The Liquid Luck

That evening, after I left him to sleep, I ran into Harry and Ron, in a rush.

"Where's the fire, guys?" and Ron grabbed my hand.

"Come on, Harry's going to get that memory!"

"Brilliant!"

We ran up to the common room, and I think I may have knocked a few people over. Oops. Thankfully Hermione was already there, so we didn't have to search for her. We all sat down, and Harry pulled out his little bottle of Felix Felicis.

"Harry, you're a genius!" I laughed, and Hermione laughed with me. Harry pulled the stopper out of the bottle, and without a word, drank the whole thing. I felt just a tiny, little pang of envy. I knew how bad Draco wanted that bottle. But it passed, and I was back to being excited.

"How do you feel?" I asked him. Slowly, he smiled.

"Excellent. Really excellent." Actually, he looked a bit drunk, to be honest.

"Now, remember. Slughorn usually eats early, takes a walk, and then returns to his office." Hermione said, having been studying his routines for a few weeks now.

"Right." He got up. "I'm going to Hagrid's." I looked at Hermione, confused, and could tell she felt the same.

"What? No, Harry, you've got to go to Slughorn's." Hermione said.

"We have a plan!" I said, but he didn't want to listen.

"No, I've got a good feeling about Hagrid's. I feel like it's the place to be, tonight. Know what I mean?"

"No." We all said together.

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing. Or, at least, Felix does!" And he left.

"Hi!" He said to a couple people coming through the portrait hole. They looked a bit frightened.

"Should we follow him?" I asked them both. Ron looked like he thought it was a good idea.

"No, I think we should trust the Liquid Luck."

"Whatever you say, Hermione."

"I'm gonna go to bed now, you guys. 'Night." Ron said, and since I wasn't sure if I should still shun him, I went for the casual approach.

"'Kay, 'night." And he went to bed. Hermione smiled sheepishly.

"You know, you don't have to be so cold to him. He's your family." I put my hand on her shoulder.

"You're family too, Hermione." Just then, Ginny burst through the door, and made sure we were alone.

"Talia! Is Malfoy okay? I was so worried he was dead and—" But I cut her off

"He's fine, Ginny. He has to spend the night in the hospital for the next week, just in case, but he'll be good as new in no time. Thanks."

"No problem." And then she smiled big.

"Ginny, what's with the Cheshire Cat smile?"

"The what smile?" She asked. Loser.

"The really huge, creepy smile."

"It's not creepy, it's happy."

"Why are you so happy?" Hermione said, as intrigued as I was. Ginny smiled even bigger.

"I kissed Harry."

"HOLY SHIT!" I yelled, and Hermione started to squeal.

"I know! And he KISSED ME BACK!"

"Ginny! That's wonderful!" Hermione said.

"Yeah, at least Harry grew a pair, instead of just being a stupid toss pot like someone else we know." And I looked over at the staircase that Ron had just gone up.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry my brother is being such an asshole." Ginny said, and I scoffed.

"Forget asshole. He's being an Assbutt." I said, and they looked at me with funny faces. Draco and Blaise would've gotten that reference.

"You guys, he's just being a little ignorant, that's all. Honestly, I'm fine." Hermione said.

"You know, it's funny how much I DON'T believe you." I said, and Ginny nodded.

"Me too." And Hermione looked relieved.

"I guess it's a good thing I can't lie to you guys." She said.

"Hey, at least he's not with that bitch anymore." Ginny said.

"Fo sho!" I shouted, which made them laugh.

After a while, Ron came back down, in his pajamas, looking a little groggy.

"Why isn't harry back yet? He's been gone for hours!" He said, exaggerating. Just then, Harry walked into the room.

"I've been gone for an hour and a half, Ron. Calm yourself."

"But the potion was only supposed to work for an hour."

"It did, and then I went to Dumbledore right away." He said, sitting down on the couch.

"Does that mean you got the memory?" I said, getting excited.

"I sure did. And you'll never guess what we found out."

"What is it?" Ginny said, for the first time since Harry got here. The look those two shared was priceless. Then Harry looked at the rest of us, and said one word.

"Horcruxes." We were all confused, but Hermione took in a short gasp that meant she knew EXACTLY what he was talking about. As usual.

"What are Horcruxes?" I said. Hermione didn't want to answer, so Harry did for her.

"It's a type of… magical object, I guess. Well, it can be any sort of object, if you want. Like a portkey, you put the magic into it."

"What kind of magic?" I asked.

"Well, basically, you put a part of your soul into an object, so your body becomes immortal."

"Wicked." Ron said, and I slapped him in the back of the head.

"Not wicked, Ronald, that means that Voldemort is immortal!"

"Oh. Is that what's up with Hermione, then?" And then Hermione spoke.

"No. Don't get me wrong, Voldemort being immortal is a very bad thing. But that's not why I'm scared." Harry took over for her.

"In order to put a piece of your soul into a horcrux, you have to kill. Murder." And we all fell silent. I was the one who asked the question that was on all our minds.

"How many horcruxes are there, Harry?"

"Seven."

"Oh God." Hermione whispered.

"Well, actually, there WERE seven. But two have already been destroyed, so there's only five left."

"Aw, look who's good at math." I said, trying to lighten the situation. It didn't work. "Hey, at least we only have to take care of the last five!" I said.

"Forgive me if I'm not as excited as you are, Talia." Hermione said.

"Hey now, Talia's right! We have to look at the important things. And listen to this, Dumbledore thinks he found another one, so we're going there tomorrow after class. So that means we'll only have four more to go!"

"HOORAH!" I yelled, and everybody laughed. Well, except for Ginny. Actually, Ginny seemed to be thinking very hard about something. "What's up, Ginny?" She didn't answer me. Instead, she got up, and looked at Harry. And then Ron. And then Hermione and I, and then back at Harry.

"I want to tell him."

"What! Right now?" Harry said, looking nervous.

"Yes, right now."

"Tell me what?" Ron said, with a weird, vacant look on his face. Ginny grabbed Harry by the shirt, dragging him up, and planting a huge, wet one on him.

"That."

"Wh… what?" He said, standing up.

"Yeah, that's right, Ron! I just kissed Harry Potter, your best friend! How do you feel about that?" and she stormed up to her room. And then Harry, looking a little scared, also left without a word. Ron looked at Hermione and I.

"Well, I was just going to say that while it was a little weird watching them snog just then, I'm actually pretty cool with it." And I looked at Hermione, and we all laughed. And when Ron went upstairs, I got up.

"I think I'm gonna go sneak in bed with Malfoy. Those hospital beds aren't very comfy, speaking from experience, and I want to be there when he wakes up."

"Alright!" Hermione said, and we went up to our room. I grabbed some jammies, and left. But not before laughing at Ginny a little bit.