Chapter 19
Harry awoke the next morning with a deep happy feeling. He threw off the covers, cleaned up, changed and headed down into the Great Hall for breakfast. Ginny was already sitting there, reading a book.
"Don't tell me you're becoming Hermione!" Harry said as he snuck up behind her. She whipped around, surprised, but smiled as she saw who it was.
"Nope. Quidditch book." She said, as she showed him the cover.
Quidditch! How could he forget? He had been banned last year, and Dumbledore hadn't said a thing about to him. Ginny noticed Harry looking suddenly worried and said,
"Dumbledore will reinstate you, I'm sure. He's not stupid, you're the best Quidditch player we've ever had!"
Harry smiled and sat down. He and Ginny started to eat and talk, until Harry began to notice that they were getting some strange looks from some of the girls.
"What's going on with the girls? They keep looking over here," He asked Ginny. Ginny giggled and replied, "Harry, don't honestly tell me you don't know! Quite a few girls have a crush on you, and I expect that Malfoy has told the whole school we're going out by now."
Harry goggled at her. "They have a crush, on, on, me?"
This made Ginny giggle further. "Yes they do! You're the famous Harry Potter, and besides, they love the way your hair doesn't lay flat." She said as she winked at him and ruffled his hair a little.
Harry grinned stupidly. A short while later, Ron and Hermione came down from the Common Room together, and a bit after that, the schedules were handed out. Ron, Hermione, and Harry examined their classes for that day.
"We have Potions first! Great, now I've lost my appetite," Ron groaned, throwing down his fork.
"You never lose your appetite," Hermione said, chuckling. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Ron picked up his fork and continued to eat.
"At least we have Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Harry said cheerily, shoveling more eggs onto his plate.
Everyone finished breakfast and gathered the supplies they needed for classes that day. Harry and Ginny got back to the common room from their dormitories first and Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist.
"Why can't you be a 6th year? I want to see you all the time," Harry whispered in her ear.
"Well, I'm just too gorgeous, I'd probably distract you from your work anyways!" Ginny said into his ear and laughed.
Harry chuckled and gave her a swift kiss. Ron and Hermione came a few moments later, and they all headed out of the common room to go to class. As Ginny left to go to Herbology, Harry waved and smiled until she was out of sight. He, Ron, and Hermione proceeded to the Dungeons and waited outside Snape's classroom. Harry was most unhappy to note that Draco Malfoy seemed to be in Snape's advanced Potions class. Soon, the door opened and the class silently proceeded to enter the classroom. When they had all been seated, Snape emerged from his office and looked around the room.
"I am happy to see some familiar faces, and then again, I see familiar faces I would rather not see ever again," were his first words to the class, and as he said the last part, he looked at the table where Ron, Harry, and Hermione were all sitting. Harry cocked his head and smiled a bright and very cocky smile at Snape. Snape narrowed his eyes at him and turned swiftly on his heel. He pointed his wand at the board, where several complex instructions showed up immediately.
"We will be making the Draft of Invisibility, which will make the drinker invisible until the counter potion is taken. Start now, you have an hour and twenty minutes."
The class worked in silence, too involved in their work to even so much as whisper to someone else. The potion took a very long time and was very difficult to make. Eventually, Ron, Hermione, and Harry finished theirs, and were all extremely pleased to find that Snape couldn't make a bad comment on any of their potions. They bottled their potions, brought them up to the front of the class, and gathered up their things to leave. Harry was heading toward the door when he heard Snape say,
"Potter! Stay! I would like a word with you."
Harry cursed under his breath and walked back to Snape's desk. He tried to be polite and said, as nicely as he could, "Yes Professor?"
"If you so much as don't have the right texture on any of your Potions, you will be out of this class before you can say Moonstone. Do you understand that Potter?"
"Yes Professor. Now may I ask you a question?"
Snape looked extremely taken aback, but nodded dumbly.
"Why do you hate me? Besides that you were jealous of my dad?" Harry asked, smiling and sounding as pleasant as if he were asking Snape to tea.
Snape narrowed his eyes dangerously and said in a low growl, "Rash Potter, too rash. If you don't watch that mouth of yours, it could land you in detention. Now go, or you'll be late for your next class, and I'm not giving you an excuse."
Harry mustered another pleasant smile, and simply said, "Yes Professor." He then turned and walked out the door, still smiling.