Chapter 1

"Fiduciaserum"

Harry leaned his head in his hand, and watched as the words lazily wrote themselves on the air.

"... form of truth serum. Not to be confused with Veriteserum..."

A quick snort came from Harry's left side after that last word was formed. Ron hated that stuff.

Veriteserum. That's what made him announce to the whole school his love for Hermoine. Or, maybe "his love" wasn't the right phrase.

It was a few weeks before the end of last year, Harry, 'Moine, and Ron had all taken their normal seats at the Gryffindor table at dinner. Harry was listening to Hermoine and Ron arguing about going to the library when he saw a mass of green quickly moving toward them.

"Ron," Hermoine said, taking her well known authoritative tone. "We have to start studying for N.E.W.T.S now. How do you expect to pass next year if...."

She stopped abruptly when a large shadow cast itself over the table. Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy all stood side by side in front of them- they were wearing identical sneers.

"Oiy Malfoy, what are you and your lot doing over 'ere? Don't you have some Dark Lord's feet to kiss?" Seamus Finnigan asked with a smirk.

Malfoy turned slowly to face him, "shut up, half-breed" he hissed, and turned to look at Ron without even noticing the shade of red that seemed to engulf Seamus' face. Harry's heart sank. Not Ron, not Ron, not Ron. He hated to see Ron get angry whenever Malfoy and his cronies started with him. It seemed that they, however, loved it.

"Speaking of newts," Malfoy started "I hear that those are a Weasel's favourite dish. What do you say... Weasel."

By now the whole Gryffindor table's eyes were on the two boys. Ron was turning a bright shade of red, and his fists were already clenched. Harry stood up. "Malfoy, why don't you just bloody..."

"I wasn't talking to you Potty" Malfoy quickly interrupted. "I was talking to our good ole' friend here, the Weeeeeeasel" he said as he placed a hand down hard on Ron's shoulder. At that, Ron jumped up and leapt at Malfoy, but Crabbe and Goyle were already in his way, threatening him with their glares to take 'just one more step'. Now the whole school was quietly watching the scene. But in all the commotion, no one noticed Draco pull out a small vial, and no one noticed as he poured it into Ron's drink.

Then, just as suddenly as they came, the three Slytherins were quickly striding away from the table. Ron, exasperated, picked up his drink and took a sip just as Malfoy yelled over his shoulder, "So Weasel, if it's not newts, what would you rather eat?!"

That's when it happened, he meant to yell "bugger off you bloody git!" but what came out was "HERMOINE!"

There was deathly silence as his answer echoed off the walls of the dinning room. But as the last waves subsided, the room erupted in laughter. Some students were already on the floor, rolling around and roaring uncontrollably. Hermoine and Harry stared at Ron with wide eyes, and Hermoine seemed to be blushing as he clamped his hands over his mouth and ran out of the hall.

It wasn't that bad though. Thought Harry, and he was right in a way. They finally discovered Ron in the owlery and gave him the antidote... it took them four hours to find him. He had put almost a whole roll of magic tape over his mouth, and was sending a copy of his last will and testament to his mother. A few days later Ron and Hermoine were a couple, much to the... well, expectations of most of the students.

A sudden jab to the ribs snapped Harry out of his daydream. He was just about to say something biting to Ron when he realized that the invisible writing utensil had stopped writing. That meant...

"Potter!" Snape's eyes bored into his own. "Are we too good to pay attention in class now Mr. Potter?"

Harry shook his head.

"Perhaps you would like to come up here and teach in my place? Hmmm? I'm sure your seventh year knowledge would be sufficient." The words came out as a dangerous hiss. "Ten points from Gryffindor for Potter's daydreaming! And an extra five for Mr. Weasley's noble, yet futile attempt at saving his friend." Snape's words were like ice, and it seemed like the dungeon had just gotten a little colder.

"Now," He barked, "can anyone tell me what fiduciaserum does?" Hermoine's hand shot up in the air, Snape pretended not to see and scanned the room. "Draco?"

The Gryffindors rolled their eyes. Of course. The Dark Child- the teacher's pet. Malfoy sat up in his seat and turned to sneer at Hermoine.

"Yes Professor Snape." He said when he was again facing the front of the class. "Fiduciaserum, is a type of truth serum that allows the drinker to see his or her true self. This may come as a serious shock to some people, and can sometimes be used as a torture device due to its ability to drive the subject insane. One should be careful not to drink, or touch the potion with bare skin."

"Unless you're a Gryffindor." he added under his breath. The Slytherins within earshot snickered.

The left side of Snape's mouth twitched slightly. "Very good Draco, ten points to Slytherin."

Thirty minutes later, the students were well into preparing their potions. Harry turned to look over at his assigned partner, who was trying to scratch his arm through his dragon skin gloves (considering they reached up to his shoulders, his efforts weren't proving to be very successful). "Neville, could you go get a flask? I think our potion is just about done." Neville frowned for a second, obviously giving up on trying to relieve his itch, and got up from his seat.

It was a wonder that their cauldron hadn't melted yet. But it seemed that Harry, (much to Snape's dismay) had managed to keep Neville busy without him actually having to touch any important ingredients. Because of this- and the occasional whispered advice of Hermoine, Neville and Harry's potion actually looked, well... right.

As Neville returned with a small flask, Harry decided that the gloves were too heavy and bulky to hold the vial. He took off one glove and looked around the room; it appeared as if he wasn't the only one to think the same. Half of the class had already removed their gloves in order to finish their assignments.

Snape suddenly looked up from the papers he was correcting and went wide-eyed. "Gloves back on!!!" he bellowed. "As much as it would amuse me to see some of you in the hospital wing, I don't think the Headmaster would approve!"

Harry felt Neville shift in his seat, so he turned his head quickly to look at him, "Neville, stay...I can get..." But it was too late. Always the helpful Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom had already jumped up to get Harry's glove from across the table. He grabbed the glove and whipped it a little too enthusiastically toward Harry, and in the process managed to tip over the cauldron. The smoking green liquid poured out onto the table and was rapidly making its way toward the edge. Harry moved back in his seat but couldn't get out of the way in time. He watched with wide eyes as some of the potion splashed onto his exposed arm.

Neville's terrified squeak was the last thing he heard before darkness enveloped him.