Chapter 4

*Disclaimer: Blasted thing. Anyways, HP doesn't belong to me yadda, yadda... I really hate these bloody disclaimers.*

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were nearing the dungeons when Hermione suddenly realized that she had forgotten her Potions textbook in her dorm. She cursed under her breath as she let go of Harry's hand.

"What's wrong Hermione?" Harry looked at her curiously, his concern for her evident in his eyes.

"I just left my potions textbook in my dorm"

"Well you can't go now, Hermione! You'll be late and Snape will kill you!" Ron knew that Snape would gladly give her a detention for being late.

"I know, Ron, but I need my book. You guys just go on without me."

Hermione ran back down the hall, sprinting up the stairs until almost collapsing in front of Merlin's portrait. She barely managed to say the password, 'unity', before taking another deep breath and sprinting up the stairs to her room. Flinging the door open, she raced inside, spotting her textbook on her bed, peeking out under her pajamas. She threw the clothes off and grabbed the book, racing back down the stairs, slamming the door behind her, and throwing the portrait door open, ignoring a protesting Merlin. Once in the hall, Hermione took a few seconds to catch her breath before continuing to race back down the stairs towards the dungeons.

As she reached the doors that lead to Snape's classroom, she could hear Snape's voice drifting through the doors. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Snape immediately stopped talking and glared at Hermione.

"Miss Granger. You're 10 minutes late."

Hermione was about to open her mouth to explain when Snape cut her off.

"No excuses. 20 points from Gryffindor and a week of detentions now hurry up and take a seat."

Protests could be heard from the Gryffindor side of the room while snickers could be heard from the Slytherin side. Avoiding looking at Snape, Hermione slid into a seat next to Harry. He slid his hand into hers under the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze before turning his attention back to Snape's lecture.

"As I was saying, before Miss Granger so rudely interrupted, the antidote to Veritaserum is rather complicated and requires an immense amount of attention and concentration."

Snape glared at Neville and Seamus as he said this for they both held the record for most destroyed cauldrons.

"You have until the end of the class to finish brewing your potion and to bring a vial of it up to my desk for grading. You must work individually."

Snape went back to his desk while everyone else began preparing their ingredients. By the end of the class, only two people had been able to brew the potion correctly, Hermione and Draco, while the others were receiving disapproving glares from Snape, particularly the Gryffindors. Seamus had been sent to the hospital wing with minor burns and Neville had managed to melt yet another cauldron. With a glare from Snape, they were all dismissed.

The next few classes went by without any major incidents until lunch. That's when it all began...

I've noticed that I haven't been getting many reviews lately so to see if people are still reading my fic, I'll probably wait until I get to at least 25 reviews before I upload Chapter 5... so go reivew! :3 ~Narcissa Felton