Advanced Potion Making By Libati
Harry and the Gryffindor Quidditch team start practicing a lot since their game against Slytherin is around the corner. Dean Thomas takes the place of Katie Bell who is still in the hospital. Ron is having a hard time during practices and his inconsistency only gets worse under pressure. On the way back from practice, Harry and Ron pass Ginny fiercely making out with Dean, and Harry starts to feel extremely jealous. Ron is embarrassed and mad that Ginny would do that so publicly and gives her a hard time. Ginny yells back and embarrasses Ron saying that he's never snogged a girl, Harry's snogged Cho Chang, Hermione's snogged Viktor Krum, etc. Ron stomps to bed, while Harry tries to convince himself that he's just mad that Dean is kissing Ginny because she is Ron's sister. Really, though, Harry wishes he was snogging Ginny. Ron asks Harry if he thinks Hermione has snogged Krum. Harry tries not to answer but Ron can tell from the look on Harry's face that Hermione probably snogged Krum. Harry goes to bed but can't get his mind off Ginny. He wakes up to find a ornery and grumpy Ron who proceeds to be mean to a bewildered Hermione throughout the day. Furthermore, Ron's bad attitude keeps affecting his Quidditch practice in a bad way. Panicked that they will lose the Slytherin game, Harry comes up with a plan. Harry goes down to breakfast the next morning and greets a glum Ron. He pours Ron a pumpkin juice and Hermione notices Harry holding a vial of something. Hermione tells Ron not to drink the juice because she saw Harry slip something into it, but Ron drinks the juice anyway. A very angry Hermione storms off. They head out to the Quidditch stadium and are greeted by some good news; two Slytherin players are sick (Vaisey and Malfoy) and the weather conditions are perfect. It suddenly occurs to Ron what Harry had slipped into his juice. They go out onto the field and commence playing. Ron plays beautifully and Gryffindor wins. After the game, Hermione confronts Harry and Ron and accuses Harry of spiking Ron's juice with the Felix Felicis potion he had won in the first day of Potions class. Harry says he didn't and holds up the vial. He had tricked Ron into thinking Ron was lucky which boosted Ron's confidence. Sick of Ron and his attitude, Hermione leaves. Harry goes to the Gryffindor party and sees Ron snogging heavily with Lavender Brown. He goes off to find Hermione and finds her in an empty classroom crying. Suddenly Ron bursts in with Lavender. A hurt Hermione leaves the classroom, but not before attacking Ron with a flock of birds she conjures up.
Advanced Potion Making By Libati
Chapter 15: The Unbreakable Vow Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas wasapproaching fast. Hagrid had already singlehandedly delivered the usualtwelve C hristmas trees to the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel hadbeen twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowedfrom inside the helmets of suits of armor and great bunches of mistletoe hadbeen hung at intervals along the corridors. Large groups of girls tended toconverge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past,which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunat e ly, however, Harry'sfrequent nighttime wanderings had given him an unusually good knowledgeof the castle's secret passageways, so that he was often, without too muchdifficulty, to naviga t e mistletoe-free routes between classes. Ron, who might once have found the necessity of these detours excuse forjealousy rather than hilarity, simply roared with laughter about it all.Although Harry much preferred this new laughing, joking Ron to the moody,aggressive model he had been enduring for the last few weeks, the improvedRon came at a heavy price. Firstly, Harry had to put up with the frequentpresence of Lavender Brown, who seemed to regard any moment that shewas not kissing Ron as a moment wasted; and secondly, Harry found himselfonce more the best friend of two people who seemed unlikely ever to speakto each other again. Ron, whose hands and forearms still bore scratches and cuts fromHermione's bird attack, was taking a defensive and resentful tone. "She can't complain," he told Harry. "She snogged Krum. So she's foundout someone wants to snog me too. Well, it's a free country. I haven't doneanything wrong." Harry did not answer, but pretended to be absorbed in the book they weresupposed to have read before Charms next morning (Quintessence: A Quest). Determined as he was to remain friends with both Ron and Hermione,he was spending a lot of time with his mouth shut tight. "I never promised Hermione anything , " Ron mumbled. "I mean, allright, I was going to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with her, but she neversaid... just as friends... I'm a free agent..." Harry turned a page of Quintessence, aware that Ron was watching him.Ron's voice trailed away in mutters, barely audible over the loud cracklingof the fire, though Harry thought he caught the words "Krum" and "Can'tcomplain" again. Hermione's schedule was so full that Harry could only talk to her properlyin the evenings, when Ron was, in any case, so tightly wrapped aroundLavender that he did not notice what Harry was doing. Hermione refused tosit in the common room while Ron was there, So Harry generally joined herin the library, which meant that their conversations were held in whispers. "He's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes," said Hermione, whilethe librarian , Madam Pince, prowled the shelves behind them. "I reallycouldn't care less." She raised her quill and dotted an 'i' so ferociously that she punctured ahole in her parchment. Harry said nothing. He thought his voice might soonvanish from the lack of use. He bent a little lower over Advanced Potion-Making and continued to make notes on Everlasting Elixirs, occasionallypausing to decipher the p rince's useful additions to Libatius B orage's text. "And incidentally," said Hermione, after a few moments, "you need to becareful." "For the last time," said Harry, speaking in a slightly hoarse tone afterthree-quarters of an ho u r of silence, "I am not giving back this book . I'velearned more from the Half-blood p rince than Snape or Slughorn havetaught me in--" "I'm not talking about your stupid so-called prince," said Hermione ,giving his book a nasty look as though it had been rude to her. "I'm talki ngabout earlier. I went into the girl's bathroom just before I came in here andthere were about a dozen girls in there, including that Romilda Vane , tryingto decide how to slip you a love potion. They're all hoping they're going toget you to take them to Slughorn's party, and thay all seem to have boughtFred and George's love potions, which I'm afraid to say probably work --" "Why didn't you confiscate them then?" demanded Harry, it seemedextraordinary that Hermione's m ania for upholding the rules could haveabandoned her at this crucial juncture. "They didn't have the potions with them in the bathroom," said Hermionescornfully, "They were just discussing tactics. As I doubt the Half-bloodprince" she gave the book another scornful look "could dream up an antidotefor a dozen different love potions at once, I'd just invite someone to go withyou, that'll stop all the others thinking they've still got a chance. It's tomor row night, they're getting desperate." "There isn't anyone I want to invite," mumbled Harry, who was still nottrying to think about Ginny any more than he could help, despite the fact thefact that she kept cropping up in his dreams in ways that made him devoutlythankful that Ron could not perform Legilimency. "Well, just be careful what you drink, because Romilda Va ne looked likeshe meant business." said Hermione grimly. She hitched up the long roll of parchment on which she was writing herArithma n cy essay and continued to scratch away with her quill. Harry wa tche d her with his mind a long way away. "Hang on a moment," he said slowly. "I thought Filch had bannedanything bought at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" "And when has anyone ever paid attention to what Filch has banned?"asked Hermione, still concentrating on her essay. "But I thought all the owls were being searched. So how come these grilsare able to bring love potions into the school?" "Fred and George send them disguised as perfumes and cough potions,"said Hermione. "It's part of their Owl order service." "You know a lot about it." Hermione gave him the kind of nasty look she had just given his copy ofAdvanced Potion-Making. "It was all on the back of the bottles they showed Ginny and me in thesummer," she said coldly, "I don't go around putting potions in people'sdrinks... or pretending too eit h er, which is just as bad..." "Yeah, well, never mind that," said Harry quickly. "The point is, Filch isbeing fooled isn't he? These girls are getting stuff into the school disguisedas something else! So why couldn't Malfoy have brought the necklace intothe school --?" "Oh, Harry... not that again..." "Come on, why not?" demanded Harry. "Look , " sighed Hermione, "Secrecy Sensors detect jinxes, curses, andconcealment charms, don't they? They're used to find d ark magic and d arkobje c ts. They'd have picked up a powerful curse , like the one in thenecklace, withi n seconds. But something that's just been put in the wrongbottle wouldn ' t register -- anyway Love potions aren't d ark or dangerous -" "Easy for you to say," muttered Harry, thinking of Romilda Vane. "-- so it would be down to Filch to realise it wasn't a cough potion, andhe's not a very good wizard, I doubt he can tell one potion from --" Hermione stopped dead; Harry had heard it too. Somebody had movedclose behind them among the dark bookshelves. They waited, and a momentlater the vulturelike countenance of Madam Pince appeared around thecorner, her sunken cheeks, her skin like parchment, and her long hookednose illuminated unflatteringly by the lamp she was carrying. "The library is now closed," she said, "Mind you return anything you haveborrowed to the correct -- what have you been doing to that book, youdepraved boy?" "It isn't the library's, it's mine!" said Harry hastily, snatching his copy ofAdvanced Potion-Making off the table as she lunged at it with a clawlikehand. " Spoiled!" she hissed . "Desecrated, befouled !" "It's just a book that's been written on!" said Harry, tugging it out of hergrip. She looked as though she might have a seizure; Hermione, who hadhastily packed her things, grabbed Harry by the arm and frogmarched himaway. "She'll ban you from the library if you're not careful. Why did you have tobring that stupid book?" "It's not my fault she's barking mad, Hermione. Or d'you think sheoverheard you being rude about Filch? I've always thought there might besomething between them..." "Oh, ha ha.." Enjoying the fact that they could speak normally again, they made theirway along the deserted lamp-lit corridors back to the common room, arguingw hether or not Filch and Madam Pince were secretly in love with eachother. "Baubles" said Harry to the Fat Lady, this being the new, festivepassword. "Same to you," said the fat lady with a roguish grin, and she swungforward to admit them. "Hi, Harry!" said Romilda Vane, the moment he had climbed through theportrait hole. "Fancy a gillywater?" Hermione gave him a "what-did-I-tell-you?" look over her shoulder. "No thanks," said Harry quickly. "I don't like it much." "Well, take these anyway," said Romilda, thrusting a box into his hands."Chocolate Cauldrons, they've got firewhiskey in them. My gran sent themto me, but I don't like them." "Oh-- right -- thanks a lot." said Harry, who could not think what else tosay. " Er-- I ' m just going over here with ..." He hurried off behind Hermione, his voice tailing away feebly. "Told you," said Hermione succinctly, " Sooner you ask someone, soonerthey'll all leave you alone and you can --" But her face suddnly turned blank; she had just spotted Ron andLavender, who were i ntertwined in the same armchair. "Well, good night, Harry" said Hermione, though it was only seveno'clock in the evening, and she left for the girl s' dormitory without anotherword. Harry went to bed comforting himself that there was only one more day oflessons to struggle through, plus Slughorn's party, after which he and Ronwould depart together for the B urrow. It now seemed impossible that Ronand Hermione would make up with each other before the holidays began, butperhaps, somehow, the break would give them time to calm down, thinkbetter of their behavior... But his hopes were not high, and they sank still lower after enduring aTransfiguration lesson with them both next day. They had just embarkedupon the immensely difficult topic of human transfiguration; working infront of mirrors , they were suposed to be changing the color of their owneyebrows. Hermione laughed unkindly at Ron's disastrous first attempt,during which he somehow managed to give himself a spectacular handlebarmustache; Ron retaliated by doing a cruel but accurate impression ofHermione jumping up and down in her seat every time Profe s sorMcGonagall asked a question, which Lavender and Parvati found deeplyamusing and which reduced Hermione to the verge of tears again. She racedout of the classroom on the bell, leaving half her things behind; Harry,deciding that her need was greater than Ron's just now, scooped up herremaining po ssessions and followed her. He finally tracked her down as she emerged from a girl's bathroom on thefloor below. She was accompanied by Luna Lovegood, who was patting hervaguely on the back. "Oh, hello, Harry , " said Luna . " D id you know one of your eyebrows isbright yellow?" "Hi, Luna. Hermione , you left your stuff..." He held out her books. "Oh, yes," said Hermione in a choked voice, taking her things and turningaway quickly to hide the fact she was wiping her eyes with her pencil case."Thank you , Harry. Well, I'd better get going..." And she hurried off, without ever giving Harry any time to offer words ofcomfort, though admittedly he could not think of any. "She's a bit upset , " said Luna. "I thought at first it was Moaning Myrtlein there, but it turned out to be Hermione. She said something about RonWeasley..." "Yeah, they've had a row," said Harry. "He says funny things sometimes, doesn't he?" said Luna as they set offdown the corridor together. "But he can be a bit unkind. I noticed that lastyear." " I s'pose , " said Harry. Luna was demonstrating her usual knack ofspeaking uncomfortable truths; he had never met anyone quite like her. "Sohave you had a good term?" "Oh, it's been al l right," said Luna. " A bit lonely without the D.A.Ginny's been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfigurationclass calling me 'Loony' the other day --" "How would you like to come to S lughorn's party with me tonight?" The words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop them; he heardhimself say them as though it were a stranger speaking. Luna turned her protuberant eyes to him in surprise. "Slughorn's party? With you?" "Yeah," said Harry, "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought youmight like.. I mean..." He was keen to make his intentions perfectly clear. " Imean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to..." He was already half hoping that she didn't want to. "O h no, I'd love to go with you as friends!" said Luna, beaming as he hadnever seen her beam before. "Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as afriend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I dye minetoo?" "No" said Harry firmly, "That was a mistake. I'll get Hermione to put itright for me. So I'll meet you in the entrance hall at eight o'clock then . " "AHA!" screamed a voice from overhead and both of them jumped;unnoticed by either of them, they had just passed underneath Peeves, whowas hanging upside down from a chandelier and grinning maliciously atthem. "Potty asked Loony to go to the part y ! Potty lurves Loony! Pottyluuuuuurves Looooony!" And he zoomed away cackling and shrieking, "Potty loves Loony!" "Nice to keep these things private," said Harry. And sure enough, in notime at all the whole school seemed to know that Harry Potter was takingLuna Lovegood to Slughorn's party. "You could've taken anyone!" said Ron in disbelief over dinner. "Anyone!And you chose Loony Lovegood?" "Don't call her that, Ron!" snapped Ginny, pausing behind Harry on herway to join friends. "I'm really glad you're taking her Harry, she's soexcited." And she moved on down the table to sit with Dean. Harry tried to feelpleased that Ginny was glad he was taking Luna to the party but could notquite manage it. A long way along the table Hermione was sitting alone,<b