CHAPTER 12: Potions, Lotions and Torn Emotions.

"The Infernus? What do we need to do?" Hermione asked.

"Well the thing about it is that it spreads if not treated. So we've got to get him fixed up. Hermione, do you have any essence of Murtlap, and tawny weed with aloe? Also I may need one of you to assist me in the brew, there are some pre-requisite potions that need to be created while the main potion is being attended to." Cho was obviously in charge now.

"I'll get the ingredients, I'm assuming this will be a Paralysis/Degeneration antidote mixed with a Fire reflux serum?" Hermione stated.

"Correct," Cho agreed. "Some of us in Ravenclaw still don't understand how come you ended up in Gryffindor."

"Well I guess the sorting hat knew better than anyone else that these two would be in a total mess if I weren't around to help them with their essays and put me in there to look after them," she teased.

"Well go ahead and rub it in, we just love to get put down," Ron grumbled.

"If you only followed the study plan I gave you, maybe you won't have all the pileup you had at the end of the year," she reprimanded him.

"Humph, that timetable was impossible. Not everyone gets their own personal time machine. Six hours of study with only a ten-minute break and six hours of sleep? You must be touched in the head if you thought we could really follow that torture tutorial," Ron countered.

"It's was NOT a 'tort- " Hermione started.

"Come off it you two, we've got some more important matters to deal with now," Cho cut them off, looking at Harry's chest. Ron and Hermione froze, and she reddened, embarrassed. "Come on, let's get cracking."

Draco Malfoy stormed around the living room at Malfoy manor. He was much angrier than he could even remember.

"How easily Potter countered my Infernus Summon! Slaving whole month to ignite a friggin' bush and he ups and grabs my fire as if it were nothing!" He paced up and down, his broken arm momentarily forgotten; so intense was his hatred towards Harry. "At least I'm still alive…" That was too close for comfort, what on earth has Scarhead been doing to get all those new powers? As he walked past the full-length mirror- he realised his hair was sticking straight up. He tried to raise his arm to flatten his hair down, and then was reminded painfully that his arm was broken."Shit. I never took on any of those healing chapters in charms." That's for servants and workers to know, those matters don't concern me. "I need someone who could fix this. Who do I know could- "

Ahh shit. Not her. Draco grimaced. He did not want to talk to this girl after what they did on her sixteenth birthday. It was a big mistake. But who else could he to find now to heal his arm? She was pretty good at the healing arts. He took some floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. It roared green; he stuck his head in it and said loudly, "Parkinson Manor!"

He saw Mrs. Parkinson in the living area; she was looking over-sexed and slutty, as usual. Her breasts almost spilled out of her witch's lingerie, a bottle of fire whisky an almost permanent accessory in her hand. Her feet were bare and her hair bounced in curls around her face. She walked unsteadily to the fireplace and came closer than really needed to peer into the flames.

"Lucius, izzat you lover? Fraser is- I mean isn't in, me, no, you could zip over for a bit if you l-like," she slurred.

"Where's Pansy?" Draco demanded.

"Oh you want her too? I'm sure we could arrange something," she smiled.

"Listen, this is not Lucius; bring Pansy to the fire, you stupid woman." He was already angry, and now he was getting even more ticked off.

"Fine! PANSY!" Jenna Parkinson screamed upstairs. "Floo for you!" Pansy came running down the stairs and entered Draco's view. She, at least, changed out of her sleeping wear, but unfortunately had the same sort of fashion sense (or lack thereof) as her mother. She absolutely glowed at Draco's face in the fire.

"Draco! I was waiting for when you would call," Pansy said. "How come you took so long?" Draco's face darkened, the things he had to do sometimes.

"I'm apparating over there, I need you to fix me up," he growled.

"Well you know that is my specialty," licking her lips. Draco looked disgusted. Did she have any modesty at all? Or class? He said nothing and took his head out of the fire. A few seconds later he was standing in front of her in the flesh, his demeanor menacing.

"Honey, you're home!" Pansy said in her most cliché voice.

"Cut the shit, I will never live here. You're good at healing charms." It was a statement, not a question. She eyed him, and nodded.

"Why?"

"You do know how to fix a broken arm don't you?" he asked arrogantly. " I need you to fix mine."

"What happened?" Pansy asked, examining his forearm.

"Don't worry about that, just do it."

"What's in it for me?" she asked, obviously thinking like a Slytherin. Draco cracked a half smile, he wanted nothing to do with her romantically, but she did have her strong points.

"We'll say I owe you one, and I'm good on my word," said Draco.

"I'll keep you to that," she smiled wickedly and led him into the guest room.

"Ginny!" Ron hissed, " Come here for a sec, please!" Ron peeked in on the girls concocting the potions, Ginny helping read out recipes while Hermione and Cho were busy adding ingredients. She looked at him and mouthed, "What?" in an I'm-busy-right-now-leave-me-alone manner. Ron frantically beckoned her from the doorway.

"It'll only be a second, promise!"

She sighed and told the others she'll be back. They went into Ron's room he shared with his brothers and Ron closed the door behind them.

"Ginny, I need to borrow two galleons, please, it's a matter of life and death." His eyes were shifty and he kept wringing his hands.

"Ron, stop being melodramatic. How on earth could two galleons be a matter of life and death?" she countered.

"Well when George apparates from work at the shop he's going to be wanting the four galleons we bet on, and I only have two….. and if I don't pay up I'm dead. Now you see?"

She giggled. "Well I see your predicament, but to tell you the truth I spent most of the money I had saved on some new," -she flushed, "..stuff."

"What stuff?" Ron demanded.

"That's none of your business!"

Ron eyed her, "You didn't spend your money on that sexy underwear did you?" Ron looked disgusted. But it was written all over her face, she flushed even redder. He was suddenly inspired, "Mom is going to freak."

"What, why would mom freak out!" she looked thunderstruck.

"Imagine if your youngest child and only daughter was out and about buying skimpy drawers…maybe she'll let you live for a little while before she really kills you," Ron shook his head as if that fate was inevitable.

"You wouldn't!" she shrieked.

"Well for a small price of about, oh I'd say …two galleons, I may conveniently forget all about that little peep show at the ministry this morning."

"You low, slimy, underhanded, shameless…"

"Yeah yeah… whatever," he stuck out his hand, palm up.

She dug into her pockets and drew two golden coins. She slapped it hard into his hand and stormed off. Ron grinned, at least no one is going to die anytime soon. It works out best for everyone.

Harry was now sitting in the potion room Hermione and Cho had set up in. The brew was finished, and also a special salve had to be applied to his torso, to the afflicted area and the immediate surrounding area. He looked apprehensively at the tubes and measuring instruments crowding the work desk, the boiling cauldron emitting a yellowish fine mist. There was another small cauldron that smelled heavenly, the strong scent gave him a slight high. Cho walked over to him, holding a flask of a lightly bubbling yellow liquid.

"Okay Harry, it's basically a two step treatment, you got to drink this. It will put you to sleep for exactly three hundred seconds. During that time we have to apply the balm on your skin before you wake. The burn should disappear in one to two hours. Oh, there may be slight side effects for a little while as your body reproduces hormones and antibodies to fight off any of the infection- nothing to worry about. Ready?"

He nodded, and took off his shirt. The burn was spreading; it already reached the bottom of his neck and just above his navel.

"Lie down on the table," she waved her wand and said, "Scourgify y packimup!" The apparatus they used jumped off the table into Cho's potions box, a bit too haphazardly. "Oops, maybe I have to practice that one a bit more. Come on now, up you go," she told him. He lay down on the table, Hermione and Cho looking like the novice surgeons they were, wearing potion making coveralls and protective gloves. He could have pictured Cho asking Hermione, for scalpel, scissors, tweezers, all the cliché lines used in those soap operas his aunt loved to watch. Harry drank the tasteless liquid, and felt a warm sensation going down his throat. His eyes immediately begin to droop, and before he knew it, was fast asleep. After exactly five minutes had passed his eyes flashed open and his skin was tingling. The two girls peered down at him curiously; both of them with balm on their hands. Harry felt as if he were high in the clouds. The scent of the balm was intoxicating and it permeated through his pores, making him feel quite high. He smiled stupidly at them.

"Heh- I feel funny," he giggled. " Am I supposed to see four of you? But all of you do look hot!" he grinned.

Hermione and Cho gave each other a blank look. They went immediately to their spell books and checked the side effects lists. "They say here: Slight delusion and heightened hormonal activity may occur." Cho read aloud. "Hmm…Well I guess we could live with that, they say its short term."

Harry got up from the table unsteadily, wavering on his feet. He put on his t-shirt inside out and back-to-front; and only with some intense struggles the girls got Harry to put it on the right way. Cho and Hermione were flushed form the effort to control Harry, he was surprisingly strong for his slim frame. He put his arms around both of their shoulders, leaning heavily on them.

"Aren't I the luckiest guy around, I've got two sexy ladies trying to take my clothes off, maybe we should go get some butterbeer and celebrate!"

"Harry, you've got to control yourself, you're too heavy! You might throw us all down!" Hermione said as Harry guided them out of the room.

"I'm good I'm good," swaying heavily to Hermione's side. She stumbled but balanced herself at the last second to prevent all of them tumbling down the stairs. "Hah! 'Mione you can't walk in a straight line, you nearly threw us all down the stairs!" He looked at the open foyer below the flight of stairs and thought that the steps looked way too wavy for Hermione to make it down there all by herself without falling.

"Hear what, I'll help you down the staircase, looks like you might fall on the first step." Quick as lightening; he released Cho and scooped up Hermione in his arms. Without hesitation he jumped, clearing the staircase as if she were weightless. Landing solidly on the ground floor, he stood proud and straight while Hermione was holding on to him for dear life, her eyes shut closed in fear. He eased her back to her feet.

"See? Easier my way!" he grinned and planted a big smooch on her lips. As his lips smothered hers, she froze, completely caught by surprise. "I'm hungry, where's the food?" He said, turning his back on her, Hermione already forgotten as he strode off into the kitchen. Both girls stared at him, too shocked to even move. They looked at each other in amazement, shrugged their shoulders and followed him into the other room.

The morning light filtered through the newly fixed windows. Harry was fast asleep, still in the original position he fell into bed in. The clock on the wall read 7:45 am, and everyone else was up and about except for Ron, who usually slept late. There was a soft tap on the door, and Cho's voice filtered in.

"Harry? You up? Come on, it's getting late."

Harry rolled unto his side, covering his head with a pillow. Twenty minutes passed before the knocking returned, this time more persistent.

"Harry, you've got to get up! You'll be late! I'm coming in." Hermione opened the door and strode inside. She looked down at him, his hair peeking out under the snow-white pillow. She grabbed the pillow from his grasp and he grumbled, pulling up the sheets over his head. "Harry, you're going to miss Quidditch practice," she told him. He rolled over and opened his eyes groggily.

"Practice? Quidditch? What time is it?" he murmured.

"It's late, and Cho is waiting for only five more minutes before she leaves you behind," said Hermione.

"Wait, what day is it?"

"Thursday. Practice. England Quidditch team. Remember?"

Harry sprung out of bed. The sheets tangled around his feet, tripping him. He fell hard on the floor with a loud thud, swearing explicitly. Hermione laughed at him.

"You alright?"

"Yeah , yeah..." He grumbled, throwing the sheet unto the bed. He got up, and stretched out some kinks from sleeping in one position for so long.

"Harry look, the burn is completely gone! The potion worked! Not that we expected it to fail but it was a really complex piece of potion mak-"

"What happened? I remember getting up feeling strange and vaguely remember eating something, but that's it."

"Um, nothing really, you just said you were….uh really tired and went to bed," she said, not at looking him directly in the eyes. He finished grabbing his things, gave her a funny look and stormed downstairs, putting a t-shirt over his head. Cho was in the foyer, waiting for him.

"Mr. Lupin, Mad Eye, and a few others are at the stadium already, making sure it is secure. We're using the fireplace to get there. Here, Mrs. Weasley made you some breakfast-" She shoved the container at his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He looked at her quizzically, but she already was heading to the living room and disappeared into the roaring flames. Harry looked back at Hermione in sient question, but she was still avoiding his eyes.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked her. She shrugged her shoulders. He shook his head in bewilderment, stepped into the fireplace, and was off.

"Where's Potter?" grumbled Moody. A group of wizards hovered by the floo powder fireplaces at the stadiums, all of them under invisibility cloaks. Remus, Charlie Weasley, Shacklebolt and Snape were all also waiting for him to appear. He was running fifteen minutes late and Moody was getting concerned. "Maybe one of us should check up on him," he added.

"Potter has never shown any concern when it comes to rules and a time schedule, far less have consideration for those who seek to protect him."

"Shut it, Snivellus," Remus Lupin said from somewhere to the right. "He'll be here anytime now." At that moment Cho appeared in the fireplace, storming out in a huff. "You see? he'll be coming shortly. Cho, how are you? Where's Harry?" he asked her as she came close. She jumped at the voice coming out of nowhere, but Remus took off the hood and his head floated in the air.

"I don't know, maybe you should ask Hermione, she seems to know everything," she said irritably, walking past them. "I'm going to change, I tried to wake him up but he felt like sleeping in some more- the bastard."

"Like James, he seems to have his..ahem.. way with the ladies," Snape sneered, chuckling to himself.

"Why don't you keep James' name out of your mouth," snarled Remus, stepping up in Snape's space. "I don't see you trying to help the situation, so I suggest you keep out of it."

"Of course," Snape drawled. "So wrong of me to, ah, intrude," he smiled secretly under his hood, and backed off. "Far be it from me to be the one who that boy gets killed this time around."

"DAMN YOU!" Remus roared, his voice taking on the form of some beast, his teeth bared. He charged Snape, blindly using his ultra sharp sense of smell and hearing to attack his position. Snape smiled, and drew his wand.

"You wish to challenge me? Impedimentia!" The spell flashed form his wand and hit Remus solidly in his chest. Remus flew back some ten feet, crashing unto the ground. Just at that moment, Harry emerged from the fireplace, and witnessed the attack on Remus. His eyes flew to the space where the spell originated from, and recognized the tunic and wand that was now visible a few feet from him. Snape's invisibility cloak was partially opened. Moody was right behind him, and in his effort to stop him from drawing his wand he tugged on the cloak, revealing a smiling Professor Snape, gloating down at Remus sprawled on the floor. Harry saw red. He did not have time to think, he got low and charged his potions master with all his strength. His shoulder buried into his stomach, knocking the breadth out of Snape. He tackled him to the ground, and let loose with one right fist. It caught him flush in the face, but before he could let loose with the left Charlie Weasley grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and physically heaved him off, holding him back.

"That's enough, Harry!" Charlie bellowed right behind his ear. Harry still struggled against him, but eventually he boiled down to a simmer. He shrugged off Charlie and got his gear and stormed off to the locker rooms, not wanting to hear anything. No one spoke for a while.

"I've got to get Potter to demonstrate that tackle again, that's the second time it worked on a fully grown wizard armed and ready," Moody remarked, smiling. "Come on, we've got to talk to him."

A few hours later after practice Harry was in a really terrible mood. He was walking under the invisibility cloak back to the floo network fires, avoiding all the paparazzi that hounded him this morning in his rush to avoid the others. It was only when Moody came up to the group of reporters harassing him and gave them his trademark 'Mad-Eye' look did they allow Harry to pass. Cho wasn't talking to him and Amy and Rebecca were also giving him the cold shoulder. His team-mates barely talked to him, his foul temper permeated all around him. He only caught the snitch once in their three practice games and unintentionally blew up the two bludgers that were struck towards him, awarding him some curious looks and even getting himself in a little row with the coach for knocking Cantonma a bit too roughly off his broom.

He was glad for the invisibility cloak that Remus took out of his trunk for him, once he had it on he did not need to talk to anyone. Not that he was ever alone, he had an escort of three surrounding him, all under invisibility cloaks as well. It would have been five, but Remus was told to take a few days off and Severus Snape immediately left after the incident, and hasn't returned since. Harry did not bother to shower and change, he just grabbed his gear and broomstick, then headed out right after the team talk. Without wasting any more time, he made his way to the fireplaces, stepped into the fire and spun away in the green flames.

The moment he stepped out at Grimmauld place he immediately took off his cloak. Ron was sitting at the table playing a game of wizarding chess with his brother George. Ron jumped when Harry materialised out of nowhwere, but George was accustomed to seeing strange things happening at his shop and nodded at him.

"Oi, how was practice?"

"Fine," he told them. He ran his hands thru his hair, pulling it back in a sign of frustration. "What are you two doing?" he asked, noticing the few gold coins stacked next to the board.

"George says he could beat me at Chess 'any day of the week' so I'm letting him put his money where his mouth is," Ron explained, his eyes locked on the board.

"Don't mind him Harry, he's just sour that he lost our little bet we had going, I've got to collect from Fred too when he comes back," he grinned.

"What bet is that?" he asked. The brothers' grins vanished. They glanced at each other.

"Oh it's nothing important, just a little family thing we had going," George fibbed, putting on one of his best 'customer' smiles.

"We're playing this chess game for two galleons, and it looks like he is going to have to give me back my money," Ron laughed.

"It's not over until the last man falls!" George declared in his heroic war voice.

Harry let them continue with their game and went into the kitchen to grab something to drink. He opened the magical cooler box that kept everything at the exact temperature that you wanted; hot or cold, and searched for a butterbeer.

No butterbeer.

All right then, some pumpkin juice.

No pumpkin juice.

Anything else at all?

He peered deeper inside, and the only thing he saw was water. Without any other choice, he took out some and poured out in a cup.

"Hey guys, is there anything good to drink in this house?" he called out.

"You drank most of it yesterday, remember?" Ron called back, seizing a bishop with his pawn. "Check."

"I – what?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, remember your little drink up you had yesterday? Dancing on the table, flirting with the girls, spinning a chair on your hand?" asked George.

"WHAT!" he spat back a large gulp of water. He strode back into the living room.

"It was really hilarious, we had a blast!" said George, claiming the undefended pawn.

"Didn't figure you to be the real party animal," Ron said, sort of disheartened. He absentmindedly played one of his pieces.

"I'm not, I DON'T REMEMBER ANY OF THIS!"

"Well it happened, and it was a lot of fun," said George, taking a rook that Ron left unguarded. "Check."

"What else went on yesterday afternoon?" Harry asked, curious now.

"You were real chummy with Hermione," said Ron under his breath.

"Blimey…I have no memory at all of all of this," Harry murmured to himself.

"Well, Cho remembered when you and Hermione disappeared for a little while," Ron accused him. He captured George's queen with his other rook. "Checkmate!" he declared, grabbing the two galleons on the table, got up and left the room. Fred shot Harry a 'now-you-did-it' look and went after his brother. Harry stood there, dumbstruck. What happened yesterday? He needed to talk to Hermione. He went upstairs, hoping to take a bath and change. There was a lone letter on his bed. It looked ominous there, like a piece of cheese in the middle of a mousetrap, begging him to take a taste. He approached it warily, his instincts telling him no to touch it. Going brave, he picked it up, and opened it. It was from the Ministry of Magical Education, O.W.L. division. His heart began to race, blood pumping thru him as if he just sprinted a hundred yards. He sat down and took some deep breaths. Carefully, he unsealed the envelope and opened the parchment.

Mr Harry Potter
4 Privet Drive, Surrey
England

The results for your Ordinary Wizarding Levels Examinations are as follows:

ASTRONOMY A
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES O
CHARMS O
DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS O+
DIVINATION P
HERBOLOGY E
HISTORY OF MAGIC A
POTIONS O
TRANSFIGURATION E

We are pleased to inform you that you have achieved the highest score for Defence Against the Dark Arts for this examination year. Your invigilator has requested we relay on to you that he was extremely impressed by the Corporal Patronus you performed for extra credit. Your Certificate would be posted to your school in the new school term.

Ministry of Education

Wow, Wait until Hermione sees this; she's gonna go ballistic! Well, cheers Harry, you passed all and even managed to get into Snape's potions class.

Not that he wanted anything to do with that git, but he needed the Advanced Potions to train to become an auror. He took off his quidditch gear and took a much-needed shower. Feeling somewhat refreshed and in a better mood, he could now talk to Ron and Hermione. He went out in search for them, looking in all of their rooms. However, the place was empty. No one else was Grimmauld Place except Moody, who was smoking on a fascinating pipe that emitted some smoke that seemed to have a life of its own.

"Hey, where is everyone?"

"O.W.L. results came out today, the Weasleys just left, Granger also went home to get her results while you were at practice. It's just us for the while, Remus had to take a couple days off, his fool moon transformation is drawing near and we saw a little piece of it today. Can't have that happening, now can we? Snape was out of order saying what he did, serves him right to get a shiner of a black eye," he smiled.

"Professor Snape has a black eye?" Harry grinned. "Wait till Ron finds out he won't believe I gave Snape-" he broke off suddenly. "SHIT! What if I get in serious hogwarts trouble with this? Snape may not take me into his potions class or I could get suspended or expe-" he rambled on, pacing up and down.

"Don't worry, the last thing he wants is for everyone to know that he threw a tantrum and expelled you because you gave him a black eye over the holidays. He would be the laughing stock of all the students," Moody said.

Harry stopped pacing and smiled, "Yeah you're right, Cheers, Mr. Moody."

"It's just Moody, or Alastor, I don't like being called Mr and I definitely was never a professor."

"Okay, Alastor then," Harry agreed. "When will everybody be back?"

"I'm not sure, Dumbledore should be back today, he went to Hogwarts to answer all the mail that's flooding him about now."

"How's Hagrid?"

"He's on another mission, something similar to what he did last year, y'know, scouting for possible allies," Moody puffed on the pipe.

"Hope he doesn't bring back another Grawp," smirked Harry.

"What's a 'Grawp"?"

"Never mind."

"By the way, let's see what results you got in your hand there," he nodded to the envelope in his hand. Harry handed it to him, and Moody's magical eye scanned the page independently form his real eye. "This is extraordinary, Harry. You've placed first in Defence against the dark arts, only one other person I have heard of really managed to get above total marks," Moody explained.

"Who was that?"

"Sirius Black."

That stumped Harry. He said nothing, but was glad that Sirius and him had another thing in common. He dug in his pocket and held the remnants of the half melted lock-pick knife his godfather gave him. He kept it with him, it physical talisman to remember him by. He looked at Moody, who was intensely eyeing him for his reaction. " I never knew, but again, there's a lot I don't know of Sirius," he sighed. "I'm going upstairs, I think I'll grab some sleep while its quiet." He took back the envelope and went back upstairs and into his room. He flopped down on his back in the sheets and stared at the ceiling.

Sirius, I'm Sorry…