wand hand.
Alarms rang through Harry's mind as the absence of both the crimson coloured light from the spell and the tingling feeling which came with the use of magic. Romilda had her wand out in plain sight and it was pointed directly at his chest. He had only one more chance.
"Stupefy!" Harry exclaimed out loud this time, for a moment he had thought it had worked. From the centre of his chest the tingling had began, only to moments later disappear, leaving Romilda wide awake.
"Talaris-compes" she intoned blankly, tapping her wand's tip against thin air.
From the tip of the wand a series of bright white strings erupted and surged towards Harry's feet, the strings wove between each other as they passed through the distance between Romilda and Harry. Just as the tip of the spell was about to connect with Harry's feet, he jumped backwards, avoiding the spell.
The spell struck the ground for a moment, cracking the stone, and then bounced off. If Harry had taken the time to look up to Romilda, he would have been captured on the first step, but he would have seen her twitch her wand upwards precisely when Harry had moved.
As it was, Harry was keeping his eyes on the prize, or more correctly speaking, the spell. The winding strands of the spell had glanced off the stone floor and were heading straight for his feet again.
A devious plan formed in his mind as the white light was upon him.
With a single kick from his right foot, Harry jumped over the spell and landed on its left side. Not sparing a single moment he ran towards Romilda, intent on making it past her. Luck however, was once again not playing favourites. The spell as it hit the stone pavers split in two, reversing their direction and sending them at a higher velocity to Harry.
Just as Harry made it within two meters of Romilda the bright light from the spell caught his attention, the glow of the spell was shining brightly between his legs. And then it connected.
The White strands wove an intricate series of knots between and over Harry's ankles, time seemed to slow down for a moment as his legs refused to part, and then it all became clear as the floor rushed to meet his face.
He was screwed.
In more ways then one? Joking.