FicWad

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe and all the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
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He had his hands on his knees, breathing hard from exhaustion, exhaustion from achieving nothing. He had spent 2 hours practicing again, other spells went brilliantly: the new cutting, feet freezer and older spells he had worked on perfecting. But he failed at the Bone-Breaker, it produced nothing!
He hadn't known that he would be so bad at the Darker spells. In his research he had lightly read through parts of their nature, how Darker categorized spells were labeled as such not only because of their strength and effect, but also through the nature of the magic.
It's Just like how the Patronus needs access to your positive emotions. In the same sense do Darker spells require an affinity with the caster's negative emotions.
It would push you into a certain direction but would still be a matter of your own choices and morality defining whether or not you were doing evil with the spells you use. The harmless Levitation Charm could be used to throw somebody of a tower to their deaths, resulting in a more brutal death than the Killing Curse would have done.
He knew he could do it, the Curse didn't ask too much of his magical reserves for he proved to have plenty after going at it for so long. He had done everything correctly, the preparation, the knowledge, the incantation, and the movements.
Curses required fuel to ignite into fire, emotions served as fuel here. But using his frustration didn't seem to make it work, as if it wasn't enough, not heartfelt enough.
Which might be true, he thought begrudgingly; he wanted to do it with a clear mind, stay leveled about his situation and course of actions. Otherwise he would be following his advice, Voldemort's advice from the time at the Ministry.
He tried again, the spell disintegrating into nothing halfway there. He tried again, and again. Soon he was gritting it through his teeth, other people knew this Curse, why couldn't he do it?!
He fired the Curse again and pushed a sizable amount of magic through his wand, only to have it disappear midway to its destination midair, unable to hold itself together.
'You have to mean it, Harry.'
It whispered through his head, almost sounded more than just a thought, almost like a real voice. Guiding him in a firm and compelling tone.
He ignored it, tried again, and failed, swearing loudly. How was he going to achieve anything if all the spells he could do were either cutting Charms or weak spells!
They had seen it at the ministry, stunned and impaired Death Eaters would just be revived and Counterspelled. Letting them join back in after having just been dealt with, it had cost them injuries and nearly their lives.
He tried again, putting more of his anger behind the spell, bitterly acknowledging that it helped a little as his spell traveled further.
'You have to mean it, Harry. You know the spell.'
It sounded through his ears again, pressing and persuasive. The pillars in front of him slowly warping into blurry shapes as he raised his wand again, his vision was muddled and his head felt heavy. He wobbled on his feet, but managed to steady himself after a moment.
He stood for moment, staring at the stone floor as his view swam, surprised at the sudden wave of disorientation. Had he been using magic for too long? Was this some sort of magical overexertion?
His vision soon became a bit clearer and his surroundings returned to him. However a familiar and absolutely infuriating laughter sounded in his ears, making his blood boil and snap his head up.
"Ickle Potter can't do anything again? Weak as always, who is going to die next for you? I don't think that they will like that, Potty" It was almost like Bellatrix stood somewhere in the room, her shrieking voice taunting him again, echoing around him. His jaw tightened and nostrils flared, where was she!?
"I'm sure that your friends will be able to say hello to dear Sirius again, very soon." She said in a baby cooing voice, he looked around wildly, her voice filling his ears but seeing no living being with him in the classroom.
"There is nothing ickle Potter can do, nothing at all!" She cackled insanely.
"Shut up, I'm not useless!" He shouted breathing hard from exhaustion and confusion.
"It's so amusing to see you try Potter, it will be even better to see you fail miserably in front of your dead friends. Maybe we'll let you go afterwards, hunt you again, and repeat the process!" She said in excitement, he could practically hear her heavy breathing as the words sounded around him.
'You have to mean it, Harry. You know the spell. She killed him. She deserves it.'
"Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless!" She chanted endlessly in a childish voice.
He snapped, he wasn't useless, and no one was going to die for him anymore! Releasing his rage, and roaring the incantation as it exploded from his wand, sending a tingle through his arm.
"OS FRACTIONIS!"
He blindly threw the Curse where he had last heard her voice, not caring in his state whether or not she was actually there. His spell continued towards one of the pillars in the classroom. Impacting against the pillar, chunks the size of small bricks breaking off from the pillar, falling down nearby, cranks spreading though the pillar, leaving an imprint of his work.
Harry took a moment to process what had transpired, before smiled in triumph, he had done it! he had successfully casted the Bone-breaking Curse!
But his feelings of success soon dimmed as he thought about how he had done it, it had definitely been out of anger. Was this how you learned Darker Curses? He felt reluctant but couldn't deny the power they contained as he looked at the pillar.
Not to mention that suddenly hearing the voice of Bellatrix in the empty classroom had been nothing normal, it must have been because of his exhaustion and emotions that spiked. Yes, he reasoned with himself, that was all there is to it.
'Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world.' Ron's words from second year echoed through him, but he paid no heed to them, this was an exception.
He gripped his wand tighter. It's just as Neville had said weeks before, sometimes we have a choice and sometimes we don't. In this case he didn't have one, he needed this strength, he didn't have the time to learn complicated spellwork like Dumbledore, if he even had the affinity for such Charms at all.
He continued his practice that evening, deciding that for tonight he would put more time into it, now that he had successfully cast the Curse.
Another hour passed and he was glad to note that as soon as he tried again, he didn't need to be in a state of rage again to cast his Bone-Breaking Curse, his initial accomplishment seemed to have opened some door for him, as if he had learned some kind of trick to make it possible.
He casted a quick tempus to read the time and saw that it was well past curfew now, he hadn't brought his cloak with him, having expected to be back in the common room before said curfew went in. Stupid.
He poked his head out of the classroom into the deserted hallway, maybe I'll be lucky and come across Ron and Hermione on their patrol, they could help sneak me back into the common room. He thought before slipping out of the classroom and quietly started stalking through the hallway, being soundless and sticking to the shadows as much as possible.
He exited another pair of stairs and waited for a few seconds to concentrate and listen for the sound of footsteps from anyone else echoing through the hallways. He heard none and continued prowling.
However, he heard them when he rounded another corner, faint footsteps and mumbling, it was a prefect judging by the slouched pace and sour muttering from the distance.
He quickly moved behind a suit of armor, being careful to hurry while staying soundless at the same time, the corner was dark and cramped, not to mention that the suit was also quite spiked. The footsteps soon grew louder and he could hear what the prefect said when he passed by.
"Become a prefect they said, you'll love it they said..man this sucks, I still have homework you know." Harry didn't recognize the voice, but guessed he had probably been from either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.. Slytherins would know what they were getting themselves into.
He waited until the prefect had disappeared from sight before moving out of the pitch black shadow the armor offered. Continuing his way silently.
He was likely halfway on his journey when he noticed an eerie silence. It had been silent this whole time now but it had suddenly turned different.
He couldn't explain it but it felt completely wrong, the silence was forced, unnatural, foreboding.
He began wishing that he came across a teacher or prefect again as he waited, hoping for anything to break the illusion as he stood completely still in the dead silence of the dark hallway.
No sound from outside seemed to enter anymore, the large windows would normally let the damped howling from the wind outside pass through them; but the silence held itself in place.
That was until he heard the faintest of sounds coming through the halls, no indication on which direction it was coming from.
It was a muffled moaning sounding far into the distance but he jolted into motion as the few remaining candles in the corridor whisked out, leaving only the faint moonlight to illuminate the halls.
His instincts were screaming at him to get away as far, and fast as he possibly could. His heart was beginning to pound in his chest.
And so he did, always having strongly believed in what his gut was telling him, his hurried pace causing more sound than he was currently caring for.
The muffled moaning became louder and harry could now identify it as a male voice. He quickened his pace, the heartbeat in his ears sounding louder to him than his footsteps.
The voice was quickly gaining on him as it's hoarse screaming began to fill the corridor at an alarming speed, increasing in volume. The sounds seemingly coming off from the walls around him as they were everywhere around him.
He broke into a sprint at this point not caring whether or not his footsteps were thundering in the empty dark hallways.
The screaming was right behind him, he was rushing through hallways and jumping down stairs in a sprint for his life, his feet and knees were hurting from the long falls, smashing down into the ground to gain more speed.
He stumbled after jumping down from another flight of stairs, casting a quick glance behind him after getting back up.
The last thing he saw was a dark cloud of black flame and smoke crashing into him, wrathful screams mixing with his own.
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"Wake up Potter, I don't have all night." An unfriendly and bored voice said to him.
Something ice cold washed over him, his eyes snapped open from the unpleasant feeling and he spluttered awake.
His vision was filled with a black cloaked figure, towering over him with his wand still pointed at him.
Harry realized through the water drops on his glasses that it was Snape who stood over him, having apparently doused him with water. Snape was looking at him strangely, as if trying to determine he was either a complete idiot or something very strange altogether.
"Potter, care to explain why I found you unconscious in the hallway? Well past curfew on top of that?" He asked in a monotone voice.
"Hallway… unconscious?" He muttered, still disoriented. Slowly coming to a sitting position. Why had he been lying on the floor?
"Yes Potter, use your brain if your capable of it and answer the question. Why were you lying on the floor?" Snape pressed with a sneer.
Harry slowly rose to his feet, memories coming back as he did. The suddenly haunting atmosphere, screaming voice, and hunt through the castle. Had it been real? It felt so surreal and distant now, maybe it had just been another voice, taking form at the last moment from his state of panic, an illusion, after effects from his overexertion.
"I was practicing spells in a classroom. I forgot the time and fell down from exhaustion on the way back to the common room, Sir." He said giving a decent lie despite his state of confusion, it rolled off his tongue quite easily.
Snape looked at him for a moment, not believing him. "Doesn't change the fact that you were out past curfew. Fifty points from Gryffindor and detention Potter, maybe it will help you remember curfew times in the future. I'll notify you on the details of your detention later." He said, turning on his heel.
"Come with me Potter, I will have to make sure you actually manage to reach the dorms this time. I guess even the 'Chosen one' needs help sometimes." Snape taunted as Harry silently followed him to the Gryffindor tower, casting a drying Charm on his hair as he went.
"Stop sneaking around the castle past curfew Potter, we have better things to do than babysit you." Snape continued.
"Of course Professor, it won't happen again" Harry responded.
"Don't make me catch you again next time." Snape said warningly, as they neared their destination.
"Oh, you won't...Professor." Harry said coolly, inwardly irritated at having to serve detention. Rather wanting to spend his time on something useful.
Snape glared at him out of the corner of his eyes for his implied meaning. "Watch your words Potter, arrogance is leading your tongue like it did with your father."
Harry could only clench his fists and hold his retort back at the untrustworthy spy. Someone so obsessed and bitter over his own past had to right to speak about his father like that. He only glared back at Snape.
He stopped just before they began ascending the last pair of stairs to the portrait hole, hearing a calming song approach them.
Through the hallways glided Fawkes; Dumbledore's Phoenix, towards them.
It swept through the hallway, in a fast pace despite only flapping his wings a few times, little embers trailing behind him as he soared towards them.
Harry made no move to continue up the stairs, wondering why Dumbledore's Phoenix was here. Snape was also fixated on the bird.
Fawkes spread its wing when he closed in on them, grinding himself to a halt midair.
Snape gained a look of full alert at the Phoenix who now hovered in front of them, seeing a small crumbled note being clutched in its talon. He quickly held his hand out so that Fawkes dropped the note into his waiting hand before he began unfurling it, reading the contents hurriedly.
Snape became aware of his presence again afterwards for he snapped impatiently. "What are you waiting for Potter? Get to your dorm!" Snape didn't linger any second longer and seemed to be actually running in a slight panic.
Harry was sorely tempted to follow him. But realized that he would be seen, and getting his invisibility cloak would take too long at Snape's pace through the castle, he would be long gone by then.
He, however could verify one thing; where Snape was going, maybe he still had a chance to follow him then.
He flew up the stairs, went through the portrait, and entered the dorms in a silent but hurried pace. He took out his map from under his bed and whispered. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The blank parchment soon revealed the hallways and corridors of the castle, a majority of dots stacked close to each other; sleeping people, and few dots moving through the castle; Prefects and Teachers.
He scanned the parchment before settling his eyes on the Headmaster's office, Snape was in the office right next to Dumbledore's dot. Harry would be unable to follow them there, but it had been like he had suspected; the note was from Dumbledore, calling Snape to him. The reason dire; judging by Snape's reaction.
He put the map away, unable to do more, and slid into his bed. Mulling over his worries as he closed his eyes.
Sleep slowly claimed him, his dreams being mangled into incomprehensible fragments everytime they started.
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His was abruptly awakened when his cheek was slapped multiple times, none too gently as he heard Ron's voice. "Wake up, Harry, I already gave you a warning last time!"
Harry grumbled, having nearly lashed out himself, thinking he was being attacked by someone or something. He fumbled for his glasses and put them back on his face, he could really use some kind of alarm. Being slapped awake wasn't the best start of the day you could have.
He moved out of his bed, and started dressing, feeling the same tiredness as usual, he hadn't come back that late, earlier than he normally did actually because he had skipped a night of looking up information. The Curse training and nightmarish pursuit had probably been more exhausting for him than those late hours in the Restricted Section.
He didn't know what to think of the events that had transpired, it had felt very real but being awakened by Snape and haven gotten a night's rest, made it feel distant and vague. He didn't feel any different either, no headache, pain or any other indication.
It made him doubt whether or not it had actually been real in the first place.
"Breakfast and Transfiguration, right?" he asked Ron who had finished dressing.
"Yeah, come on lets go, I'm starving!" Ron said immediately after seeing that he had also finished.
They moved downstairs and met Hermione in the common room, who had been waiting for them, as usual.
"Morning." She greeted upon seeing them. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah, those sausages won't know what hit 'em! Oh and morning." Ron exclaimed, motivated and excited; for all the wrong reasons.
"Morning, Hermione." He said as she rolled his eyes at Ron before following them outside the portrait.
They sat down on the Gryffindor table, Ron already grabbing around them for the thick, and heavy sausages, loading them on his plate. The heavy smell alone making them feel stuffed.
Hermione grabbed some toasts. "Listen, I helped you guys out last week with Transfiguration, but next time you'll start earlier okay?" she said, looking mostly at Ron.
"ure, tanks ermion!" Ron said with a fully loaded mouth, probably thanking her.
"Er, yes, thanks Hermione." Harry said, thanking her properly, grabbing some toast himself.
"Good, because we will likely get another essay after today's Transfiguration lesson, don't let it build up by procrastinating too long." She said, advising them.
Ron already looked reluctant at the thought of immediately starting on their given homework and distracted himself with more food.
"I guess your right Hermione, I also slacked with the Transfiguration there." He admitted, his practice and research haven gotten priority before the essay.
Now that he thought about it; he needed to find more spells soon, he could still spend a bit of time with honing the Bone-Breaking but other than that he had nothing to work on currently.
"Guys, Gryffindor lost fifty points since yesterday." Hermione sharply noted as she looked at the hourglass, which had lost points through Harry being discovered out late by Snape.
"Yeah that was me, I came across Snape in the hallways after curfew. Got detention and lost those points." He said omitting much of the night.
"Oh, so that's why you came back late yesterday. You normally return before curfew, thought that something along the same lines had happened to you." Ron said, thankfully already having finished breakfast and talking with an emptied mouth.
"How so, Harry? I assumed you were planning to practice longer and had taken the invisibility cloak with you." Hermione questioned him, frowning a bit at his answer.
"Simply lost track of time, it was past curfew before I knew it. Although I learned my lesson, I'll take my invisibility cloak with me from now on, in case something like this happens again." He explained, truthfully.
"You really managed to get off track then harry, it was well past curfew when you returned. Nothing else happened?" Ron asked, questioning the late time of his return to the dorms.
"Time flies by you know? That's what I learned yesterday." He said offhandedly, smiling a bit.
"You sure Harry?" Hermione asked him, not entirely convinced, frowning a bit in thought.
"Yeah, what else could have happened?" He questioned back at them rhetorically, feeling guilty for withholding it, but what was he to tell them? That he had heard the voice of Bellatrix taunting him? That he had been attacked by some sort of wraith?
He pushed his plate away and stood when they couldn't think of anything.
"Let's get to Transfiguration then?"
He didn't want his only friends to start believing him delusional. He was fine, he could handle this.
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Potions arrived again and Harry let out a big sigh, making Hermione look knowingly at him. Soon the enthusiastic Professor would make his presence known again by bursting into the scene.
Harry sometimes wondering if Slughorn was delusional himself, and was seeing a giant sack of Galleons instead of him. He didn't hate the man but simply found it…uncomfortable. He would jump him and Greengrass every lesson, nearly speaking in poetic versus as he expressed his delight at their success.
"Good afternoon, Treacle tarts! Let's get started shall we?" Slughorn cheerfully greeted them, some of the Slytherins looking quite incredulous when he called them a food article.
He swung his door open and let them inside, leaving them to join tables with their partners. Which went naturally for them now, having done this routine many times before.
He also moved towards the table they always had, already seeing her standing ready after moving past a few people.
"Hello Greengrass." He said, greeting her as usual, coming to stand next to her behind the table.
"Good afternoon, Potter" She greeted back, smiling slightly, her eyes looking energetic as they shifted up to him from her empty table.
Greengrass, had been a great partner, probably the best regarding both personality and knowledge. He didn't even want to think about being paired up with Malfoy..poor Neville. He had long since abandoned any prejudice against her for being in Slytherin. She was a playful but private person, privacy he paid respect to and playfulness he found enjoyable.
The past few weeks she seemed to have become quite content, happy even during their lessons. Sometimes casting curious and inquisitive looks at him whenever he told her something, as if he was a Rubik's Cube she had to solve using her eyes and mind only. He wasn't sure what to make of it.
It made him feel naked sometimes quite frankly…as if no lie; no matter how smoothly told and well thought out, could stop her from seeing through them.
"Now that you are all positioned and ready..The Love Potion Antidote will be brewed today! It is of course a potion that cures the symptoms of the Love Potion. However if you find yourself in a pinch then an alternative to use is The Hate Potion, which also serves to negate the effect of a Love Potion and vice versa. It's sometimes better to hate than to love I guess." Slughorn said, introdcucing the potion to them.
"Instructions are on the board, ingredients in the cabinets and wits inside your head, I wish you good luck!" Slughorn called out as he waved his wand to reveal the instructions.
Harry already knew his job and went to collect ingredients, hearing Greengrass set up their table and cauldron in the meantime.
Greengrass was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to potions, she always arranged ingredients and tools in order and size, he sometimes switched things up when she looked away for the fun of it, earning him looks that were amused and exasperated at the same time when she had picked up the wrong tool.
He returned to their table, putting down the ingredients at the predetermined spot.
"Your Ingredients, Miss Greengrass" He said, feeling like a waiter.
"Good, just as ordered. Now tell me Potter, what should we do first?" She asked him, hinting at nothing and looking expectantly at him.
She had done the same in their previous potion lessons, wanting to hear his thoughts and suggestions on what would be better to do. Guiding him to trust his gut instead of blindly following the instructions, making him look for the best course of action. Sometimes she herself had no major improvements to make, other times the recipe was completely rearranged from top to bottom.
He looked at the instructions again, thinking hard about how the instructions could do better.
"For the first step, we could crush the four Wiggentree twigs instead of snapping them. The juice would be stronger this way right?" Harry suggested.
"Yes, it would allow the juice of the roots to come out better, but the small amounts of bark itself are also needed in the potion, otherwise they would have instructed to simply extract the juice, like with the Gurdyroot later on. Besides the instructions tell us to add the four twigs or until it turns green, extracting the sap might cause an overdose at the beginning, acting detrimental for the potion." Greengrass explained to him, beginning on the first step of the potion.
"Gotcha." He said, indicating that he understood, Potions seemed to be a lot about using common sense and knowing the properties of ingredients.
"Start preparing the Castor oil will you?" She asked as she added twigs into the cauldron until it began turning green as per instructions.
"Next step Potter." Greengrass asked him again as she stirred the cauldron.
"Instructions say to stir until it turns orange, and add the Castor oil until the potion turns blue, followed by stirring to a purple colour." He paused for a moment, thinking quick as the potion was already becoming orange-ish.
"I guess we follow the instructions here?" He said unsure on what to do.
"Sorry, wrong again. We will stir until it becomes a more wine red colour, after which we add the Castor oil, we stir faster after doing so, allowing the potion to undergo a quicker transition from its red to purple colour. Watch the colours, they tell us about the reactions." Greengrass told him, her face telling him she was enjoying this.
"Now, add the Castor oil."
He looked back to see that the potion was a deep red colour, he quickly opened the cork of the oil bottle and slowly poured it in, seeing her ladle speed up and watched as their potion quickly turned purple.
"For now we will follow instructions again. There is however one improvement we can make here. Later on they ask us to add Gurdyroot extract, got an idea on what could help?" She asked in a suggestive voice, clearly referring to his earlier answer.
"Oh geez, I guess we could crush them for the juice, right?" Harry answered feigning surprise.
"Correct, Potter, I see that my brilliant teaching is paying off, only natural of course." She said, grinning at him as she complimented herself.
"Now quickly get to it then, we are already behind schedule, show me your manliness and demolish those roots." Greengrass continued.
He shook his head at her as he began to crush the Gurdyroot in a bowl. He soon had collected a hefty amount of juice, and poured it into the cauldron, being careful to stop the remains of the roots from falling into the potion.
They continued their lesson like this until their potion had become a Cotton candy pink. Marking another successful potion.
Greengrass looking up from her potion at him, her face one of patience.
"Well? What do you think?" She asked.
"It looks perfect again." Was all he said, hoping to reassure her if there had been any doubts.
"Really, Why do you think so?" She asked her intentions showing through.
He had to keep himself from grinning outrageously at her, why did he even think that she would doubt herself? these moments made her so easy to read.
"Because you knew exactly what to do, and how to do it. You're very good at this." He answered in a monotone voice, hoping to dim the blatant praise a bit.
It did little as her ego seemed to inflate considerably as she grinned, seemingly growing a few centimeters, still being shorter than him, but growing nonetheless.
Yes, he thought, laughing inwardly, Daphne Greengrass was a lot of things, however one thing stood above all: self-confidence and pride, which could sometimes be seen as borderline snobbish; like he had done when they first came into contact, literally.
She very much liked to be praised, which she sometimes tried to hide when it became embarrassing even for her, but only served to make it look worse as her attempts were as bad as Ron trying to pronounce Expelliarmus with a full mouth. Likewise she could quickly turn sour when things didn't go her way, blaming everyone and everything except herself. Herbology being a good example here, as the plant only seemed capable of being unhelpful and aggressive while they were trying to clean and feed it. How did those kind of plants manage to grow in the wild anyway? Gnomes?
"Very good indeed, ten points to Gryffindor and Slytherin!" Slughorn called out emotionally from behind them , appearing so suddenly that Harry seriously began to consider whether or not Slughorn had learned some kind of silent apparition.
"But don't forget yourself Harry, you are making real progress here under the guidance of Miss Greengrass!" Slughorn said, Greengrass inflated a bit more here, before he slapped Harry on the shoulder, catching him like a Bear Trap.
The others in the class had finished their potion by now and were beginning to watch the show.
"Harry, I know full well that you follow a very busy life but surely there will be a moment during supper somewhere next week where-"
"I'm sorry Professor, but I will likely serve detention on that date." Harry began, trying his best to sound apologetic and disappointed.
"How so Harry? You don't even know the date of the meal yet." Slughorn pressed distraught.
"I have a detention which I still need to serve with Snape—Professor Snape, he will likely place it upon the same date after hearing about my eagerness to come." He lied, surprising even himself at how easy it went, normally he was quite bad at it..
"I see, how horrible.." Slughorn muttered, trailing off, before he suddenly perked up and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.
"No worries m'boy! I will speak with good Professor Snape and ask him to let you serve your detention with me instead, this way you can finally come to the Slug Club, and surely serve a much more enjoyable detention!" Slughorn exclaimed, looking ready to run out of the classroom in anticipation.
Harry could only swallow his words as they rebounded back to him twice as hard. There was no way that Snape was going to keep his detention from Slughorn. The mustached man practically had a golden road laid in front of him with this opportunity.
Now he was going to come to the Club, serve detention, and likely go to the Christmas party.
Turning his head slightly he saw that Ron looked like he had just heard something tragic, sending him a sympathetic look, Hermione sported a look that said 'I told you so', and Greengrass quite pleased with it all.
"Okay class, quickly clean up your tables, I'll have a look later on at your cauldrons!" Slughorn said, eager to hasten their departure, plans on his mind.
"Finally coming to join the Club, Potter?" Greengrass asked as they started cleaning up their table.
"Guess so..Slughorn definitely isn't going to back down on this one." Harry said morosely.
"Why didn't you come in the first place?" She asked, almost accusingly.
"Oh, you know, have a lot of stuff to do." He said simply, hoping to leave it there.
"What kind of 'stuff' could you be so busy with? It's not like homework takes up all our free time." She asked, suddenly focused on his answer as she stopped putting away tools from the table to look at him.
"Some practice and the like, besides I feel no need to come to his parties, I will only be meeting people Slughorn wants to introduce me to. Not to mention that I'm simply there for being the 'Chosen One'." He said giving more reasons, quickly striking over her initial question.
"It's not so bad Potter, there will be others, mostly the same ones, and the food is good, lots of sweets too." She said counting off her good points, which weren't that impressive to him.
"Look, I'll also be there, that suddenly made it a lot better right?" she said nonchalantly, actually managing to make it sound like a legit reason.
He rolled his eyes at her words. This girl.
"Granger will also be there if it helps." The last part sounding a bit stiff as she put the last items away.
"Well I'll just have to wait and see how it ends. Thanks for the lesson, see you around Greengrass." He said, giving a wave, slinging his bag over his shoulder and moving away to join his friends. Noting that Ron's cauldron still had its contents despite being a brownish colour.
Ron and Davis had actually managed to produce something.
"Yeah, see you." Greengrass replied behind him, before joining her own friend.