The Cliff Over Hell
From the corner of her eye, Hermione watched from the reflection in the window of her Potions class, the light red dust sparkle on its way down toward her cauldron. It was almost a magnificent sight, how the powder dropped in slow motion, how awaiting her bubbling cauldron stood. WAIT. Her cauldron, her cauldron full of the Euphoria Elixir they were supposed to be brewing. No! She could not let it happen. This unknown beastly powder must be stopped!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hermione yelled as she gloriously dove in front of her precious, precious potion, trying not to have any of this imaginably evil powder destroy her masterpiece.
It didn't work.
Her dive merely made only a half of the powder fall on her chest, while the other half landed straight into her potion. In shock the very-curly haired witch pulled the text book out of dumbfounded Harry's hands and tried to find the identity of this mysterious powder, so she could find something to counter it. She flipped the pages of Advanced Potion Making as if her life depended on it. If she didn't have this perfect Professor Snape would be after her, presumably taking as many Gryffindor points as he could and possibly flunking her on this assignment.
Ever since she had stepped back into the Potions classroom the week before, after forgetting her favorite quill, and walked in on Snape telling Filch to check on two certain students, which she didn't hear the names of..., and to report his findings only to him, Snape had been after her, thinking that she had learned too much. Hermione really didn't, truly care about their conversation, but that did not make a difference to the Potions master. She did not have to look for long. Hermione felt a burning sensation around her lower neck area.
Why do these things always happen to me?
She began to frantically scratch and scratch like a mad person with severe eczema.
Most unfortunate for Hermione, she was too caught up with the well- being of her potion that she did not notice the fact that everyone in the whole classroom was staring at her since her magnificent jump across her table.
"Um... Hermione? Sorry... I kinda just tripped over something and well, I was trying to sprinkle this on Malfoy, not you... Are you alright there?" mumbled Ron through his hand, shamelessly snickering. He was pointing at a small package brightly colored red and orange, The Weasley's Wizard Wheezes "Instant Scratch- Itch Powder" (make your enemies instantly and frantically scratch all over, or get yourself out of class for a day! ) She just glared at him.
How was Ron able to pass O.WL.S while performing ill-advised pranks during class?
Hermione had thought his behavior would change now that they were in N.E.W.T level, but once again she had jumped to the wrong conclusion about him.
"Well Granger, I'll take the liberty and assume that the Weasel here has touched you in a rather naughty place and that you are trying to get rid of any dead-skin cells that might be left," sneered Draco, as he walked across the room to see what all the commotion was about by himself. "I really wouldn't blame you."
"Malfoy will you ever sod off?" replied Ron.
"Funny Weasley, how you always reply with the same phrase. Really, it's getting old now," Draco sat on Hermione's desk, stole her quill, and pocketed it. The witch didn't even notice.
"And anyways, I was trying to commit a public service act here. No one wants to see you two at it. Personally, I would turn into a crazed lunatic and murder any couple that consisted of a Weasel and a Beaver, if I ever laid eyes on you groping each other."
"Me and Hermione weren't...How could you say such a thing...wrong accusations... that's it Malfoy, that's the last straw!"
"Straw? Are you going on about the material that your house was built by?" Ron's face now looked like the color of a freshly picked tomato. He took a fierce step towards Malfoy when, Harry held him back, with one arm, obviously used to this series of actions, while stirring his potion.
"Harry... just this one time please let me pound his puny, pastie self!"
"Ron, hes not worth the hair on your back." Harry muttered, quite bored with the turn of events.
"I do not have any bloody hair on my bloody back!"
"Yes you do Ron, I've been lucky enough to see it." As Ron and Harry continued to bicker they did not notice Malfoy loose interest at being a bully for once and walk back to his table mouthing "old married-couple", while Hermione focused on madly scratching and looking through the text book.
"Anything...Anything..." she muttered to herself while drastically flipping through the pages at top speed trying to find anything that would fix her potion. As the fateful gods would have it, she found nothing.
"Miserable teenagers who make me me despise my self for calling you 6th year Hogwarts students, stop what you are doing and I will come around and check your Elixirs. And if they are not up to par, you will be doing a 5 foot essay on exactly how to make a Euphoria Elixir and the effects of it. That's 5 foot essays with small handwriting. Make it 6 if you print large." Professor Snape's usual demoralizing speech made all of his students shift in their seats a little. But Hermione was freaking out.
She was sweating and nervous as if she were standing on a cliff that was about to break into the depths of hell.
Snape walked around the classroom, peering into students cauldrons muttering "pass" or "fail" and the occasional "excellent" and "you really should start writing that essay."
"Zabini- pass, Malfoy- excellent, Potter- ... surprisingly pass for the first time in your life, at this point gasps were heard all through the room, Snape had passed Harry, Finnigan- fail, Granger- pass as always- wait ..." Snape stopped, doubled back and stared at her cauldron. Hermione's Euphoria was supposed to be green colored and simmering softly. Instead it was bright red, bubbling ferociously and occasionally shooting out sparks.
"Miss Granger I can honestly say that I am very surprised. I think- no- I know this day will always be remembered. Hermione Granger you fail, go get started on your essay, 20 points from Gryffindor and a week of extra-potions lessons. " he giggled- yes - giggled and "passed" everyone else, including Neville, after Hermione. She sat horror struck, her face looked as if she found out that The Dark Lord was pep upped and alive again, her lips forming a little "o". Sheer terror, Unbelievable dread, and panicky thoughts of jumping out the window were flowing through her mind. She failed. She failed.
The small piece of rock on the cliff she was standing on broke, and Hermione fell head-first into the fiery depths.
"Class dismissed. Ha He Ha He He Ha."
Snape's horrible laugh still rang in Hermione's ear after her Ron and Harry left for Dinner.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall . Something was wrong. Was it just her or was there fewer people and more empty spaces in the room? She looked around. No. It was just that everyone was sitting extremely close to one another. She felt a little sick as she watched two Hufflepuffs mushing face in a corner.
That must have left a mark...
"Ron this is all your fault." yelled Hermione as she sat down, stony faced.
"What did I do now?"
"If you hadn't tried to make Malfoy itchy, which was an awful plan, I wouldn't have failed, been given tutor lessons by god- knows- who and an essay. " She shuddered as she said the awful words. Except the bit about the essay. She didn't really mind that...
" Well, Ginny told me to do it!"
"If Ginny told you to give the finger to the Bloody Baron, would you do it?"
"No but Hermione, it's more than that, somebody tripped me! Why else would this have happened. You know what ? I bet somebody stuck out their foot under Harry's invisibility cloak, -Didn't you say it had been missing Harry-, and tripped me to sabotage your stupid potion. Plus if Malfoy started scratching everywhere, we could call him itchy- twitchy little ferret." replied Ron, stuffing his face with chicken and grinning at the though of having something mildly witty to say.
"Hermione, why don't you sit down and eat. You really don't look to well. Ron, don't you think that your "story" is a little far-fetched? And this has nothing to do with my cloak being missing, believe me." intervened Harry, trying to keep neutral in the war zone which was the foot between Hermione and Ron.
"Harry, what do you mean you lost your cloak? I specifically remember Dumbledore saying to "use it well". How did you loose it anyway?" said Hermione to nervous about the present situations to eat anything.
"Hermione...um what? How do I...um I really have no...why do you ask? How dare you presume such things of me and Ginny in the Astronomy Tower!" Harry looked around wide-eyed staring at Hermione suspiciously.
Hey, Hermione, Ron, Harry," said Ginny as she strolled towards their part of the table, smiling and giggling at a beet red Harry, while sucking on a sugar quill "Hermione why are you so late? I thought I saw you walking out of the Common Room an hour ago."
"I was working on an essay for Potions in the library, I never really understood how fascinating Euphoria Elixirs can be, I mean except for the excessive singing and nose-tweaking...-"
Needless to say everyone around Hermione stopped listening at that point, so it would be tiresome to read of Hermione talking of the beloved potion.
"Oh! Harry I almost forgot! I have your cloak! I think I accidentally took it with me to my dormitory... is it OK if I keep i for a while? Harry, it's just so cool." interrupted Ginny, winking at Harry. He had a drunken stupor about him as he nodded a 'yes'.
A/N: The next chapter will be called "A Malfoy, Most Foul" ... review! Oh, and meet my fiancee', his name is 'Creative C. Riticism'