A/n: Final chapter! Sorry about the major belatement. Still...there is a faint hope that the wait will have been worth it. ;)

This one is short, sweet, and to the point. Sort of. Despite that fact I think you'll enjoy it.

Gang Aft Agley
By dieselwriter

Chapter Four: The Backup Plans

"Are you sure about this?"

"Not at all."

"Brilliant."

"You could always try to wing it without the Prince's notes…"

"Ha, no, this plan has at least a marginal chance at working."

"Oh Harry, have I ever told you how much I appreciate your confidence in me? Because, really, it's palpable."

"Well if you had some confidence in your own plan, maybe I'd reconsider my lingering doubts."

"I had enough confidence in the last plan, and look how that turned out. My approach to this attempt is to continuously distrust it. That way if it doesn't pan out I'll be able to say I told you so."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Then my plan is working perfectly."

Both scheming boys frowned at the shadow that spilled over the desk top.

"If you are even thinking about purposefully sabotaging this class," the two Gryffindors shuddered at the chilly voice raining down on them like sleet, "I will make you pay for it."

"Hermione, I'm insulted," Harry said, turning in his chair to face her. "I can't believe you would think I would do anything to endanger your education."

"I mean it, I'll go straight to Slughorn and rat you out."

Ron smiled secretly, as if he had the perfect comeback to that threat but couldn't share his brilliance because Hermione would just ignore it. Harry thus had to settle for his own civil version.

"I promise that I will do nothing in this class to mess up yours or anyone else's potion."

"Can we hold you to that?" Malfoy drawled from his desk, earning him a few snickers from his fellow Slytherins. "Some of us will be trying to make above a Troll-worthy effort."

His tired grey eyes bore straight into Ron's, who instantly tensed.

"I guess there's a first time for everything," Hermione muttered under her breath as she took her seat, causing Harry's retort to freeze on his lips and Ron to stare at her in utterly pleased bewilderment.

"Class, please, pass up your essays," Slughorn bustled into his classroom in his usual manner, avoiding eye contact with Harry and showing up exactly on time so as to avoid any chance of non-school related conversation with him. "We have a lot to catch up on today, so I'm going to need everyone's full attention!"

The final mutterings of the class died down as Hermione, ever the over-achiever, collected the class' essays and placed them on Slughorn's desk. The professor beamed at her while Ron continued to watch her in befuddlement, even as she reclaimed her seat far away from him.

"As promised, I've brought along a fresh batch of the initial preparations for Potior Morbus," Slughorn waved rather unnecessarily at the enormous cauldron set-up on the front desk, "which we will be perfecting in class today. So don't be shy! Come up, grab a flask, and return a sample of the potion to your stations!"

Harry crossed his fingers before trudging along behind the rest of his class, lining up to receive a relatively normal-looking flask and sample of Slughorn's newly-concocted Potior Morbus.

"When's it supposed to work?" he hissed at Ron the second he appeared behind him in line.

"According to Fred and George it'll take a few minutes before going into effect. Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"I thought you weren't going to trust this plan?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders, although he looked a bit pale. "I trust the plan well enough. It's Fred and George I have my doubts about."

Harry only groaned his agreement, feeling a bit peaky himself.

Taking an ordinary-looking flask from the front desk, Harry ran his hands over the glassy surface quickly, not feeling much relieved at its relatively normal touch. He ladled a large glopful of the potion anyway, taking care not to spill any before returning to his desk to stare at the milky white concoction anxiously.

"It's not working," he hissed at Ron the second he returned to their shared desk.

"Professor?" Ernie Macmillan raised his hand, looking curiously into his flask.

"I told you so," Ron smiled broadly, pointing at Ernie's seemingly empty flask.

"Yes, Macintosh, what is it?" Slughorn bustled forward, having just finished with distributing the potion.

"Sir, is the potion meant to turn clear so soon?"

"What's this?" Slughorn asked, peering into Ernie's see-through flask. "Don't you need potion, son?"

"I was first in line," Ernie frowned, still mesmerized by his empty flask.

Slughorn's frown deepened as he took the flask and upended it over the desk. Unsatisfied with the lack of potion, he filled the flask once again before returning it to Ernie.

"Professor," Michael Corner raised his hand in the air as well, brow furrowed, "my potion's done the same thing!"

"Preposterous," Slughorn murmured, but more of the student's hands raised as their potions vanished on the spot.

Harry and Ron shared an appreciative grin as Slughorn sighed out a "It's going to be one of those classes again, is it?" while trudging back up to the front of the classroom.

"How about we try something a little different, then. A class project, if you will. Gather round, up at the front, and we'll make a group potion, where we all participate and receive the same grade, how's that?"

Curious murmurs broke out as chairs slid on the floor and the students rose to meet up in front of Slughorn's cauldron. Harry clapped a hand on Ron's shoulder gratefully, pleased that their plan had been successful (thanks to a lot of help from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes' patented Vanishing Flasks and the Marauder's Map), and steered him up to the front of the classroom.

"So steps one through four have been completed, as is evidenced by the white colour and silver vapour rising just above the surface. Who knows what step five—yes, Ms. Granger?"

"Mince two slugs, add the first while stirring clockwise five times and the other while stirring counterclockwise seven times."

"Fantastic," Slughorn smiled warmly at Hermione. "Who would like to prepare our slugs?"

"Here, sir, allow me," Harry spoke up, eager to perform an easy task quickly, so that if things went sour in future steps he would not have to be involved. A few students grumbled mutinously, clearly annoyed that their classmate best at potions was taking such a menial task, leaving them for the more complicated steps later on.

"Excellent, Harry," Slughorn waved him forward to the workstation, "come up and grab a knife and slug then."

Harry set to work, fluidly but carefully cutting up the slugs, so they came out in even, slimy parts.

"Ms. Granger, why don't you set to stirring while Mr. Potter here adds the slugs," Slughorn asked, not bothering to wait for confirmation as he ushered her forward.

Hermione set to her task and Harry followed her lead obediently, pleased to find the colour change to a subtle grey color as soon as he had finished adding the first slug. By the time the second was in the cauldron, their potion had turned a stormy grey.

"Excellent, class, as you can see our first colour change has occurred. After the next step our potion should pale once again before vanishing completely. Can anyone provide the next instruction?"

Harry didn't bother trying to come up with an answer. Having done his own work correctly, he brought the cutting knife to the stone basin and washed it slowly and methodically, all the while listening on the odd pairing of Ernie Macmillan and Draco Malfoy work to complete the next step of the Potior Morbus.

"That'll do boys, that'll certainly do," Slughorn was saying to the Hufflepuff and Slytherin when Harry returned to join his classmates round the group cauldron. "Next step, as Ernie here has already tried to start on, is to add a diced sopophorous bean. Any takers?"

Most of the class seemed to recall from their first class the difficult task Slughorn was asking as they resolutely kept their hands down. Hermione was the only one who seemed eager to take on the challenge, but when she raised her hand Slughorn waved her off dismissively.

"Now, now, this is meant to be a group effort. Let's have one of your classmates have a chance at it first."

But no one seemed willing to endure the potential embarrassment of having a shriveled-up bean best them. Harry had a sudden inspiration as he trod on Ron's large foot.

"What?" Ron grumbled, looking as if he wanted to stomp right back on Harry's foot.

"Don't cut it," Harry instructed, pressing the borrowed but clean knife into Ron's hand, "squeeze out the juice with the flat side."

"What?" Ron repeated in quite a different tone, looking quickly from his newly acquired knife to his best mate. "No, you do it, Slughorn'll be impressed—"

"Already went," Harry shrugged nonchalantly. "Your turn."

"Was there a volunteer over there?" Slughorn interrupted, rising on his tiptoes to locate the source of the whispering. He noted the knife in Ron's hand and his confident smile faltered for a second. "Would you, er, like to take a stab at it?"

"Huh?" Ron looked where Slughorn was and registered the dagger clenched tightly in his fist. "Oh. Ha, stab. I get it."

"Well all right then, step up," the professor motioned for him to come forward, not looking altogether sure of this decision.

"What? No, I didn't mean—"

"Don't be shy," Harry smiled, giving him a small push forward.

Ron glared at him, but there was nothing for it; he made his way up to Slughorn and, avoiding eye contact all the while, grabbed the sopophorous bean he supplied and placed it on the partially soiled cutting board. The knife hesitated over the bean as Ron shot one last desperate look Harry's way, but all he did was give him an encouraging thumbs up.

"Astonishing!" Slughorn marveled, his initial apprehension gone in the instant Ron squeezed the juice out rather than cut up the bean. "Class, do you see this? The way he is squeezing the sopophorous bean, rather than cutting it? Have you and Mr. Potter been holding some private lessons in your spare time, Floyd?"

Most of the class laughed out loud, the Slytherins positively howling, both at the extremely inaccurate retrieval of Ron's name from Slughorn's memory and the hidden insinuation of their professor's question.

"Something like that," was Ron's mumbled reply, his ears looking as though they would catch fire at any moment. Harry watched his friend's eyes dart from him to Slughorn's earnest face before Ron sighed in resignation. "He's probably the best potioneer in our year."

Draco Malfoy led the class' renewed hysterics at Ron's comment, and if Harry hadn't felt so mortified he might have enjoyed watching the slimy git struggle to breathe through his fit.

"So it would seem," Slughorn beamed as Ron added the sopophorous juice to the cauldron and the potion vanished completely. Slughorn clapped his hands in delight before exclaiming, "Perfect! Our potion's gone!"

Ron nodded his head modestly and, having completed his work, waded through his still-giggling classmates to return to his spot.

"Well, good teamwork, boys," Slughorn said to both Gryffindors. "An excellent improvement on last week's work."

It might as well have been Christmas morning for Malfoy, and Harry was starting to wonder if it wouldn't have been better to have Snape down here teaching again. Ron, however, seemed surprisingly immune to the humiliation as he returned to Harry's side and kept his head held high (a feat Harry was currently having difficulties with, given how intriguing the dungeon floor had suddenly become).

"Don't be embarrassed," Ron muttered to him as a new student was selected to proceed on to the next set of instruction, "you really are the best in Potions in our year, you know?"

"Oh shut up," Harry mumbled, able to detect Ron's heavily sarcastic tone and see his matching cheeky grin from the corner of his eyes. "You didn't have to say that."

"Oh yes I did," Ron whispered out of the corner of his mouth, nodding forward.

Harry glanced where Ron was looking and noticed that, while Michael Corner was (rather unsuccessfully) trying to make the Potior Morbus reappear, Slughorn kept stealing covert glances at him.

"You're back in the game," Ron continued with a grin. "I told you this plan would work."

Harry couldn't find a reasonable response to that obvious falsehood, so he instead elbowed his best mate in the ribs in thanks.

A/n: Well, it was a bit short, but I did warn that this was more epiloguey than anything else.

Massive thanks as always to all of my reviewers! Thanks for hanging in there with me, and I hope it was worth it in the end for you! I really did enjoy writing this story, and I'm glad you enjoyed reading it!

So with this plot bunny out of the way, I'll be returning to The Tales of Weasley the Father, and I hope for those of you who haven't checked it out yet that you do, because in some ways it is quite similar to this story, and I really think you would enjoy it! But enough shameless self-advertising and run-on sentences; I hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to hearing from all my lovely readers!

~dieselwriter