Authors Note: This fic takes place in 5th year. During summer, Dumbledore sent Harry to an Auror camp so he could train a bit, and so he could get his mind off of the events that took place in 4th year. Hermione accompanied him to camp, but Ron could not as he went with his family to visit Charlie in Romania. I might one day write a prequel to this….
v The Longest Day
Chapter 1: Honest Mistakes"What are you doing?" Moaning Myrtle inquired of the three hunched figures, sitting quietly in the floor of her bathroom, meticulously brewing some sort of potion.
"We are brewing potions." Harry said mater of factly.
"Obviously. What I meant was, what kind of a potion?" the ghost asked in an exasperated tone. "You are intruding my haunting grounds, I should be entitled to know what you three are up too!"
"Myrtle, this is the school's bathroom, you are here because there is no way to make you leave, so sod off won't you!!!" Ron yelled at her, annoyed.
Myrtle began sobbing again, dove into her toilet, and closed the lid. You could faintly hear the echo of her sobs from beneath the lid.
"Jeez Ron, you didn't have to be so hard on her!" Harry told him. Ron just rolled his eyes.
"Listen, we'll worry about Myrtle later, we have to finish this!" Hermione yelled at them.
The Trio was working on two separate potions. Ron was practice making Polyjuice Potion, preparing himself for his next Potions exam (he didn't want to get another howler from his mother!) Harry and Hermione were working on a new potion. The Concientus Cogito Potion allows you to share your thoughts with others, depending on the number of people you share the potion with. Ron didn't want to participate in this particular experiment, for fear Hermione would find out about his more than friendly feelings for her. Besides, the point of this potion was for Harry's protection, although they refused to acknowledge this. The Dark Times were coming, they felt it, Voldemort was just buying time until he re-emerged, and they needed a way to keep in contact with Harry in case…well…in case something happened.
"All right, I think that about does it!" Hermione exclaimed proudly as she presented the finished product to her friends.
"Eww gross!" Ron yelled. "It looks all muddy and yucky. Smells funny too." As he said this, he glanced at his own concoction. "Doesn't look any different than mine does."
"Wait a sec. Is it supposed to look like that?" Harry asked, perplexed.
Hermione looked grave. "No, actually its not. The book says It's supposed to have a redish glow. Great Wizards! I forgot the..."
"Dragonwheat." Harry echoed. "We have to go back to Snape's secret stash."
Earlier that week Harry and Hermione had gone to "borrow" the ingredients needed to perform the potion from Snape's secret stash, located in his office. Ron created a diversion while Harry and Hermione, under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, had located the necessary ingredients, and had gotten out unscathed. They were, however, almost caught when Snape felt he bumped into something, that wasn't actually there. Snape dismissed it however, because he was busy with grading midterm papers.
"We almost got caught the last time!" Harry yelled at her. "Let's just forget this stupid project. I don't want you guys getting in trouble just to protect me!" The three of them stood silent. This was the first time anyone of them had voiced the real reason for this "experiment."
"Harry…please." Hermione begged, tears starting to form in her eyes, her lower lip trembling.
Harry's eyes softened a bit. He couldn't resist her. He never could. "Alright," he conceded, "but don't say I didn't warn you."
Harry and Hermione began to get up and they saw that Ron was staying seated, intent on getting the Polyjuice Potion correct without the help of Harry and Hermione, who mastered this potion already.
"Ron are you coming?" asked Harry.
Ron looked at them with a remorseful look. "Sorry guys, I have to get good marks in Potions this semester! Remember the Howler?" he asked Harry with a meaningful look.
Of course Harry remembered the Howler. It was probably the most humiliating thing to receive, especially since you received it in front of everyone. Harry understood his friend's plight.
"Don't worry about it Ron. I'm sure the two of us will manage."
With this, Harry and Hermione left.
Ron looked around the room, loneliness creeping in. Then he heard Myrtle's quiet sob. "Well Myrtle," he spoke with a sigh, "I guess I just you, me, and the Potions text."
Ron turned back to his potion. He worked fixedly on his potion for what seemed like an eternity. Then Ron did something he wasn't supposed to do. He made a mistake. A very big mistake!
"Yes! Now all I have to do is add…oh bloody hell! What am I gonna tell Harry and Hermione?"
Ron accidentally poured his unfinished Polyjuice Potion into the wrong cauldron. He accidentally poured it into Harry's and Hermione's Concientus Cogito Potion.
"I messed up their potion!" he thought. "After all the trouble they went through, they're really gonna be angry!"
At that moment, Harry and Hermione stumbled into the room, both with a pink flush to their cheeks and breathing heavily.
"We got it!" Hermione yelled triumphantly.
"How…how…did…you…umm…" Ron stammered, with a guilty glint in his eye.
"You mean how did we get it?" Harry asked, on the verge of laughter. He finally caved.
Hermione continued, on the verge of giggling herself. "Let's just say we got a lot of help from a boggart!"
At this she couldn't control it any longer, and she and Harry rolled on the floor in fits of laughter.
Thank Merlin we put Soundproofing Charms around the bathroom, Ron though. The whole school would hear them if we didn't! They won't be laughing much longer, he thought grimly, even though he couldn't help smile at them.
"What happened?" Ron finally asked.
"Well," Harry said, calming his laughter a bit. "We didn't know what to do because we didn't have anyone to divert Snape," said Harry.
Ron flushed scarlet.
Hermione continued, "So we figured we might just go for it without any diversion! Stupid plan really, but it worked!" At this they both erupted into another fit of giggles. When they finally calmed themselves, they continued the story.
"The plan was to go into Snape's office while he was out or something. We took so long because we had to hold a stakeout. Harry got restless when nothing happened and in a shocking display of chivalry (stupidity actually), he pulled the Invisibility Cloak off me (which we used in the stakeout), kept it on himself, and ran into Snape's office determined to get the Dragonwheat. When he didn't come out quickly, I got worried, so I crept close to the door, luckily it was ajar, and peaked inside. All I saw was Snape busily grading papers with a scowl on his face, (he was probably grading Gryffindor). Anyway, I assumed Harry was in a deep spot since nothing was happening and he wasn't out yet."
"Turns out her instinct was right!" Harry continued "He keeps his secret stash in the drawer of his desk, where he was grading papers. I crept close to the drawer and opened it, but it made a noise when I opened it. He heard it and got alarmed, and made a motion to stand up on the side I was on so I quickly dove under his desk to avoid him colliding with me. He found nothing strange and mumbled something about Fire Whiskey (Hermione gave a little giggle at this) and I found myself stuck under his desk."
"Knowing something was wrong I looked around the room to see if I could cause some sort of distraction when I saw something peeking out of Snape's closet, that was also ajar."
"It was a boggart!" They both cried at once!
"I opened the door with my wand and…" At this Hermione erupted into another fit of laughter.
"Snape was caught by surprise when it jumped out," Harry said, feeling the fits of laughter bounding on him.
"You want to know what Snape's biggest fear is?" Hermione asked between giggles.
"The boggart turned into Dumbledor, telling Snape his application for Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had been declined again and…"
Harry couldn't continue, the shocked look on Snape's face still in his mind.
"and he was condemned to teaching the Gryffindors Potions for an eternity! At this the Trio collapsed into fits of laughter."
"He…he…was so surprised he couldn't get any of his spells correct!" Harry stumbled between giggles.
"It was so funny seeing him incapacitated!" Hermione giggled.
After another few moments of childish laughter, Hermione got that "Determined Hermione" look on her face.
"Alright!" She said, "We've got to finish the potion!"
She added the Dragonwheat and voila! The potion turned its correct shade of glowing red.
"Now all we have to do is drop one tiny sprinkle of each others blood and drink!" She said with a smile on her face as she poured some of the potion into a chalice.
She took out the needle and pricked her finger. She let a little bit of her blood drip into the chalice, then she handed the needle and the chalice to Harry as he did the same thing.
"You guys…umm…" Ron stammered, but he was too late. Hermione had taken the first drink.
"Yuck!" She exclaimed, "You take it now." She handed the chalice to Harry.
"Harry…I don't think…" Ron said quietly, as Harry raised the chalice to his lips and completed the ritual.
Harry and Hermione stared at each other.
"I don't feel any different," Harry said, "maybe you have to wait a while."
Hermione was skimming through the text. "It didn't work," she said. "The book said the results would be instantaneous." She had a dismayed look on her face. Hermione never failed at anything.
Ron felt so guilty, especially as he saw the look on Hermione's face. Finally, he caved. "Its my fault!" He said. "I accidentally mixed my unfinished potion with yours. I'm sorry." He said.
Contrary to what Ron thought Hermione would do to him, (which involved being turned into some sort of rodent,) Hermione smiled. "Its ok Ron, at least I know it didn't fail because of me!" She said, beaming.
Ron looked at Harry. Harry smiled as he looked at the remorseful look on his best friend's face. "Its all right you klutzy git! But next time Hermione gets an idea, you're gonna be the one to get the ingredients!"
At this, The Trio laughed, and packed up to go back to Gryffindor Tower.