A/N: So sorry it took me a whole week to get this out, but i started college again this week and I wasn't used to juggling different things. Very stressful and all that. Thanks to all the people who put me on story alert after chapter 3, however i didn't get a whole lot of reviews so tell me how I'm doing please, your feedback is awesome!
Comforting the Heartbroken chapter 4
Lavender had never before thought that her inability at defense against the dark arts could be a good thing. But as she walked with Harry and Parvati to the room of requirement she found herself glad she didn't know how to make a patronus.
The three magic-users were quiet as Harry opened the door and ushered the other two in. The room looked exactly the same as when the D.A. had used it except it wasn't as big. For a minute the three just looked around reminiscing about the previous year until Harry broke the silence.
"It's exactly the same as last year; I had almost thought that with everything that happened last year with Umbridge that it wouldn't be able to make the room again." He chuckled to himself. "Anyway, Lavender do you remember where you left off with making a patronus or should we start from the beginning?"
"Sorry Harry it's been a year I think we should start from the beginning." Lavender looked apologetic; Harry just nodded, already anticipating this. He raised an eyebrow as if something had just occurred to him and turned to Parvati.
"You already can make a patronus right Parvati? Do you want to help me teach Lavender or—"But Parvati cut him off before he could finish.
"Oh actually Harry I just remembered I have to turn in an essay to….umm…Flitwick! Yeah him, anyway I'll catch you guys when I'm done." At that Parvati left, but not before giving Lavender a quick wink. Both teens left in the room silently cheered that they were left alone with the other.
"Alright then," Harry said as he walked to the middle of the large room, Lavender quickly followed behind him. "First thing is theory; you need to practice the spell: Expecto Patronum while thinking of a happy memory. So spend a few minutes thinking of a happy memory and I'll get us some lunch."
Lavender had completely forgotten it was time to eat and was amazed as she watched Harry summon a very jumpy house-elf who seemed more than eager to get him anything he wanted and more. They had a nice lunch in the room as they enjoyed each other company. Most of it was silent however as Lavender was trying to find a happy memory.
It turned out to be as hard as last time though, it's not that Lavender had a horrible life but more that she had few very happy moments. Small things here and there but nothing big, well there was that memory with Ron but now that he had dumped her it was tainted.
They finished lunch and Lavender started practicing the wand movements and proper pronunciation of the spell along with thinking of her happy memory. After practicing for a while Lavender was able to produce a small shield, however it was easily broken by one of Harry's spells.
This, Lavender remembered, was where she had hit a wall last time, and this time she seemed to be hitting the same wall. She wasn't able to use the patronus spell to create a stronger spell and definitely not enough to create an animal patronus.
"You just need more practice," Harry told her. "And maybe think of a stronger memory, when I was trying to learn this spell that was one of my problems when I was stuck."
"I suck." Lavender mumbled as she sat down looking downcast.
"No you don't, this is a really hard spell. In fact a lot of adults can't even—"
"—But you learned it your third year! You're amazing Harry and I'm…not."
Now Harry was getting frustrated, "Yes you are! Your just amazing at other stuff, like…divination." At this Lavender scoffed.
"Harry you hate divination; and don't bother lying to me. I hear what Hermione says about it and I know you agree with her."
"…Okay you got me, I don't like divination. But it doesn't matter if I like it, what matters is if you like it! If you like it and are good at it then screw what everyone else thinks!"
Lavender gave a small giggle and smiled up at Harry. "You sure know how to make a girl feel better Harry, thanks." Harry told her it was no problem then looked up at the clock on the wall.
"Oh wow it's already four, sorry Lavender but Hermione made me promise we'd work on our potions homework when she got back from her date with Ron at four."
Lavender was slightly disappointed that her time with Harry was up but she knew not to be selfish. "No problem, thanks for helping me….even though I still can't produce a patronus."
"Don't worry about that, producing one just from one afternoon would've been pretty amazing. We can try again next weekend, or whenever." Lavender agreed and they left the room of requirement. Harry headed to the library while Lavender went off to find Parvati.
Harry walked down the halls with a certain spring in his step and a smile on his face as a result of spending so much time with the girl he dreamed about. Before he knew it he was outside the entrance to the library, but he wasn't alone because standing outside the door was Hermione with her head down.
"Harry!" Hermione cried out as she latched herself onto his chest and started sobbing. The hall might not have been crowded but there were more than a few people who gave the two strange looks. Realizing this Harry carefully pulled Hermione into a nearby empty classroom.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked after closing the door and sitting her down in a nearby seat. She didn't answer right away instead wiping her eyes of the few tears she had shed. Having an unusual amount of insight for a teenage boy Harry asked, "Is this because of your date? What happened?"
Hermione nodded, "It was horrible Harry. I can't believe I ever liked that git! He didn't want to do any of the things I wanted to do, he just wanted to eat and make me watch him fly around on his stupid broom! And if that wasn't horrible enough he grabbed my ass and tried to force me to make out with him!"
"That's horrible," Harry said trying to soothe her. "What did you do to him?"
"Well I kicked him in the groin and ran off of course!"
"Brilliant as usual Hermione," Harry said as a laugh escaped him. Hermione thanked him and they spent a little while bashing Ron until they remembered their original reason for being there. They left the classroom and spent a little while doing homework in the library, but unfortunately for Hermione they got less done then she would have liked.
After making a quick trip to Gryffindor tower to drop off their books, the two headed for the great hall to get some dinner. They said a quick hello to Hagrid as they passed him and made sure to sit on the other end of the table from Ron.
Though neither had noticed, sitting not too much further up the table was one Lavender Brown. She had gotten to dinner early and without Parvati. She was already finished eating but enjoyed the feeling of being amidst the other Gryffindors, even if their table manners were less than perfect.
She watched Harry for a minute after he walked in with Hermione but didn't want to be caught staring so she turned her attention elsewhere. Her eyes wandered from Gryffindor to Gryffindor until they stopped at Ginny Weasley. Now the red-head wasn't doing anything especially peculiar, but she had an interesting look on her face that made Lavender pause.
After assuring herself that no one was watching her Ginny "accidentally" knocked a platter of food over onto the floor. As the metal plate clanged against the wooden floor it caught the attention of both the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Seeing her chance while Harry was distracted she swiftly and secretly emptied a vial of potion into Harry's goblet. Pulling back into her seat before anyone noticed her Ginny held her breath in anticipation to see if her plan would work.
She however had failed to notice Lavender watching her as she knocked the platter over. Lavender could tell it was no accident and gasped as she watched Ginny slip the potion into Harry's drink.
The silly girl quickly deducted that the potion was one of two things: either a poison to kill Harry or even worse…a love potion! Unlike Hermione, Lavender was up to date on all the latest gossip in Gryffindor and it was no well kept secret that Ginny had liked Harry for years. Recently her affection seemed to have turned to other boys but Lavender knew that girls would do strange things for love.
Deciding it must have been a love potion Lavender jumped out of her seat and moved over to Harry to warn him but before she could her eyes lit up in horror as she watched the boy who lived take a large swig from his goblet.
"Harry no!" She exclaimed in vain as she knocked the drink out of his hands. It clattered to the floor and the remaining liquid splashed out. Harry (and half of the Gryffindor table) looked up at Lavender in confusion; wondering what was wrong as he heard Ginny cry out.
"What the HELL are you doing Lavender?" Ginny's face was almost as red as her hair. Harry then turned and gave the Weasley girl a questioning look, when she noticed she tried to regain her composure. "I mean…why'd you knock Harry's drink out of his hand? That sure was rude."
"Me? You're the one who spiked his drink with love potion!" Lavender declared pointing toward the fallen cup. Ginny said something back and the argument continued however Harry had droned them out as he started to feel rather weird. A giddy sort of drunk feeling seeped through his blood stream as it covered his entire body.
He suddenly started having thoughts about Ginny Weasley. He had never realized how very pretty she was or how nice she looked when she played quidditch. Hell, Harry slowly started to think whatever Ginny did was spectacular. Then he remembered Ginny's boyfriend Dean and as a strange angry feeling filled Harry's chest he realized how much he hated Dean. He remembered Ginny liked him years ago so he should definitely ask her out.
This thought process all took a mere few seconds and when Harry broke out of it Lavender and Ginny were still arguing. Harry ignored his surroundings and walked right over to the yelling Ginny and threw his arms around her. "I love you Ginny!" He boldly declared to her and anyone else near them.
Lavender covered her mouth in shock as she tried to hold tears back. Ginny gave Lavender a smug look while hugging Harry back. Hermione's eyes grew twice as large while her brain tried to comprehend why her best friend who hated attention had just declared his love to a girl he had told her he didn't love. Ron hadn't even looked up, he just continued eating. None of what was happening surprised him at all; he was still mad over Harry picking Hermione's side after their date though.
However none of those people noticed Dean Thomas entering the great hall after finishing his detention with Snape. He was already in a bad mood from his detention and as he watched Harry Potter put his arms around his girlfriend he was seeing red.
"Potter! Get your filthy hands off my girlfriend!" Dean yelled at Harry as he ran up behind him. Harry let go of Ginny and turned around in confusion to see a red-faced Dean yelling at him. Dean was so mad he forgot that he was a wizard and punched Harry as hard as he could in the stomach.
"Dean! What are you doing?" Ginny yelled at her boyfriend as she underestimated Dean's punch. Harry on the other hand was holding his stomach as his insides were churning up inside of him. His vision blurred as he fell to his knees and vomited onto the floor. He looked up at everyone talking to him at once before falling to the floor and passing out.
Five minutes later Hermione, Neville and Lavender were carrying Harry's unconscious body through the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey spotted them and motioned them over to a nearby bed. "My goodness, what happened to Mr. Potter this time?"
"We're not sure exactly," Hermione answered her, looking at Lavender being there suspiciously. "Harry started acting very strange at dinner and then Dean punched him and he vomited all over the floor and then fainted."
"Ginny gave him a love potion!" Lavender exclaimed. The others looked at her questionably. "It's true! I saw her slip something into Harry's drink when he wasn't looking!" Madam Pomfrey asked if Hermione or Neville saw this, they said they didn't but they weren't watching at the time.
"I've got nothing else to go on so I'm going to cast a quick spell on Harry to check to see if he's under the effects of any potions." Pomfrey turned to Neville with a look of pity on her face. "I'm sorry Mr. Longbottom but I need your help, if Harry was indeed under a potion I'll need to know which one."
Neville nodded, not sure what she was getting at but agreeing. "So I'm going to need you to get some of Mr. Potter's vomit in this vile so I can check." At this Neville's face dropped into a look of disgust but slowly nodded his head.
Pomfrey cast her spell on Harry and revealed that he was still under the effects of some potion. Neville sighed and took the vile out of the room. The three women waited in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until Neville came back with a queasy look on his face as he held a vile.
The med-nurse took the vile from the boy into a back room while the students waited again in silence. She came back a few minutes later after having preformed the necessary tests.
The Hogwarts nurse hesitated for a moment but then said, "It seems Ms. Brown was correct, Harry was indeed under the effects of a rather strong love potion." Hermione looked alarmed and Neville swore under his breath.
"There's more, it seems the potion wasn't ready yet, it was given to him too early. It still would've worked but it didn't sit well in Mr. Potter's stomach so when Mr. Thomas punched him he threw most of it up."
"Unfortunately after having such a powerful potion go in his system and then out of it so fast could have horrible consequences. I'll need to hold him overnight at least as I give him regular antidotes." Pomfrey felt a wave of pity for Harry's friends and said, "Though as long as you are quiet you may stay by his side if you wish."
"However Ms. Granger there's something important I need to speak to you about, will you come with me?" Hermione looked confused but nodded her head and followed Madam Pomfrey into the other room.