"Puga Vestis*" Harry intoned as he tapped the beetle on his desk with his wand, and slowly the beetle turned into a silver button. The Slytherin's were in their transfiguration class, and Professor Mcgonagall was forcing them to practice the last transfiguration spell they had learnt the year before, and Harry was bored out of his mind, he had already transfigured four buttons. He sighed and leaned back waiting for Professor Mcgonagall to notice he had done it yet again, although the Gryffindor Head of House wouldn't praise him or award him points unlike if he had been a lion. He smirked and looked around to much sure no one was watching, as an idea came to him. He had his wand under his desk and waved the levitating charm with a whispered incantation and shot it towards the front at his fellow Slytherin Vincent Crabbe. With the charm combining with Crabbe's botched transfiguration spell the beetle flew upwards whilst growing bigger before exploding over Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode.
"Mr Crabbe!" Professor Mcgonagall cried in dismay. Harry, Draco, Theo and Blaise erupted into loud and uncontrollable laughter, as Bulstrode jumped up screaming and dancing around, trying to get the beetle bits out of her hair. Harry saw Hermione giving him a disapproving look out of the corner out his eye, but he could also see her lips twitching as she fought back laughter.
"Right class, today's lesson is over, next lesson we will start moving on, Mr Crabbe I expect an essay on the dangers of not focusing while attempting transfiguration spells" Mcgonagall said as she looked over the class, nodding they all collected their books up and left the classroom, and headed towards their next class.
"Greenhouse Three today!" Professor Sprout shouted, drawing the Slytherin's attention to her as they walked across the vegetable patch for their double class Herbology with the Ravenclaw's. Harry and Hermione shared a look before leading their friend's towards the appropriate Greenhouse, they had only been in Greenhouse One last year. As they reached their destination they noticed all the Ravenclaw's were already there waiting, four girls and four boys were grouped together talking excitedly. Professor Sprout opened the Greenhouse doors and they filed in, the middle of the Greenhouse held a large trestle bench which they stood beside in single file along it, Slytherin's on one side and Ravenclaw's on the other. Harry found himself at the front with Hermione beside him, and opposite him was a girl of Indian heritage; Padma Patil, her twin sister Parvati was a Gryffindor if he remembered correctly. On the trestle bench before them lay nineteen different colored pairs of earmuffs, Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust as he saw a few pairs of bright pink fluffy earmuffs.
"Today, we will be re-potting Mandrakes. Now, who can tell me the properties of a Mandrake?" Professor Sprout asked, she was a short, dumpy sort of witch, who was the perfect example of an over friendly Hufflepuff, but she knew her Herbology and taught well. Hermione's hand was in the air straight away, along with a few of the Ravenclaws, Hermione smiled and opened her mouth as Professor Sprout nodded at her.
"Mandrake's also known as Mandragora by Herbologists, are a powerful restorative, it is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed back into their original state." Hermione said confidentially as she repeated what she had been told by her Mother and Aunt's Narcissa and Bellatrix, all three of whom had excelled in Herbology.
"Excellent, 10 points to Slytherin" Professor Sprout said grinning at the girl.
"The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also dangerous, who can tell me why?" this time Harry raised his hand almost lazily compared to Hermione whose hand shot up once again.
"Mr Riddle?" she asked, nodding at him.
"The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it, our Minister in 1912, Venusia Crickerly, died due to hearing it" Harry stated, when he had been learning about all the Ministers in his Father's lessons, he had come across the fact and he had always remembered it, mostly because he had laughed himself silly.
"Well done, take another ten points Slytherin" Professor Sprout said proudly.
"Now, these Mandrakes are still seedlings" she said pointing to row of deep trays which held a hundred or so tufty little plants, they were purplish green in color and looking very unremarkable.
"Their cries won't kill you yet, but they will knock you out for several hours, which is why we have these earmuffs." she continued.
"When you place them on, make sure they are firmly over your ears, and when it is safe to remove them, I will give you all the thumbs up. Now hurry and place them on" Harry reached forward and grabbed a simple black pair and placed them on his ears, automatically all sound was blocked, it was a strange sensation.
Professor Sprout then grabbed one of the plants and pulled harshly, Harry leaned back as he saw a Mandrake in person for the first time, it was disgusting. Instead of roots, a small muddy, fat and extremely ugly baby like thing popped out of the earth. It had pale green, mottled skin and was clearly bawling at the top of it's lungs despite no sound being heard. Professor Sprout then took a large pot from under the table and pushed the Mandrake into the dirt, before burying it completely under more dark and damp compost. She gave everyone the thumbs up and waited patiently as they all removed the earmuffs hesitantly.
"Now it is your turn, be careful, make sure your earmuffs are on firmly, I will get your attention when it is time to pack up. Mr and Miss Riddle, you will be with Mr Boot and Miss Turpin. Mr Malfoy and Mr Nott with Mr Goldstein and Miss Li. Mr Zabini and Miss Parkinson with Miss Patil and Miss Brocklehurst. Miss Lovegood and Miss Greengrass with Mr Corner and Mr Malone. Mr Goyle, Mr Crabbe and Miss Bulstrode are the last group" She said, as each group formed she started to hand out the Mandrakes.
"Hi" the Ravenclaw girl said shyly as Harry and Hermione moved to stand with them, Harry sneered slightly and nodded sharply before looking at their equipment, making sure they had everything.
"Hartford" Hermione snapped as she elbowed him in the stomach.
"Hi, I am Hermione, this tosser is my twin brother Hartford" she said extending her hand out to the girl.
"It's Harry" he grumbled rubbing his stomach which felt like it was bruising already.
"I'm Lisa and this is Terry" the girl said, she was feeling braver now Hermione was proving to be nicer than her brother, Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes as Lisa started blabbing away about everything she knew about Mandrakes and plants similar to them. Thankfully it wasn't long before their pots of Mandrakes were placed before them; with their earmuffs on, they got to work. Unfortunately Professor Sprout made it look easy, but it wasn't, they didn't seem to like coming out of their earth homes but they didn't want to go back into new ones either. They squirmed around, kicked their root like legs out, flailed their sharp little fists and gnashed their teeth. Harry struggled with an extremely fat on for around ten minutes trying to squash it into the new pot and dirt. By the end of class, Harry, like everyone else, was sweaty, aching and filthy, they traipsed back into the castle and headed for the dungeons to have long hot showers before lunch.
The eight cambions decided to enjoy their lunch break outside before they had to head to Potions, despite it being overcast and slightly windy a majority of the students seemed to have the same idea. Thankfully their spot by the old tree next to the courtyard was free for them, sighing loudly Harry flopped back onto the grass, his legs and arms splayed out.
"Please show at least some decorum Brother" Hermione sneered as she sat down next to him, before pulling out her Herbology book, Professor Sprout had said that they would be working with Mandrakes a bit this year and Hermione wasn't wasting any time reading deeper into the plant.
"I could, but I don't want to, so I won't" Harry said grinning at her cheekily but she just rolled her eyes and continued to read.
"Ugh, the Gryffindorks have decided to infest us with their presence" Draco drawled causing the other's to look up, and sure enough, Potter Jr was walking out flanked by his three friends Weasley, Thomas and Finnigan.
"They truly believe they own the school don't they" Blaise scoffed as the four boys strutted across the courtyard, the small blonde first year Colin Creevey following with his massive camera in hand. Finally Colin seemed to make Henry and his friends stop walking so that he could talk to them, smirking Harry and Hermione shared a look and they got up to move closer, their own friends following them. They got close enough to hear just as Colin was taking a deep shuddering breath of what seemed to be excitement and opened his mouth to speak.
"It's amazing here isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got my letter from Hogwarts. My Dad is a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I am taking loads of pictures to send home. And it'd be really good if I had one of you." his blue eyes peered up at Harry imploringly.
"Maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then could you sign it?" it was in that moment that Harry couldn't help himself and let out a loud snort before speaking.
"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos Potter?" He said scathingly and loudly, and just as he intended, his voice echoed over the courtyard gaining many students attention.
"Everyone line up!" he shouted loudly as he smirked at Henry.
"Henry Potter is giving out signed photos!"
"No I am not!" Henry snapped.
"You're just jealous" Colin piped up nervously, Harry sneered at the small boy, his entire body was about as thick as either Crabbe or Goyle's necks.
"Jealous?" Hermione laughed as she stood by her brother with an identical smirk across her face.
"Of what? That ugly scar on his face? Trust me, it isn't that special" she sniggered, although only the Cambions knew that it literally wasn't special, caused by nothing more than falling wood from the roof of the old nursery.
"Getting your head cut open isn't something to celebrate" Draco laughed.
"Eat slugs Malfoy" Ron said angrily.
"Be careful Weasel" Blaise sneered.
"Yeah, wouldn't want to start any trouble or your Mummy will have to come and take you away from school" Theo snorted.
"If you put another toe out of line!" Pansy and Daphne chorused in high pitch whining voices trying to imitate Mrs Weasley as they leant sideways on each other. They could hear a bunch of the older Slytherin's laughing loudly from where they were sitting on the stone benches.
"Maybe Weasley would like a signed photo" Luna said softly tilting her head to the side.
"He could sell it to upgrade his family from their teeny tiny shack of a home" at that everyone laughed loudly again, it wasn't often that Luna joined in with them, usually just watching from the sidelines, but hearing her delicate and floaty voice insulting someone was always amusing. Ron snarled as his face flushed unattractively red as he whipped his sellotaped wand and pointed it at the dreamy blonde. Automatically Harry, Draco, Blaise and Theo stepped in front of her, shielding her from whatever the redhead had planned, their own wands out in an instant pointing at him.
"Guys look out!" Hermione whispered harshly, her green eyes looking slightly to the left.
"What's all this? What's all this?" Gilderoy Lockhart was striding towards them, his turquoise robes swirling ridiculously behind him, Harry, Hermione and their friends sniggered behind their hands as they took in the sight of their defense teacher.
"Who is giving out signed photos?" Henry opened his mouth to try and deny it but Lockhart suddenly noticed him.
"Shouldn't of asked! We meet again Henry!" he cried joyfully as he flung his arm around Henry's shoulders and pulled him close, effectively pinning the Gryffindor to himself.
"Come on then Mr Creevey" he said beaming.
"A double portrait, can't do better than that, and we'll both sign it for you" Colin fumbled with his camera and took a photo just as the bell rang from the tower signalling the end of lunch hour. As they started to move to their classes laughing about Lockhart and Henry Potter, thankfully they were behind them and could hear Lockhart talking to him as he walked him into the castle.
"A word to the wise Henry, I covered for you back there with young Creevey - if he was photographing me too, your schoolmates won't think you're setting yourself so much." much to the Cambions amusement, Lockhart wasn't paying attention to any of Henry's stammering.
"Let me just say that handing out signed pictures at this stage of your career isn't sensible, it looks a tad big headed Henry to be frank. There may well be a time when, like me, you'll need to keep a stack handy wherever you go but I don't think you are quite there yet" he said chortling. Finally Potter managed to stammer out he had to get to Potions, and he bolted, beetroot red in the face, with Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas on his heels with the Cambions laughter echoing down the hall behind him.
-* latin translate to button clothing haha the spell doesn't have an incantation so I made this up.
Thank you so much for reading, I truly hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I apologize for any mistakes. The next chapter will be similar to this chapter I think, we have Potion's coming up and more interactions between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Not sure on when it will be out as I have been struggling the last few chapters but hopefully I won't have to make you guys wait too long.