Ending the brew
In the corner of his emotionless black eyes he spotted Granger putting her hands to her mouth in shock, he saw Ron's breath hitch, and finally spotted Harry about to get up and run for the blonde. Snarling, Snape actually hit the boy with a silent spell. Harry's eyes widened. He was frozen to the spot! He shot his angry green eyes to Snape but he was blatantly ignored.
Still in slow down Severus muttered a spell hastily. His pale and thin lips delicately mouthed every hidden syllable. A sudden burst of yellow light! The potion exploded! Pansy scurried away terrified. The other two bolted. Draco shut his eyes tightly. His robed arm automatically rose to protect himself. He felt a sudden wave of heat hit his face! Snape flicked his wand sharply! The yellow light encased the blonde male!
Feeling nothing happen time just seemed to race and snap back to normal pace as Draco hesitantly opened his eyes. He felt his heart racing in his chest and pound in his ears as he found himself frozen mid fall. Blinking, he looked up to see Hermione and Ron tentatively take a step closer to him, their eyes filled with strange concern. Their emotions of worry for him confused him further.
Darting his shocked filled silver eyes to the potions master he found the man with his wand raised and the tip glowing bright yellow, it seemed the man was breathing heavily with anger. There was a look of rage on his pale face which was extremely effective since Harry, Ron and Hermione all flinched at the expression.
Malfoy only just realised that he was now about a metre away from the still exploding brew. Looking at himself he found himself to be glowing in a bright yellow light, the yellow mist surrounding him flowing from the string of golden light connecting the full-body shield to Snape's wand. It was only then that Malfoy realised that his body was trembling furiously from shock and he shivered as he felt freezing cold all of a sudden.
"Mr Potter, Miss Granger and Mr Weasley...continue...your potion...now," Snape ordered icily in his low and silky tone as his glare that was shot at them prevented them from protesting. He then turned to Malfoy and with a sudden tug of his wand the string connecting them went tense and Malfoy was yanked towards the teacher with a yelp. "You, come with me!"
Meeting eyes with Potter all he saw was retaliation in those green orbs as his professor's silent spell still had him locked unmoveable in his seat. Smirking smugly at Harry's predicament he reluctantly used another silent spell to unfreeze him before sweeping gracefully out of the dungeon door with Malfoy in hand, Malfoy was unhealthily pale.
"There are only two steps left, let's just hurry and do this," Hermione whispered to Ron shakily and Ron could only incline his head stiffly in answer as they both returned to the table. "You do the final Doxy egg...I will do the octopus powder afterwards."
At hearing that Hermione was going to do the final ingredient Ron was about to argue, except when he met her shaken up eyes he could only have his mouth open silently like a fish out of water. Shutting his mouth tightly he just nodded tensely, obviously not liking the arrangement. However, he did as he was told and picked up the rusty tongs to add the final Doxy egg necessary. The memory of Malfoy replayed torturously in his mind as he watched Hermione take a deep breath and unscrew the jar of octopus powder in the corner of his eye.
Every single person who was supposed to be writing notes and revising the theory was deadly silent, watching the remaining group. Their quills lay forgotten, their book pages lay untouched. There were no snickering Slytherin's, or taunting remarks or comments...just suspense filled silence. Even the Slytherin's accepted that they could be the only ones to successfully complete this very delicate, dangerous potion. They all remained mute, faces not showing even an ounce of hatred or scorn to the three Gryffindor's. There was no longer a smug atmosphere in the air for the Slytherin team, or even disgust at seeing that the Gryffindor's remained.
All eyes watched with anxiousness and anticipation as the Golden Trio moved uneasily around their caldron. It was an extremely strange sensation to the three, the sensation hanging in the air as everyone watched in suspension. It was as if...House grudges had vanished for the moment...for this one moment to allow them success. It was as if the Slytherin's were secretly wanting them to succeed, silently encouraging them to be the only ones to accomplish this rare and perilous feat. For they were the only team left. The last ones standing. The last chance.
Hermione gulped as she felt an immense weight settle on her shoulders. She slowly placed the lid of the jar down, unnerved at the feeling of all eyes bearing upon her. With numb legs and trembling hands she stood. A bead of sweat trickled down her brow as she reached for the metal teaspoon. One hand held the jar, the other reached timidly for the utensil.
Ron felt a shiver run down his spine at everyone's staring as he approached the caldron first. Gradually releasing the pressure of the tongs it released the Doxy egg. He watched it slowly fall. Heard the resounding splash. The bystanders held their breath. A loud bang! Everybody jumped! A puff of sudden white smoke! Cautiously leaning in Ron saw that the potion was now a cream colour. All he could hear was silence...deadly silence.
Hermione felt her throat clench up. Her mind had become abruptly blank. Everyone was staring at her. All eyes were expectant...awaiting the final step. Ron and Harry had slowly turned to look at her-this was it.
Trying to swallow the lump in her throat she frowned as she dipped the spoon into the glass jar. It clinked against the glass making her heart skip a beat in the silence that had drowned the lab. Carefully she lifted her feminine, slender, tense hand back up. The spoon was filled with the grey octopus powder. With one uneasy finger she brushed the top of the heap off. The powder felt soft to the touch as the top was taken off, the excess drifting gracefully back to the awaiting jar. The instructions stated a flat teaspoon, nothing more, nothing less.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself she began to gradually make her way to the potion, the spoon held up high and close to her eyes as she breathed unevenly. She did not trust her legs; one distraction would be the final knock to her nerves. All the watchers had become frozen stiff. All eyes were staring at her as she now stood beside the caldron. Her expression was nervous, her mind was blank, her muscles were tense. She bit her lip as she sweated frantically, her brown eyes were glassy with worry, her face was pale with fear.
She was pretty certain that the flat teaspoon of powder was perfect. Exhaling fearfully she slowly met eyes with Harry, the Golden Boy just nodded encouragingly as he kept the temperature constant. Whipping her head to Ron frightfully he just motioned reassuringly with his hands to go on. All awaited with baited breath.
Agonisingly slowly she outstretched the teaspoon in front of her, in front of her into the hot cream coloured steam. Biting her lip hard enough to make it bleed she painfully slowly began to twist her wrist. She heard everyone take a sharp intake of breath. Everyone's eyes had widened anxiously. Hermione closed her eyes, she couldn't watch. Unexpectedly she flicked her wrist! Everyone gasped! Tension built! Ron stepped back! Harry flinched!
The grey powder began to descend into the cream coloured mix. It drifted leisurely downwards to make contact with its bubbly surface. Suddenly there was a tremendous bang! Hermione's eyes snapped open as she took a jerky step back! A sound like fireworks filled the room! Ron yelped and dodged a green spark that flew his way! Harry ducked as one's destination was his head!
Following the bang a huge cloud of emerald smoke exploded! The wave of green smoke hit them like a harsh tidal wave! Its pure force nearly took Ron and Hermione off their feet! It felt like a gale as their hair flew wildly around their heads!
Harry coughed chokingly as he raised his arm to his face helplessly for protection in his seat near the caldron. Harry felt his eyes water as smoke hit them; even his glasses didn't protect them. Some of the watchers had screamed in shock and fear and the sound rang mercilessly in Harry's eardrums. What was going on? Where were Ron and Hermione? He couldn't see them; all he could see was a green mist!
Suddenly the smoke froze and Hermione and Ron panted as the gale ceased, both watched in awe as the smoke began withdrawing back to its source-the potion. Hermione lifted her robed arm to touch the retreating green mist that surrounded her in curiosity; it slipped like water through her fingers as it returned to the brew. It slithered across the floor like a snake, travelled up the outer edge of the black ancient caldron, before slipping back over the rim and beyond. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and had to agree that this was one of the most dangerous, weirdest, and most challenging potions she had ever attempted.
When all the mist had disappeared back into the brew all three were just frozen stiff-dumb folded.
Taking the risk, Ron took tremendously uncertain steps towards their caldron and work. Looking as white as a sheet and feeling as cold as death, he peered inside. The potion was a green colour...and calm.
"Bloody hell..." Was all Ron could squeak out into the tense silence, immediately breaking it and making Hermione and Harry burst out laughing.
"You can let go of your magic now, Harry, it's over." Hermione assured the Potter through her laughter and he didn't need to be told twice, he only just realised that it was the adrenaline that had kept him going for so long when he wiped off the cold sweat that had formed on his flushed forehead.
"...Bloody hell..." Ron squeaked again an octave higher, seeming to be frozen in his stupor peering into the caldron. Harry chuckled and it was music to everyone's ears as everyone in the room immediately relaxed.
"For heaven's sake Ronald, move!" Hermione ordered as she all but shoved him away from the potion, her sweaty hand carrying a long and wooden stirring stick. "I have to stir this anti-clockwise three times and then it's ready to set again."
Ron stumbled a bit, but was silent as he decided to sit beside Harry's magically exhausted slouched figure. Harry turned to meet eyes with his best friend, but cocked an eyebrow in amusement when he found Ron's blue eyes just seemed to be mesmerised by the stirring Hermione was performing for he had fallen into some sort of trance. Watching the stick go around, and around, and around-
"Ron, snap out of it." Harry muttered and clicked his fingers repeatedly in front of the gingers face, resulting in Ron just blinking twice and turning to a smirking Harry.
"We did it..." Hermione murmured in disbelief as she took the stirring stick out, the part that had been submerged in the green mess dripped green potion onto the floor. Her eyes were locked onto their success, completely in denial and flabbergasted. Had they really done it? The only ones in their class? When she looked up to the other two she had a beaming smile plastered across her face and her eyes sparkled as she repeated it excitedly louder. "We did it!"
Harry grinned and shot up from his seat to hug her, falling into her awaiting open arms. Ron smirked and leapt onto them both with one arm around Harry and the other around Hermione. He patted Harry's back good-naturedly and Harry did the same back. Hermione laughed joyously as the two boys had her in the middle as they rocked from side to side as if dancing.
Then Harry heard something from behind him. It confused him as the sound faintly entered his ears. What was that? Then he heard it again. This time it was a lot louder. He blinked as he suddenly understood what it was. Someone from the failing desks was clapping. That clapping was joined by another, then another. The hesitant claps transformed into a full blown applause!
Breaking apart the three whipped around to see students from the failing desks abruptly stand up. The clapping got louder. All their faces beamed at their success. A success none of them believed they could have achieved.
All the failing Gryffindor's suddenly clambered over their desks! Completely ignoring the fact they were in Snape's class no less! They charged at the three and gathered around them in congratulations. Harry felt them pat his shoulder, his back, his head. He could hear them cheering and clapping merrily around him. Snape wasn't there so they were going to relinquish this, relinquish this rare moment of achievement.
Harry felt his insides warming up and he felt that his lips were smiling uncontrollably, this pure feeling could only be compared to when he had won the first ever Quidditch match against Slytherin in his first year, or when he had successfully got the Horntail's egg in year four. But no, this was much, much more. He had actually accomplished an Outstanding potion in Snape's class, Snape's! Granted, he had only kept the temperature constant and nothing more and he felt that deep down Ron and Hermione had done all the work.
Seeing the sudden crestfallen look on Harry's face through the crowd of cheering Gryffindor's Hermione rolled her chocolate brown eyes at him in exasperation, hurriedly pushing through to chat to him face to face.
"Harry Potter you did a huge part, do not even think that you did nothing. If you hadn't of kept the temperature constant then the ingredients would not have reacted properly and the potion would have been a disastrous fail from the beginning." Hermione warned him as she pointed a feminine finger at him threateningly, one delicate eyebrow had risen as if challenging him to argue.
Harry, hearing it from Hermione's own mouth, didn't dare argue. He felt even happier and he could only just hear Ron say through the midst of Gryffindors, `She's right, mate.`
Suddenly thinking of the Slytherin's in the class Harry turned his shining green eyes to the failing desks, expecting to only discover disgust and distain. However, he found that even they were standing at their desks, clapping away in silent recognition of the trio's achievement. Even Pansy and the other two of Malfoy's group were clapping. This truly was a rare moment where House grudges were forgotten, even if only for a little while.
"Come on mate, you have the honour of getting some into a testing caldron for Snape!" Ron suddenly shouted and fisted the air over the crowd and all the Gryffindor's agreed with a loud cheer.
"Accio testing caldron!" Harry cast with a swish of his elegant wand and effortlessly caught the rusting caldron by the rim with his spare hand when it had flown through the air from Snape's desk. Some Gryffindor's had to duck as its destined path had forced itself through the smiling crowd.
Hooking the caldron in the crook of his arm with his back turned to the crowd he got his wand and pointed it at the green potion that seemed to be practically glowing at this point-like Harry's soul. Everyone watched with joyful eyes as Harry lead a trail of the emerald green mix into the testing caldron, it was slow and his wand sparkled with white stars as the sound of the potion filling the metal bowl echoed throughout the lab. It sounded like a tap of trickling water as the green trail glittered in the dim light of the dungeon's potions classroom. When it had finally reached three quarters full Harry grinned and stopped the trail, his wand flicking gracefully made the flow of the potion stop and retreat back to the main, ancient, caldron that it had recently been brewed in.
Turning back to the overly cheerful Gryffindor's he found that they were all parting way for him, revealing a passage between two lines of school robed students directly to Snape's awaiting desk. Harry was one hundred percent sure that if Snape had been in the room and had been sitting at that very desk that Harry was now briskly walking towards, then none of this would be happening. With his feet clinking on the filthy, stone floor, Harry approached the slightly damp desk. He felt the potion swishing around in the testing caldron with every step he took as he lifted the caldron and placed it with a resounding thud on Snape's desk. That sound was the sound of finality-success.
XXXX
The lesson had ended minutes after putting the testing caldron onto the potions master's desk with no sign of Snape reappearing...or Malfoy. Deciding it was alright and that Snape would probably prefer an empty classroom upon his return, everyone just filed out with excited chatter as they all split up for their separate dormitories. Slytherin's just slunk away further into the dungeon's, Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's followed the same root towards their own different dormitories, and finally the Gryffindor's ascended the many staircases to reach the highest point of Hogwarts-the Gryffindor Tower.
Harry watched as Pansy Parkinson followed her fellow Slytherin's to their common room, before leaving the potions lab she had also taken a sample of their failure to put into a testing caldron. All of the failing groups had also done so, under Snape's orders from previous potions. Snape would mark it-success or failure. Sometimes Harry thought he just did it to rub it into their faces that they were not good enough to succeed.
The three of them remained after the lab had been evacuated of everyone else to fill three glass bottles with their hopefully successful potion, it wasn't set in stone yet-Snape would determine that. Snape would test the sample in the testing caldron upon his desk, however all three needed a bottle as proof since the test sample would be unusable after the testing process. If this was even a minor success, then the three bottles would be put forward as one of their four needed practical assignments. All three had their hearts set that this would definitely be one.
After cleaning their caldron of the remaining emerald coloured potion with a cleaning spell and placing all their remaining ingredients away in the cupboard, they left the potions class with high spirits.
"Early night for you, Harry," Hermione teased as she shut the damp potions door behind them with a clang that echoed eerily throughout the dark dungeon corridor. "It has been a long day after all, also the fact that you haven't exactly been...sleeping well."
"Lost your first mother so decided to get a replacement, Potter?" Malfoy called to him tauntingly from his hiding place down the corridor behind Harry and he had to resist the urge to bark a string of horrid insults back.
The familiar sound of black, dragon scaled, boots clinking prominently on the dungeon's dusty stone floor was approaching and Harry didn't dare turn around. Each step louder was a step closer as it echoed menacingly in the cold and empty passage, also ringing in Harry's ears making his blood boil. Rolling his eyes to the ceiling in dismay and inhaling a long breath of damp dungeon air for such an event, he finally turned around to meet Malfoy face to face.
Malfoy looked from Hermione back to Harry with a tormenting smirk on his face, obviously from his recent retort. Crabbe and Goyle were both in their signature places behind the lean blonde, sniggering away at the three Gryffindors.
"I'm not surprised though. The first one, oh what was her name...ah yes, Lilly Potter. She pathetically didn't last very long." Malfoy continued and Harry felt his jaw tighten in rage and his fists clench painfully at his sides, his eyes saw red and his knuckles went white.
Ron suddenly stepped forward, face as red as his hair for Malfoy's below the belt remark, "HOW DARE-"
"ENOUGH! Ron, he isn't worth it." Harry interrupted quickly and suddenly stepped between the two, all the while glaring heatedly at Draco.
Harry began to turn around to walk back to Ron and Hermione and also to exit the dungeon, not noticing that Draco's eyes hadn't left him. Suddenly he spun back. Fist clenched he swung at Malfoy! As if expecting it Draco ducked! His tight fist barely scarped the tops of Malfoy's hair. Harry's eyes widened with shock. He gasped at Malfoy's sudden dodge. Losing his balance he couldn't prevent himself! A sickening crack! A yowl of pain! His fist collided painfully with Goyle's face behind instead!