The Transfer

Disclaimer: as usual, no ownership and no money. Not even a little.

Here is the shortest chapter of the story. I'm going to post chapter 7 too, so no worries.

Ch6 Potions

Arithmacy was a blur not unlike Ancient Runes. I kept up, but only by tuning everything out except for Professor Vector's rapid lecture and writing as fast as I could. To both Hermione's and my great surprise, she ended the lesson by asking us to come prepared for even more work next time, but did not give us homework.

“Thank God!” I said as we left for lunch, “I might get some sleep tonight after all!”

“Hmmm. I expected more from Professor Vector, even on our first day. I'm almost, “ she looked up at me with a smirk, “disappointed.”

“Disappointed? Are you nuts? We'll be able to get our Runes work done tonight and get started on Snape's essay while still having enough time to do something else besides schoolwork.”

She shrugged as if anything else besides schoolwork wasn't that important.

“Come on Hermione, you don't want to do anything else tonight besides homework?”

“Sure I do, but I don't want to do a poor job on homework so that I can have a little free time. If it's worth do it's -“

“Worth doing well.“ I finished, “Jeez, you sound like my Dad.”

“And you sound like Harry and Ron,” she retorted. She obviously didn't know my Dad. My remark was much more insulting. “I'm going to the loo. Can you find your way back to the Great Hall?”

“Yeah I think so. Save you a seat?”

“OK.”

Harry and Ron were already halfway through their meal when I sat down across from them. I had forgotten they had a free period before lunch. Lucky Bastards.

“Looking well worn,” said Ron between bites. “Bit off more than you can chew?”

“Maybe,” I replied, loading a plate full and adding, “Hermione might be insane. She was disappointed that we didn't get any Arithmacy homework. Can you believe that?”

“Yes,” they both replied.

“She's always been a bit off when it comes to schoolwork. Remember when she said `we could get killed or worse expelled' Harry?” asked Ron with a grin.

“Oh yeah, first year,” said Harry looking up at the ceiling reminiscing. “She's better now, actually. We've softened her up a little over the years.”

“Yeah she - oh…” began Ron as Hermione took her seat next to him.

“Gee, I wonder what you three where talking about,” she said sarcastically, looking from Ron to Harry and then to me.

“We were just admiring your study habits and dedication to your education,” I said brightly.

“Uh-huh, sure,” she smirked.

During the break after lunch we all attacked our homework with whatever enthusiasm we could muster. I helped Ron with his essay for Snape while Hermione helped Harry and we had that finished in no time, but the Runes homework was befuddling.

Hermione sat across from me in front of the common room fire and reviewed my notes while I watched her eyes run along the rows of words at a pace I couldn't imagine myself reading at. She was like a machine. She read the entire sheet of notes in about fifteen seconds and said, “You seem to have all the facts here, but you didn't add any thoughts or questions as you wrote. Did you not have any?”

“Uh, actually I was trying to keep up. I didn't have time to think about what I was writing, I was afraid of missing something!”

She sighed heavily and said, “Well, looks like you have some reading to do then.”

She hadn't said anything derogatory to me, not really, but I still felt small, like I had disappointed her somehow. It was a horrible feeling and I resolved to study hard to avoid it in the future.

The break went by way too fast and after only finishing one translation for Runes, I was packing up and getting ready for Potions. At least Hermione looked over the translation and said it looked good.

My confidence was boosted as we entered the potions classroom to find this class much smaller than the others we had been in so far. Only twelve people had enrolled and there were only three tables in the center of the classroom. I sat quickly with Hermione, Ron and Harry, remembering what happened in Dark Arts when I was separated from them, and watched the other students coming in as we talked.

A group of Ravenclaws sat at one table, we had ours, and then nearly late, came the Slytherins led by Malfoy. I groaned as he entered and his face contorted with disgust as he opened his mouth to say something undoubtedly rude and off-color. Before he could speak, I pulled my wand and pointed it at him.

“You want a fresh one, Pal?” I said in my best Goodfellas voice.

He turned away, face reddening and quickly found his seat.

Ron slapped me hard on the back and said, “I wasn't so sure at first Harry, but this lads growing on me. Eh?”

Harry laughed and nodded while Hermione looked like she wanted to lecture me on how violence never solved anything. She kept her mouth shut though. Maybe she was afraid I would bring up her hitting Malfoy herself a few years ago.

Slughorn was his usual walrus self; he had a collection of potions already brewing in the classroom and made a big, self important presentation of them. To no ones surprise except Slughorn's, Hermione answered all his questions about them and earned Gryffindor twenty points doing it.

He eyed her for a moment and asked if he might have known her relatives but she replied she was `Muggle-born', a term I still wasn't used too, and Slughorn brightened at once.

“Oho! So this is the best in class you were referring too, eh Harry?”

“Yes sir!” said Harry proudly.

She turned to Harry, beaming and whispered, “Did you really tell him I was the best in our class? Oh, Harry!”

Harry smiled an Aw Shucks at her while Ron protested jealously, saying Harry was only stating the obvious and he would have said the same thing if given the chance.

I was left wondering, Do they both want her? Is she dating both of them?

I resolved to talk to Seamus and Neville or even Ginny, about it later.

The class went down hill from there. The last cauldron of potion that he had pre-made was some kind of liquid luck (Hermione of course knew this one also) and he offered one days worth of the potion to the student who made the best Draught of Living Death.

I just rolled my eyes, I couldn't even make spaghetti, forget Draught of Living whatever it was…

Ron and Harry needed books and equipment so Slughorn sent them to the supply cabinet and when everyone was equipped and ready, we all started on the potion.

It was a disaster from the start. The fire I made under my kettle was too hot, then it went out and as I restarted it I saw Harry and Hermione were already adding the last of their ingredients. I hurriedly chopped and measured and ground and stirred, but it just wouldn't cooperate.

Harry's was the palest pink, just as the book said it should be. Hermione's was pretty close, though she seemed to be working much harder than he was; her hair was getting frizzy from stress and the steam rising from her potion.

Ron's didn't look pink at all. Tar was what it looked like, and it smelled like feet, but that still wasn't as bad as mine.

It was bubbling violently and changing colors every few stirs, but I was in too far to start over now. Suddenly it caught fire, the steam and bubbles replaced by a blue-green flame that hissed menacingly.

“That's odd,” said Slughorn from over my shoulder, “There aren't any flammable ingredients in this potion.”

“Sorry Professor,” I said weakly.

“Well, lucky for you grades aren't being recorded on this assignment,” he said merrily, “I'll be keeping my eye on you though, Mr. DiFranco, too make sure you don't do any collateral damage.” He tapped my cauldron with his wand and the flaming potion vanished leaving me with nothing but a helping of wounded pride. I had always been crap at Potions. I was going to have to work hard to pass this class.

He called time and walked around the classroom assessing everyone else's efforts. Ron got a smile that said, `As I expected'. Hermione an approving nod, but when he got to Harry's potion he was overjoyed.

“The clear winner!”

Harry pocketed the vial of golden potion and we made our way out of the classroom, mercifully, without additional homework.

In the hall Hermione and Harry began to argue about how he had managed to make such a good potion when, up until this point, he had shown no special skill in the subject. Ron and I stayed in the background, listening but choosing not to get involved. Harry had been following some notes entered into his textbook by its last owner that amended the published recipe with hints and suggestions. Hermione, not surprisingly, considered it cheating.

“Well it's not exactly your work is it?”

They continued at it as we sat down for dinner, Ron and I still non-combatants, when Ginny came from out of no where and said, “Hold on, did I just hear that you were taking orders from a book, Harry?”

“It's nothing! It's not like, well you know what!” he said to her, “It's just some notes in a text book.”

Ginny eyed him warily and I looked at Ron and asked, “What's that all about?”

Ron sighed and said, “It's a long story.”

“Well, until dinner is over and we hit the books again, we've got time.”

He shrugged and over the next thirty minutes told me all about their second year and the Chamber of Secrets while Hermione, so concerned about the potions book, went so far as to cast a reveling spell on it to make sure it wasn't cursed.

AN- See, short. CH 7 is a little more involving… hopefully.