The DA meetings were going well, and Harry was glad that everyone was picking up on the spells fairly quickly. It pushed him to find new spells defensive spells to learn which he learned with Hermione and then they would explain it to the others. Mostly they were simple spells that would remove the enemy's weapon and render them helpless long enough for them to run away.
It was a good distraction from… everything. He hadn't had any more bad dreams, which made him wonder whether the nightmare with Voldemort had been nothing more than that. Maybe his mind had just formed a dream encompassing all of his worst fears.
"Harry… maybe we should call it a night." Hermione said. Everyone looked tired and Harry himself was starting to think of things he shouldn't.
"Yeah, sounds good. Hey everyone, let's leave it for tonight." Everyone was relieved. They talked excited to each other about what they had learnt as they made their way out. The room made the exit through a different place from where they'd entered to allow them to pass by Filch undetected.
Harry paused on his way out as he saw Cho standing inside the room still. He glanced around noticing everyone else had left and he made his way up to her. Guilt churned his insides as he thought of Cedric. It was his very picture that she was looking at.
"Hey, Harry." She said gently, the corners of her lips twitching upwards for a second, her eyes remaining sad as she looked at the smiling picture of the Hufflepuff.
"Cho, are you ok?" Harry asked. The Ravenclaw nodded briefly.
"I wonder… if Cedric would have lived… had he known these things." Her voice shook slightly and Harry tried not to remember that night.
"Cedric probably knew this and more… but Voldemort's followers…" She sobbed and Harry stopped, looking up at her. He didn't know what to do. Should he pat her shoulder, hug her or just stand there and say nothing? "I'm sorry Cho…" She decided for him and leaned in, hugging him tightly. Harry tensed, unused to the action and looked down. He remembered the crush he'd had toward her the year before. She was pretty and Harry was slightly envious at her ability to cry in front of someone else and reach for a hug without thinking about it.
What caught him by surprise was when she looked up and kissed him a little roughly, lips pressed against lips. He let her seek the comfort she wanted and kissed her back softly. He'd wondered for a while in the previous year what kissing her would have been like.
His stomach churned unpleasantly as he realised that he felt nothing. Everything felt mechanical and her tears made him feel even worse, knowing he had taken advantage of her emotions by not pushing her away. He was going to do just that but she pulled away first. He saw her timidly look down and hold her bag closer to her, before walking away.
Harry watched her go and turned to look back at Cedric's picture. Then he focused on his reflection and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He adjusted his bag over his shoulder and returned to Gryffindor tower where Ron and Hermione were waiting for him to hear the details.
"Nothing… she was just upset about Cedric." Harry said as he sat with them on the ground, not wanting to really sit with anyone right now, still feeling sick as he remembered that he had felt nothing.
"But what happened?" Ron asked encouraging him to explain. It was a nice habit that Ron had where he would cling to any topic Harry would start, to encourage him to think on it more than on his nightmares.
"Well… we talked about Cedric… and we kissed…" Hermione frowned at this but Ron simply grinned.
"That's not nothing mate. How was it?"
"Um… wet?" Ron simply laughed softly and Hermione's serious mood broke slightly into amusement at his description. "She was crying."
"I can't blame her, with all she's going through." Hermione said. Harry had to agree, though he really didn't want to continue with this topic.
"Or maybe Harry just needs to get better at kissing." Hermione smacked Ron as the redhead laughed and Harry shook his head giving a faint chuckle as he looked away embarrassed.
"Anyway guys… I'm going to bed. I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow." Harry said standing and grabbing his things to go to bed.
"Goodnight, Harry."
"Night, mate."
Harry didn't look back until he was at the top of the stairs and saw them going off to perform their prefect duties. When he got to his room he didn't look at the other boys, who had stopped their conversation the moment he walked in. Some may still believe him but tensions were still high and Harry still didn't know how to act around them. He pulled the curtains of his bed and closed his eyes, going to sleep.
oOoOoOo oOoOoOo oOoOoOo
Finally, the polyjuice potion was finished. Harry looked at the bubbling potion and picked up Malfoy's golden hair. Maybe something good had come out of that fight after all. He put the hair in and was a little surprised to see it turn such a pleasant peach colour. He narrowed his eyes at it and corked it, putting it in his pocket and making his way down the castle corridors and stairs until he was close to the exit.
It was Saturday.
He sat and waited and soon enough he saw the blonde and his minions following close behind, talking loudly and self-righteously as Crabbe and Goyle made sure anyone in their way moved to the side to let them pass. They were on their way back from Hogsmeade and now that they were back, it was Draco's turn to return for something he'd forgotten to get at the apothecary.
Harry took out the potion and brought it to his lips. He prayed that he'd done everything correctly as he drank the whole thing. He expected it to taste vile, as it had done in second year. Instead it tasted disturbingly like apples. Such a simple thing but he had never tasted a pleasant potion before.
"Ugh… I will take this information to the grave." He shuddered and put the empty potion vial away, waiting until the uncomfortable pulling and twisting sensations ended. He grabbed a small pocket mirror he'd nicked from Hermione and looked at himself. Grey eyes looked back at him and Harry sneered. The sneer looked just like Draco's unpleasant face. Good. He made sure he had the sack of galleons in his pocket before making his way confidently to Hogsmeade. Umbridge was by the gates telling Filch something and glanced at him but simply smiled and gave him a nod before getting back to her conversation.
Harry fought not to feel triumphant as he reached the village pretty much undisturbed. Entering the apothecary was an interesting experience in itself. The strong scent of spices and herbs mingled thick in the air.
The vendor looked up briefly as he weighed up some new ingredients.
"Mr. Malfoy. What an honour." It was endearing to hear such sarcasm used when directed to Draco Malfoy. How would Draco act? Like he owned the place that's how.
"I'm here to order some… special ingredients." He said. "I believe professor Snape bought some rare and valuable ingredients this year, I would like to order them too." He said trying to portray the arrogant confidence of an aristocrat.
The vendor stopped what he was doing and looked at him unamused. "And what ingredients are that?"
"Believe me that I do not intend to brew anything with them. I caused an accident and wasted professor Snape's ingredients. A Malfoy always pays his debts. Therefore just tell me how much they are and I will pay for them. You don't even need to give them to me, just send them to the professor when they arrive." He said simply, looking bored at a pot of pickled cockroaches.
By Merlin he hoped this man didn't con him. He understood it was very likely to happen. The apothecary looked as if he wished to hex him out of his store, but the temptation of money must have been too strong to handle because he clenched his jaw and wiped his hands on a cloth he kept hanging over the sash of his green robes. Calloused hands opened a book behind him.
"Severus Tobias Snape… I'm sure it's nothing the Malfoy family can't handle." He said blandly and wrote something on a piece of parchment. He handed it to Harry and Harry hoped he had enough as he reached for the paper. "Sixty four galleons." Harry didn't react. What on earth could cost that much money? Still he'd ordered a hundred just to be sure. He opened his sack and used his wand to place sixty four galleons on the other's desk.
"There, I would like a receipt. And be sure you don't forget anything. I'll ask the professor and my father will ensure you suffer dire consequences should any ingredient be missing." He said. The apothecary said nothing and huffed before writing out a receipt, throwing it at the other.
Harry snatched the receipt mid-air and left, cringing at how much money he had wasted. He made his way back to the castle, before the hour wore off. He reached the confines of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and sighed in relief as he watched his features return to normal.
It was done. Hopefully the stupid apothecary wasn't going to rob him blind and hopefully he had paid Snape back for the ingredients he had wasted. He sighed and shook his head, making his way back to the dormitories, to send the rest of his money back to Gringotts.
He watched as Hedwig flew away with the weightless package and sighed gently. If he had parents they would probably tell him that sending that much money with an owl was pretty stupid. Shaking his head, he went to close the window, when runt of an owl crashed into the window making him yelp and let go of it. He blushed and looked around, glad that no one had been around to hear him. Instantly he reached for the shocked little thing and poked it.
"You ok little guy?" He asked scooping him up in his hands. The owl cooed miserably and Harry frowned as he petted his head. "Maybe you need to choose a different career." He told it, petting it absently as he took the note addressed to him, in Snape's writing. He narrowed his eyes and felt a sharp nip to his finger and he flinched, seeing the recovered bird attacking his finger. He pulled his hand back and the proud little thing got to his feet, ruffling his feathers and flying off proudly. Harry sneered and looked at the note.
'Potter, my office. Now.' It seemed the other was done with sending him polite requests. Should he go? He frowned as he remembered when the other washed his hands off him. He shredded the note to pieces and went down, throwing it into the fire.
He refused. He refused to go back, hoping for someone who would not want to get rid of him so easily. How could he have ever believed that Snape would be that person? He may have lost his mind, but he'd had enough of disappointments.
Harry reached for a piece of parchment and wrote a letter to Sirius instead.
