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Ron and Hermione weren't talking to each other.
Harry sighed and picked at his food; he was getting tired of this. But at least it was better than their bickering, he supposed. Though… he found Hermione crying by the bottom of a spiral staircase near Gryffindor Tower last night after he came back from seeing Draco. Lavender Brown had kissed Ron in the common room during the celebration of winning the quidditch match against Slytherin earlier that day. She just cried; she did not ask him about how he felt when he saw Ginny with Dean. He fleetingly wondered why, but the thought left as soon as it came. Perhaps she realized that he and Ginny were very close friends and were not relationship material to each other.
"I'm going to the library, Harry," the girl in question said. "You can tell Ron that he can do his essay on his own with no help from me."
"Well you can tell her that I don't need her stupid help."
"Then you can tell him that I'd be glad to let him fail his classes!" she said shrilly. Harry had had enough. He slammed his hands down on the lunch table in a fit of anger.
"Can you two shut up for one minute? It is so annoying when you get into these ridiculously unnecessary fights! Hermione, let it go. Don't listen to him. Who you feel sorry for is your business and he has a right to his own opinion." Ron looked smug, but then Harry rounded on him. "And Ron, you had no reason to shout at Hermione. Just because you hate Malfoy so much doesn't mean you can bite her head off for feeling a bit sorry for him. Again, I say everyone has a right to their own opinions."
He promptly stood, grabbed his bag, and left Ron and Hermione gawking at his retreating back.
"Trouble with the lovebirds?"
After he got through the Great Hall doors, Harry turned at the sound of the voice he loved most. "How do you know they like each other?"
"Oh please, it's so obvious. They're the only ones who can't see it."
"Harry! Harry!" Ginny was running up to him excitedly. "I found someone to set you up with – oh. Malfoy. You're not causing Harry grief again, are you?"
"Does it look like I am, Weaslette?" He was a little ruffled; who was she to set his Harry up with someone else? Harry was his and his alone. But of course she didn't know that, he reminded himself.
Ginny huffed at the nickname he had taken to calling her.
"Ginny, please don't…"
She turned her attention back to Harry. "Oh come on! I found out that the person really likes you!"
Draco's jealousy spiked.
"I really don't think it's a good idea…" Harry glanced tentatively at Draco and almost barked with laughter – the normally icy, emotionless Slytherin looked like a peacock with ruffled feathers. But at the same time, his heart swelled with happiness that someone liked him enough to be jealous.
"Find something funny, do you Potter?"
"Not at all," said Harry, trying to cover up a laugh.
Ginny's eyes went back and forth between the two… something was different between them. Draco could almost see the gears turning in her head.
"Anyway, why not?" she asked hesitantly.
"Because I just don't want to be set up. I appreciate it, but I want to… do it on my own."
She pouted and threw her hands up. "Oh alright, fine. I concede defeat. Can't say I didn't try. Why are you still here, Malfoy?"
"I was having a nice little chat with Potter here before you disturbed it with your incessant attempts to find him love."
"He's my best friend. I'm just trying to get him out of his loneliness. And who are you to butt into our business?"
He smirked. "His lover."
Ginny gawked. "WHAT?!"
"WHAT?" Harry shouted and took a few steps back. "Ugh! Gross, Malfoy! Never! EW."
Draco had to hand it to him; Harry was a good actor. He laughed and walked off. "It's so much fun riling you two up." With that, he rounded the corner and was gone.
"What a weirdo," Ginny said. Harry nodded his head. His heart was still pounding. What was Draco thinking? Of course he knew he could get away with saying that because Ginny would never believe it, but still…
A week had gone by. Draco and Harry rarely got to be alone but when they did, it was in the throes of passion. Today was one such day. It was a Monday, and they had potions in two minutes. Everyone in the school was already in class, and they decided to get a little in before they suffered for two hours in the cold dungeon.
Draco and Harry had their arms around each other and were kissing feverishly. Their hips were pressed together and Draco was slowly grinding his against Harry's. Their hearts were hammering; the thrill of being together added to the risk of getting caught was pumping adrenaline through their bodies. They stopped and kissed each other but before they could go any further, they heard a gasp.
'I'm so laaaaaaaaate!'
Ginny was running as fast as she could; she, Hermione, and Ron were eating lunch and they lost track of time. Ron and Hermione had come to a sort of silent mutual agreement to stop fighting, but they still weren't happy with each other. Ginny, being the faster one, was ahead of them.
She had muggle studies, which was on the first floor, while Ron and Hermione had potions. The muggle studies classroom was down the same corridor as the stairs to the dungeons, so they were all running in the same direction. Ginny was picking up speed but when she rounded the corner to the corridor, she stopped dead in her tracks. There were Harry and Draco kissing quite passionately in what was supposed be a deserted hallway, as everyone had already gone to class. Or so they thought.
At the sound of her gasp, the two broke apart and stared at her in shock. Luckily, their robes covered their erections, so they were saved from that embarrassment. None of them knew what to say, but Ginny's quick thinking brought her out of her shock, and she remembered that Ron and Hermione weren't far behind her. She looked behind her, then back at them and could now hear running footsteps, so she flipped out her wand and pointed it at Draco.
"Get away from Harry, Malfoy!" she said in what they thought was an unnecessarily loud voice. Then she hissed at Draco, "Get out your wand! Point it at me!"
Being in Slytherin, Draco also had a quick mind, and caught on. He pointed his wand at Ginny as Harry fumbled for his. "Why Potter, it looks like you got yourself a meddling little girlfriend," he said in a snide tone with a sneer on his face just in time for Ron and Hermione to round the corner. "How quaint."
"She's not my girlfriend, Malfoy!"
"What's going on?" Hermione asked. "Malfoy!" she exclaimed when she saw his wand drawn.
"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" But before Ron could lunge at the blonde, Draco had his wand pointed at the lanky redhead.
"One more step, Weasley, and we'll all see how wonderful you'll look as a weasel."
"Not nearly as good as you looked as a ferret," Ginny said, but her eyes did not hold the hostility she spoke with. His respect grew for the girl. She was keeping his and Harry's secret and helped them not get caught. Ron chuckled at his sister's quip, not realizing that she didn't mean it.
"This is ridiculous," said Hermione. "Come on Harry, Ron. We're already late for class. You should be there, too, Malfoy. Slughorn doesn't like you as it is. He'll dock points if you show up late and that looks bad for prefects."
"Aww, looking out for me, Granger? How sweet. But don't worry about me. I'm a big boy."
"Ugh fine! Be late, for all I care. Come on, guys. Let him get a detention." She walked off, dragging reluctant Ron and Harry with her.
Draco and Ginny, who were still holding their wands towards each other, stared at their retreating forms. Ginny shook her head and pocketed her wand.
"I'm going. Malfoy, do be more careful, next time, yeah? Oh and I'll hex your jewels off, shove them down your throat, and deliver you to Voldemort myself if you hurt Harry. Bye!" She ran off and might have laughed at the expression on his face had she seen it.
"Ah, Mr. Malfoy. How nice of you to join us."
"Sorry, professor."
"No excuses?"
Draco shrugged. "I don't have one."
"Well, alright… five points from Slytherin, then. Go sit at your table and get your things out. Class, we are brewing Amortentia, today! At the end of the period, volunteers will tell us what they smell! You will be brewing your own potion. I suppose you can give your friends pointers if they get something wrong… you may talk, but keep it to a minimum! Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, I hope I will not have to move Harry again. Begin!"
While the Gryffindors were surprised Slughorn did not give Draco detention, they said nothing and began. Hermione, Harry, and Ron sat at their own table, as usual, while Draco, Blaise, Theo, and Pansy were at theirs. Harry and Draco kept stealing glances at each other when they could, but for the most part, they paid attention to what they were doing. Amortentia didn't seem difficult, but it really was. You had to get every single thing right, every measurement, every cut of every chopped up ingredient. He did not have the Prince's book, anymore, but he had confidence in himself when Snape was not teaching him.
He truly liked Slughorn as a professor. Instead of sitting at the front of the room making snide comments and taking points off, he made rounds and gave people pointers, or told them to do this or that instead of what they had been doing. Harry concentrated on his potion and by the end of class, was quite surprised when Slughorn said that it was 'Quite perfect!'
"Now, as all of you have at least a decent potion," he smiled at Neville, who had produced a very nice Amortentia, "are there any volunteers to say what they smell? What attracts you all? Hm? Hands?" A few hands went up. "Yes, Miss Parkinson?"
"Um, daffodils, chocolate, tea, and… something I can't quite place," she said, blushing.
Slughorn beamed. "Ah, love! Anyone else? So we don't have to embarrass Miss Parkinson anymore?" Hermione had already told the class in the first lesson of the year what she smelled, so she kept her hand down. "Miss Brown?"
"I smell lavender," she giggled, "perfume, and flowers and Won-Won!" she giggled uncontrollably as Ron blushed and looked away. The other students snickered and Hermione pursed her lips but said nothing. She turned away from Ron and made a fuss about looking up something in her notes.
As the other students said what they smelled, Harry was quite confused. He smelled the wood of his broomstick, the polish he used for it, pine, fresh mountain air – and Draco's scent. He knew Draco attracted him – that was obvious. But why would Draco's scent mean enough to Harry to be in his Amortentia?
"Harry, m'boy! Would you tell us what you smell?"
"Uh…" Harry really didn't want to, but he had to humor Slughorn if he was to get that memory Dumbledore had been so adamant about… "My broomstick, broom polish, pine trees, and fresh air."
"Oh very nice, very nice!"
It had actually been a very pleasant lesson. Slughorn was a fantastic teacher, no matter how hard he has proven it was to get that stupid memory. Harry had pushed too far after the lesson ended, though, and Slughorn now wanted to avoid him. He tried talking to the professor once more after that a few days later, but the man had shut the little window on his door in Harry's face.
Harry had dinner and went up to the room he shared with Ron, Dean, and Seamus, but only Ron was there. He was sitting in front of the window, clutching a red heart-shaped box to his chest and staring dreamily at the stars.
After realizing what happened to Ron, Harry took him to to Slughorn's private quarters and explained to him that Ron had accidentally taken a love potion. Slughorn ushered them inside and gave Ron the antidote. He offered them fine oak-matured mead from a bottle that had been gift-wrapped to boost Ron's mood, but when Ron took the first sip, he dropped the glass and fell onto the floor. His mouth was foaming and his body was writhing, scaring Harry out of his mind. He ran to Slughorn's drawers and found a bezoar, then forced it down Ron's throat, saving his life. When Ron came-to, he looked at Harry with an incredulous expression.
"These girls… they're gonna kill me, Harry." Then he fainted.
He ended up in the hospital wing and the next day, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione visited him along with professors Dumbledore, Snape, Slughorn, and Mcgonagall. It had been learned that Slughorn meant to give that bottle to Dumbledore, but it was not he who poisoned it.
This chilled Harry to the bone. First the necklace, and now this… someone was clearly trying to kill the headmaster.
I hope you enjoyed that. More soon!