Harry Potter Fanfic Number Three: Neville's Extra Credit
Halloween was rolling around the corner and all the students couldn't wait. The Great Hall was decorated for the festivities; pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns lit the halls. A warm aroma wafted and lingered in the air. The Enchanted Ceiling was a black, starry scene above the many students' heads.
Ginny, Hermione, Katie, Padma, Fay, Justin, and Mandy all came in from the Quidditch field, having recently watched Katie and Ginny defeat Hufflepuff in the final round. After the match Ginny and Katie strode up to the Castle with their friends laughing and joking about the match.
It was no longer chilly inside, so they each took off their many scarves, hats, and mittens and stuffed them in their bags while walking to the Great Hall for some dinner
"Hufflepuff got annihilated!" Fay exclaimed with a small laugh.
"Hey we can be good at quidditch, just not today." Justin said laughing. Behind Mandy a couple Hufflepuffs who heard her comment, scowled at her as they passed by.
Ginny and Katie blushed. They didn't think they did that good, but, to be fair, their playing earned them a game with the Slytherin team, which was Tuesday of the next week.
"I don't get the point of Quidditch," Padma interrupted, "students would get more time invested into their education if they didn't have practice."
They all laughed at Padma's usual remark until Malfoy came trotting towards them, his group by his side.
"Weasley. Granger," Malfoy spat, saying their names as if they were vermin.
"Malfoy," Hermione and Ginny said in disgusted unison. Padma rolled her eyes and Katie glared.
Malfoy eyed their rest of the gang.
"Bell. I remember you," Malfoy said laying his eyes sarcastically on Katie. He turned to Hermione and Ginny, "Maybe next time Bell and Potter won't be there to catch you next time you fall off your brooms." Katie was glaring angrily.
"Wanna bet on that?" Harry said coming to Ginny's defense.
Suddenly, Mandy appeared in front of Malfoy's crowd. "Shut up, Malfoy. Or you'll regret it."
The group looked at her in surprise. Usually, Mandy was so quiet and relaxed.
"Good," Malfoy taunted. The Slytherins all snickered and then walked away, whispering and laughing amongst themselves. Malfoy turned and gave a warning glare, to the group then joined the rest of his evil party.
"He's so annoying," Mandy sighed as Padma patted her on the back.
"The feeling is mutual. Thanks for standing up to him. " Fay said.
Mandy nodded and blushed.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Mandy, if he's so annoying, why do you get all nervous and embarrassed every time you see him? You were blushing like crazy!" Ginny pointed out.
"I thought you said you hated him?" Seamus asked, confused.
"It's obviously a love-hate relationship." Katie rolled her eyes. "But you have horrible taste in men."
Mandy chuckled nervously. "Well, I'll see you guys around!"
Ron looked at Hermione in shock as Mandy looked ready to faint. "Mandy has a huge crush on Malfoy!" she gasped.
"I-It's not that bad, right?" Katie asked timidly.
Mandy turned around and sighed. "If I admit that I do will you guys keep quiet about it?"
"Didn't you just admit that you do have a crush by saying that?" Luna asked, puzzled.
"We will," Hermione cut in.
"I do." Mandy grinned. "And he's not all bad," Mandy whirled around and headed to her common room without another word, as her friends stood gaping behind her.
"We can't talk about it?" Fay through her hands up in exasperation.
"Oh be quiet," Ginny said, "we promised not to say a thing."
Meanwhile, Neville Longbottom was waiting outside his most feared Professor's office. Although Neville was terribly frightened of the spookiness of Halloween, Snape was 10 times as scary.
Neville's throat was dry and he licked his lips as he waited still outside Snape's office. Wanting to turn over a new leaf, Neville had found some potions and transferred them into some chocolates, hoping that this project would make Snape less terrifying.
Finally, a dark figure thrust the door open. He smelled faintly of dead vermin, and his crooked nose was twisted up in a dirty expression. Snape loomed over Neville like a judgmental black cloud over a hopeful and frightened ray of light.
"Come in," Snape's dreary voice boomed.
"Uh, yeah, I mean, yes, or um, yes, Professor," Neville stuttered, shaking slightly.
"Sir. You call me sir," Snape snapped.
"Yes, er, sir," Neville stumbled over his words again.
"What is that?" Snape asked, when Neville finally sat stiffly in a seat across from Snape.
"An extra credit assignment sir. Chocolates, I made a potion that improves flavor and strengthen health benefits," Neville recited the lines he had practiced earlier.
Snape answered as if he was a poisonous snake ready to feast on his victim. "Chocolate?" Snape said, his voice rising slowly.
"Yes sir," Neville said nervously.
"Did you taste them?" Snape stood from his seat, his black cloak draped over his shoulder like a dark and flowy wall.
"No, I didn't have time… sir."
"Take them away from my sight. Project," Snape sneered nastily.
Neville barely contained his tears and ran all the way from Snape's office into the Gryffindor common room. He flung himself onto a cushion and threw the box of chocolates on the ground.
Padma, Mandy, and Justin said goodbye to Hermione, Ginny, Fay, and Katie and the four Gryffindor girls walked into the common room behind Ron and Harry.
"What are those?" Harry asked Neville, pointing to the scattered chocolates.
"You can have them," Neville sobbed. "Professor Snape hated them."
Harry bent down and took a chocolate.
"Thank you," he said, his mouth full of creamy chocolate. "And don't worry about Snape, he's always been a jerk."
"Yeah, don't let him bother you Neville. The girls and I were walking away from the Quidditch game and Malfoy was giving us a tough time, too. Just ignore Snape," Hermione said.
Harry turned to look at Hermione and his heart stopped. Only a few seconds ago, he was under the impression that he was dating Ginny Weasley, the most beautiful and brave and amazing girl ever… or not. As Harry turned to look at Hermione his love for Ginny vanished, even though he had been head over heels for her, since as long as he could remember. Hermione's curly hair struck Harry as gorgeous and her brilliant eyes were browner than the chocolates in his mouth.
"Hermione Potter…" he breathed.
"What did you say?" Ginny raised her eyebrows, coming up beside Harry.
"Harry, you're with Ginny. You daydream about Ginny Potter. Right? Right?" Hermione questioned him.
Fay looked nauseous.
But Harry didn't care that everyone was looking at him weirdly; he was staring at the girl of his dreams.
"Harry what's happening to you, mate?" Ron said waving his hand in front of Harry's face. Harry didn't say a word as he stared on at Hermione's beautiful face.
"Harry, what are you doing?!" Ginny exclaimed, pulling him by the arm and turning him around so he would face her.
"What do you mean 'what am I doing'? I'm looking at my beautiful girlfriend," Harry said, his eyes still glazed.
Ginny turned bright red and she smiled. "Aw, thank you!"
"I'm not talking about you," Harry replied, looking at her in disgust, "I'm talking about Hermione!"
Ginny's expression went from a peaceful smile to an icy scowl. "Hermione?!" She yelled, making Neville and Katie back away slowly. Hermione tried to back away as well, but Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.
"I guess the tables have turned," Fay muttered to Katie as they distanced themselves away from the situation. Katie nodded in agreement and watched as the drama unfolded.
"I'm your girlfriend, Harry! Not HERMIONE!" Ginny yelled furiously, her face turning redder with anger. Harry backed away from Ginny and closer to Hermione.
"I don't remember when I started dating you," he said with a puzzled expression on his face. Hermione cast him a sideways glance.
"Harry, no. I'm not your girlfriend. I'm Ron's," she gestured to Ron. He suddenly realized what was happening.
"Bloody hell, Harry!" Ron screamed, stomping over to Harry and pulling him away from Hermione by the collar of his cloak. "What's gotten into your head!?"
"Nothing," Harry said simply, "I've just realized how wrong I was about your sister and that you have really good taste for girls." he winked at Hermione.
"WHAT!" Ginny said completely outraged, "WRONG ABOUT ME?"
"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY SISTER! AND I'M THE ONE THAT'S WITH HERMIONE!"Ron yelled.
"Harry what do you think you're doing? Stop pretending to forget about Ginny and all this nonsense. You are too much of a brother to me!" Hermione said stepping in.
"Yeah! Do you have any idea about how I feel?" Ginny screamed, her lungs burning, and stomach feeling as if it were sizzling.
Harry glanced at her. "Ginny, you're a great friend but-"
"A great friend?! I don't want to be your friend! I mean I do but I want you to think I'm more than that!" Ginny screeched.
"But, Hermione is different. I mean how could anyone be as perfect as she is? The list could go on for ages, her beauty, her brilliance, her humble attitude, what better girl could there be?" Harry questioned.
"Just shut up!" Hermione, Ron, and Ginny screeched. Katie, Seamus, Fay, and Neville still stood in the background, hardly able to make any sense of anything.
"Well, I'm going to bed!" Neville interrupted, bolting up the stairs.
"I am, too. Don't worry, Ron, my feelings haven't changed," Hermione cried, throwing a dirty look at Harry.
Ron nodded. Harry just stood, gazing lovingly at Hermione.
"Maybe you should think about how your friends feel. Remember us?" Ron pushed past Harry.
"I hope you could be honest with your friends next time. It's what you used to do," Ginny scowled, trudging up the stairs, too.
"Harry, what happened?" Katie asked, the glow of the hearth casting shadows upon the two of them.
"I-I don't know," Harry admitted. "One second, I liked Ginny, apparently. And just now I noticed how much I like Hermione."
"That's really weird," Fay murmured, deep in thought.
"It's not weird… it's… great," Harry smiled.
"Maybe for you. But definitely not for Ron and Hermione. This could separate the two of them! And especially Ginny. It's not great for her, Harry," Katie said.
Harry shrugged. "They should embrace the fact that Hermione is meant for me." He grinned.
"I don't think she is Harry. Just remember your feelings aren't the only things that matter. I remember one time, Dumbledore was telling me that you would do anything to save your friends and family. Even fighting well You-know-who. You've never been a selfish person, and if you were, you wouldn't be the great Harry Potter we know today. Think about that." Fay remarked wisely.
"Hermione should be my family." Harry argued.
"We're your family too Harry." Katie sighed, getting up and leaving the Common Room with Fay without another word.
Harry was left by himself to fight with his feelings as the golden fireplace slowly died down to a mist, and Harry's eyes became heavier and heavier with every second he lay in that common room.
The next morning, Ginny groggily accompanied Hermione and Katie to the Great Hall to eat a much needed breakfast. Mandy, Justin, and Padma caught up with the girls. "So, what happened last night?" Padma asked.
"Oh nothing. Harry was just a total jerk to me, claiming he never remembered us dating, and apparently Harry has fallen head first for Hermione! And Ron's mad, because he doesn't know what Harry's doing with his girl. So now, Hermione, Ron, and I all hate Harry with burning passion." Ginny replied sarcastically.
"Wait what?!" Mandy and Padma gasped in nearly perfect unison.
"You heard me." Ginny grumbled.
"I tried talking to Harry last night. There's definitely something wrong with him. He said he just suddenly realized how much he liked Hermione." Fay chimed in.
"Don't bother talking with him. I certainly won't." Ginny folded her arms.
"Me neither." Ron said, coming up beside the girls.
"Hi Hermione," Harry said, walking quickly to catch up with her. Everyone looked away, greatly annoyed.
Suddenly, Malfoy pushed his way through the group of friends.
"I never thought I'd see the day." Malfoy gasped.
"Shut up. Just go away Malfoy, we have enough trouble without you." Mandy exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
"Harry and Hermione. Together! I must say, I never saw it coming. Well, it looks like not for the first time, the Weasley's have struck out! Even their own Harry and Hermione realized how stupid the Weasley's are, and decided to get together! Wait till I spread the word!" Malfoy sneered nastily.
"Draco, you're the equivalence of a teenage muggle." Mandy remarked. The Slytherins shot her a dirty look.
"What she means is, umm, well and I-I also mean to say was that you'll do no such thing!" Justin stammered.
"Seriously, what's your problem? Do you enjoy torturing my girl… my friend? Have you ever noticed that the word 'Malfoy' comes from the greek root, bad boy?" Harry paused, amazed at himself.
"Woah! I just sounded like Hermione! Isn't it amazing!" He squealed, his eyes shining.
Katie rolled her eyes.
"Get out Malfoy!" she said, pulling out her wand. "Or else…" she threatened.
"Fine, whatever. But I'm still going to spread the word that love is in the air!" Malfoy seethed, triumphantly walking away. Once he was gone, everybody headed for the Great Hall, except Hermione who stood dumbfounded.
"C'mon, Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Love is in the air…" Hermione repeated, trailing off.
"Finally, you get it." Harry nodded.
"No, that's not what I meant. Umm, I'm not hungry for breakfast. I think I lost my appetite, I'll be in the library if I'm needed by anyone, other than Harry that is. " Hermione said, picking up her bag and rushing away.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked, he wasn't the only one that was confused.
"So guys, do you think Hermione is even a little bit interested, in even tolerating me?" Harry asked the group.
"No!" They all chorused.
They all filed into their house tables, for a nice hearty breakfast. Ron as much as the rest of the group, hoped that breakfast would take away the subject of "love in the air."
"Harry why do you even hang around us?" Seamus asked. Padma had told him, everything that was going on, and he was pretty frustrated too.
After a nice quiet breakfast, the group caught up with Seamus Finnigan and Luna Lovegood.
The group was sitting under a tree right in front of Hagrid's hut, waiting for Hermione, for her so called "findings."
"Because, it's where Hermione hangs around. Duh." Harry replied.
"Do you know, what Hermione is doing? I mean I know the library is her thing, but she's been in the library forever! It's not like her to miss classes." Ron said.
"For this it is." Hermione exclaimed, coming up behind her friends, her robes swishing behind her.
"Where have you been?" Ginny questioned.
"I've been looking up everything that has to do, with love in the air! I read books such as Love, the Real Definitions, and Love, the Force."
"Which you don't need." Ron huffed, cutting Hermione off.
"Let me finish." Hermione said.
"Finally I looked up Love Potions. That's when I found it. Harry, listen to me. What were you doing right before you realized you liked me so much?" Hermione asked.
"Well hon- I mean well Hermy, I was talking to Neville…"
"Funny. Neville was working on something back in the common room." Fay said thinking.
Suddenly, Ginny and Katie caught on.
"Fay what was he mixing together?" Katie inquired.
"Uh well it looked like, some odd shaped plants."
"I helped Neville pick those from the greenhouse!" Justin explained, "but I cannot seem to remember the names."
"Hermione, let me see the book." Padma said.
Padma's fingers wandered the pages of the old book, until she slapped her hand on the right chapter. Everyone gathered around. Except for Hermione and Harry. Harry kept hugging Hermione, while Hermione was pushing him away.
"Sweet love, a potion that takes the form of chocolate! It's main ingredients, Dirmire and Ivolestient."
"What did he give you!?" Ginny shouted, distracting Harry.
"Chocolate and…"
"Neville that dimwit! He created a love potion! Harry you don't really love Hermione at all!" Ron grinned triumphantly looking at the book.
"And there's a reverse spell too." Padma squeaked eagerly.
"Maybe I have something that could help." Luna rifled through her bag pulling out stranger objects.
"I think we got this one Luna." Neville said, trying to hide the fact that he was creeped out by all the weird objects.
"Reverse spell? That's got my name all over it! Shoot me the ingredients Ron, and I will have Harry back to his normal self in no time!" Hermione exclaimed with a confident smirk.
Everyone was positive that Hermione could get Harry back to normal. She had always been good at potions and setting everything straight in the end. Ron became relieved and was now trying to hold back Harry from distracting Hermione while she was focusing.
"Ron, would you please let me see my soon-to-be lover?" Harry questioned innocently.
"No!" The girls exclaimed in unison, now holding back Harry from harassing Hermione and Ron and sending Harry to his death.
Hermione rushed to the common room to brew up a potion hopefully in enough time.
"There she goes again." Harry said sadly.
Ron rolled his eyes, "Cmon Romeo this time we are going with Hermione."
Harry peeked up and Ron tried not to puke.
The gang all anxiously waiting for Hermione while trying to hold Harry back from bursting in the common room.
"I've got it!" Hermione yelled for the whole team to hear over the chaos. Everyone's heads turned and quickly rushed to Hermione.
"Ok, if I did this right, then once Harry eats this chocolate frog with the potion infused in it, THEN he will be back to normal."
The whole team seemed finally relaxed.
Although, Harry didn't hear the plan, because he was too busy imagining the future for Hermione and him.
Hermione knew what she had to do, but wasn't looking forward to it.
"Ooooohhhh Harry!" Hermione said with a hint of passion in her voice.
Of course, Harry ran over like a puppy and sat their waiting for an answer.
"I made you a chocolate frog! Only for my sweet Harry!" Hermione charmed him, although almost puking in the process. Harry ate the chocolate like it was his first time eating today, or ever. Soon, he started to cough and went in and out of consciousness.
Harry suddenly flashed open his eyes and rubbed his head.
"What is happening? Hermione...why are you looking at me like that? Is there something in my teeth?"
This whole time Ginny had been moping to herself and singing in the corner. Everyone kinda forgot she was there until- "Harry! Your back to being you!" Ginny had almost strangled him when she hugged him.
"I never knew I wasn't me...What happened while I was 'gone'?" Harry questioned innocently, once again.
"Well… that's a long story. But… they are having a HUGE feast right now in the great hall, you guys wanna go?" Ron asked the group.
A cheer erupted from the crowd of unlikely wizard friends.
Off they went, to the great hall to laugh and have a great time.
"Hey Ron… Hermione's hair looks really nice today. What do you think?" Harry asked Ron.
Ron's ears soon turned a bright red… a bad sign.
"You ok there buddy?" Harry said, worryingly. Suddenly, Ron tackled Harry as a gasp erupted from the Gryffindor table.
"I'm just kidding." Harry laughed. "No one could replace Ginny."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"Don't ever trick me like that again, mate!" Ron laughed.
The End