Heaven and Hell

5. Chapter - Potions and other Inconveniences

(September 1995)

The lesson with Serena Potter was the number one topic of conversation at lunchtime. All of the Gryffindors agreed - it was wonderful to finally have a normal Defence professor. She seemed to know her stuff, was apparently fair and good-tempered, and Jon assured them that she certainly was neither a werewolf nor impersonated or possessed by somebody else.

After the lunch-break was over, the students descended the stairs to the dungeons. Potions was the next item on their schedule. The fifth year Slytherins had had Defence directly after the Gryffindors and had also been impressed. The usual feud between their Houses temporarily forgotten, they eagerly exchanged information between each other.

"I tried the Jelly-Legs Jinx, but to no avail."

"My 'Furnunculus' didn't break through either."

"I did 'Relashio', but the sparks didn't even scratch the shield."

They were so busy that they didn't hear the bell and they jumped, frightened, when an icy voice scolded, "The lesson has already started. Have your holidays been so long that you have forgotten the meaning of a ringing bell?" Professor Snape stood in the doorway and scowled at the class.

Quickly, they ran to their seats and sat down. Poor Neville, who stumbled over someone's bag, was the last one to sit, earning him a deduction of five points.

"While you are in my class room, I expect you to concentrate completely and exclusively on Potions. You may discuss other professors putting on a show in their lessons somewhere else. Have I expressed myself clearly?" He went over and sat down at his desk.

As usual, Snape started out the lesson with the taking of the register. He read the names out loud and ticked them off when he heard a "Yes". After a while he came to "Potter, Harry." It sounded as if he had to actually force himself to even speak the name. But that didn't prevent him from putting as much venom into his voice as he could muster.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"Kindly speak up, you are hardly to be heard. Five points off Gryffindor."

Jon looked disbelievingly at Harry. That had been unfair and unfounded! Harry only shrugged and cast Jon a glance that said, 'You'll get used to that.'

Snape continued, "Potter, Jonathan." He spit the name out and looked Jon slowly up and down. "So you are our new arrival then. Don't you think you'll get special treatment just because your mother's a staff member."

"I'd never have expected something like that," Jon answered calmly.

Snape scrutinized Jon for a few seconds. Rising from his seat and taking some steps towards Jon's desk, he suddenly said, "Let's see how acquainted with the subject you are. I really don't appreciate it if someone spoils my lessons because of gaps in his knowledge."

When he caustically spoke the last words, he cast a short glance at Neville. The boy jumped under Snape's gaze, but for once the Potions Master didn't comment on his reaction.

"What ingredients do you need for Polyjuice?"

Hermione looked worriedly at Harry and whispered, "But we haven't covered that so far! If Jon doesn't know this, Snape can't possibly hold it against him."

"But he certainly will," Harry whispered back.

To everyone's surprise, Jon began to list all the ingredients, in the order they had to be added to the potion. Hermione gazed at him, wide-eyed with amazement.

"That's correct," Snape growled, obviously disappointed. "And what do you have to heed especially, if you brew Veritaserum?"

"I must take it off the fire as soon as it is finished," Jon answered without hesitation.

"Why?"

"One ingredient is fluid from Erumpent horn, which is highly explosive. After finishing the serum it becomes harmless, but if you let it boil too long, it will gain back it's explosiveness and the whole potion will become very dangerous."

"If you want to use an Abyssinian shrivelfig, how would you prepare it?"

"I'd need to peel it."

This question and answer game went on for a while. Snape's questions became increasingly more difficult and even covered topics that belonged to the seventh year syllabus. But it seemed that Jon knew the answer for everything. The Potions Master's face darkened more and more.

Finally Snape gave up and sneered, "Apparently, we have a student here who meets at least the minimal prerequisites for a delicate subject like Potions. I expect you to share your knowledge with your classmates, Mister Potter. Most of them could really do with it."

After having said this, he returned to his desk and finished the roll call.

"Hey, that could've been worse, couldn't it?" Jon whispered to the others.

"I don't think Snape gives up that easily. I bet that now he'll always take points off you if someone else doesn't know something. Because you didn't teach them," Harry foretold gloomily.

As the lesson progressed, Jon showed that it wasn't merely the compiling of the ingredients of potions that he knew about. He was also very skilled at brewing them. Snape was prowling about the rows, always keeping a look-out for mistakes that he could deduct points for. He passed Jon's cauldron particularly often, but didn't find anything to criticize. The result couldn't have been better if Snape had done it himself. Slowly, his spirits became very low.

What Snape didn't know was that Potions was Jon's favourite subject. He was not only excellent at it, he had also been member of a Potions club at Warwick's. Jon had learned a lot there that was far more advanced than the potions that were on the syllabus. But even if Snape had known that, it probably wouldn't have improved his mood.

Some minutes before the end of the lesson, while the students were cleaning up their desks, Snape approached Jon another time.

"Doubtless your mother will be pleased to hear that you didn't blow up anything, Mister Potter."

Jon looked baffled at the professor. "Excuse me, Sir?"

"She did so much damage in her school days, it would have been enough for a whole class. It is a piece of good news that you didn't inherit her ineptitude."

Jon felt blood rushing to his head, bringing fury with it. He may not have inherited his mum's disastrous Potions talent, but her quick temper had not passed him by. The professor didn't have the right to judge her skills!

'Calm down!' he thought grimly, 'He only wants to provoke.'

With a voice as calm as he could manage Jon answered, "My mother isn't inept. Her strengths just lie in other fields."

The whole class held their breath. This new student dared to contradict the Potions Master! Draco followed the argument with amusement. This would certainly end up pretty embarrassing for Potter. No student had ever quarreled with Snape and won.

"Indeed? And this would be where?" the Potions Master asked with his trademark sneer hovering about his lips.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, for instance. That's why she's teaching the subject and not you."

That hit home. Snape almost involuntarily took a step back. His pallid face became even paler as his rage rose up.

"Do you really think she's got that job because of her competency? I'll tell you what, she is only here because of one reason: The headmaster thought it would be a good idea to have her here. And this position just happened to be vacant. When you see her the next time, ask her why she left England! Ask her why she crawled away and hid abroad! If you really get an answer, you'll be surprised!"

"She didn't hide! She certainly has more guts than you. And if you have a problem with her, then I'd suggest you discuss the matter with her, instead of me!"

So much for self-control. With the last words Jon's voice had noticeably risen. Already, when the words had left his mouth, he had known that he shouldn't have spoken to a professor like that. Especially not to Snape, who was infamous for his short temper and foul mood. An unbearable tension built up between them. Snape looked for a moment as if he wanted to jump at Jon's throat. His hand twitched but he regained his control almost immediately. When he opened his mouth for a retort, the bell rang. All students made a rush for the exit so that they were as far away as possible when Snape exploded.

Hermione and Ron grabbed Jon's arms and pulled him out of the room. They could hear Snape shouting, "Twenty points off Gryffindor for disrespectfulness, impertinence, and impudence!" while passing the door. Then he was out of earshot.

* * *

"Uh oh, now he has it in for you," Hermione said worriedly on the way to the Transfigurations classroom.

"He had no right to talk about Mum that way," Jon defended himself. He could still feel his blood rushing through his veins, abounded with rage about Snape's attempt to denigrate his mother.

Harry and Ron nodded in agreement. But Hermione wasn't mollified yet.

"He only wanted to provoke you. You shouldn't have risen to the bait. You could've demonstrated that you are above such displays of behaviour."

"Hermione, whose side are you actually on?" Ron asked, annoyed.

"On Gryffindor's side, of course. It's bad enough that Professor Snape deducts so many points from Harry constantly. If he has Jon in his sights now too, we can forget the House Cup."

Before Ron could give a sharp retort, Jon, who had meanwhile calmed down a bit, tried to pacify them and insisted, "C'mon, folks! Don't let's squabble about that. Snape didn't like me already before this lesson. And I'll make it as hard as possible for him to deduct points from me in future Potions lessons. I'm seriously determined not to let my temper get the better of me again, ok? Now let's go to Transfigurations, it'll start in a minute."

They all nodded in agreement and they hurried to the Transfigurations classroom. Professor McGonagall handed out earthworms today. Parvati eyed up her specimen suspiciously and tried to shove it with the tip of her wand back to the middle of her desk. The worm tried to abscond and Parvati couldn't bring herself to touch it. When Ron noticed, he nudged Harry and Jon and they watched her, grinning in amusement.

"I said you could start. So what are you waiting for?" suddenly McGonagall's stern voice sounded right next to their desks. Startled, they looked up at her.

"Erm, nothing, Professor," Harry answered meekly, and all three applied their attention to their respective earthworms.

McGonagall moved along, after she had given them another stern glance. Jon racked his brains as to what he was supposed to do with his worm. He cast a clueless glance at Hermione, just like Harry and Ron did.

"We are to transfigure our earthworm into a blindworm," she whispered in indignation.

Oh, that was easy. At Warwick's, they had transfigured animals already at the end of last year. Jon remembered the blindworm he had seen last summer behind their house. It had lain in a spot of warm sunlight and scuttled off under a nearby stone when Jon had approached it. He recalled every detail of its appearance and touched the earthworm with his wand. It turned promptly into a blindworm.

Transfigurations had always been his mum's favourite subject and she had been especially proud of Jon when he had got good marks there. She had a tendency to condone bad marks for other subjects if he presented them together with an A for Transfigurations. So he had always put a lot of effort into achieving them, which was still easier than working hard for other subjects that didn't come naturally to him to avoid getting bad marks in the first place. Probably he had inherited some of her talent too, which was really helpful. He liked Transfigurations, but not as much as he did Potions. However, with this particular Potions Master, it was likely to change soon.

Jon played with the blindworm for a while, but the creature wasn't very entertaining. Bored, he petrified it to prevent it from slipping off the desk. Then he looked around and watched some of the less lucky attempts of other students. After a while most of them managed to transfigure their earthworms into halfway acceptable blindworms too.

His wandering gaze stopped at Hermione, who sat at the desk in front of his. Her blindworm looked perfect. Just now she was transfiguring it back into an earthworm and repeating the exercise. Not that she would have been in need of it, Jon mused. But she would most likely never waste valuable time during lessons with gazing around or day-dreaming.

Hermione clamped her lower lip between her teeth and chewed at it, and she was truly oblivious of doing so. She always did it when she concentrated. Jon had noticed this quirk already on the first school day. Since he had met her at King's Cross station, he couldn't get her out of his mind. And he just couldn't stop watching her.

Jon had asked Harry if she had a boyfriend and unfortunately Harry had answered, "Yes." He had told Jon that it was the Seeker of the Bulgarian Quidditch team, Viktor Krum. What a lucky chap! But he was far away, playing Quidditch elsewhere, while Jon was here at Hogwarts with Hermione. Maybe Krum wasn't that lucky, was he?

Jon looked around cautiously. Professor McGonagall was busy with Neville, whose earthworm had turned a really sickening green and had as little a similarity with a blindworm as possible. Plus, she currently had her back turned to Jon.

'Good,' he thought, 'Now or never.'

Hoping that Hermione wouldn't hear his heart pounding like mad, he rose stealthily from his seat and aimed his wand over Hermione's shoulder. He transfigured her blindworm into a red rose and quickly sat down again. Hermione, who had been deeply immersed in her task, jumped startled and spun around. When she saw Jon smile her ears turned bright red.

"Jon, how on earth can you give me such a jump!" she whispered reproachfully. "You should better concentrate on your..." She broke off when she saw his blindworm. "Oh, you are already finished."

"Nice blindworm, Mister Potter. By the way, roses were covered last year already. And I very much doubt that Miss Granger needs a demonstration how to do it," McGonagall interrupted and looked sternly at both of them.

Hermione's ears turned an even deeper shade of red and quickly she turned again, looking straight at the blackboard at the front. Fortunately, the bell rang at that moment and distracted Professor McGonagall enough to let her forget to deduct points. This was already the second time today that Jon was rescued by the bell. Collecting his books and parchments, he noticed Hermione smelling at the rose, and finally putting it into her bag. Wasn't it a good sign that she didn't just throw it away?

Once outside on the corridor, Hermione said to Harry and Ron, "Could you please go ahead already? I have something to discuss with Jon. We'll follow later."

Harry, who had noticed the rose as well, gave her a knowing smile that made Hermione roll her eyes. Ron smiled too, but the smile was stony and didn't reach his eyes. It seemed more like it was turning into an angry frown. But he didn't say anything and didn't resist when Harry dragged him away.

As soon as they were out of earshot Hermione propped her hands on her hips, her whole posture emanating resentment.

"What was that supposed to mean? Do you want Professor McGonagall to deduct points from me?" she reproached him. "And why did you stare oddly at me all through the lesson? Which you do very often, as I have noticed."

Now it were Jon's ears that turned bright red and he started to stammer, "Oh... You noticed that... Erm, I didn't want to upset you... Actually, I wanted to tell you with that rose that... Erm..." He trailed off, suddenly not feeling as bold anymore.

Hermione waited patiently for him to continue. Jon took a deep breath and began another attempt, "Hermione, I like you very much. And I'd like to be more for you than only a member of your clique."

Now it was out. Expectantly, he looked into her brown eyes, searching for a sign of how she would answer his approach. Hermione's expression became a bit sad, and terribly sympathetic. That didn't look very promising.

"Oh, Jon. That's so... sweet of you. This rose is really beautiful and it even smells wonderful."

She inhaled deeply, again chewing at her lower lip. Her face reflected how hard her brain was working, carefully considering her next words. "I like you too. But I have already someone in my heart. And I don't feel anything for you that I feel for Viktor. I'm sorry."

Seeing the disappointed look in Jon's eyes, she added quickly, "But we'll remain friends though, won't we?"

"Hmm, ok," Jon mumbled and turned to leave. But his cheerful disposition didn't let him feel despondent for long. Besides, he wasn't one to display his true feelings publicly. Even if he was deeply disappointed, he'd never show it to Hermione After some steps, his expression brightened again, and he stopped, looking back at her.

"Of course we'll remain friends," he said with a distinctly more blithely tone. "But at least I had to try, you understand?" He shrugged and even forced a smile on his face. "And you'll still introduce me to the picture of Sir Cadogan this evening, won't you?"

Hermione nodded relieved. "I'm glad that we've settled this. And that you are able to accept a 'No'. You know, I'd already become worried because you always stared at me that strange way. I didn't know what to think of that. It gave me the creeps. Please, promise to stop it. Or stare at someone else."

Jon grinned, albeit half-heartedly. "Ok, I'll try my best. Erm, could you perhaps recommend a girl to me who's also worth staring at?"

* * *

Ron's mood improved tremendously after Jon had filled him and Harry in on the result of his discussion with Hermione at dinner. But this was only a short bright spot in the evening. Right after dinner Jon got in trouble with Argus Filch. Jon had already lost more points for Gryffindor than he had earned today and Filch seemed determined to make the outcome even worse. They were on their way back to the Gryffindor tower, when Jon suddenly heard his name being called. He turned and faced the caretaker at the end of a side corridor who glared daggers at him.

"What have you been up to? I haven't seen Filch that angry in ages," Ron asked and earned a shrug and an I-have-no-clue look from Jon.

"Jonathan Potter! Come here, immediately!" Filch snarled again.

Jon started to move. He saw that Filch held something furry and black in his right hand. Moving closer, he recognized Spike, his tomcat. Filch had grabbed him by his collar, and Spike was as wet as a drowned rat.

"Yes, Mister Filch?" Jon asked when he had reached him. He put on the most honest and innocent expression he could muster.

But it didn't work. Or Filch was simply too livid to notice it. "If I catch that bloody beast molesting Mrs. Norris again, I'll wring his neck. Understand?" the caretaker growled.

"Molesting?" Jon repeated, unable to hide both his surprise and his amusement.

But Filch was anything but amused. "You know what I mean. I had to douse it with a bucket of cold water in order to make it get off poor Mrs. Norris. This makes five points off Gryffindor!"

Filch dropped Spike roughly and stalked off, enraged.

"Spike molested Mrs. Norris?" Hermione asked sceptically.

"Oh, I don't know... she isn't that pretty of a cat. Spike could easily find something better, I suppose," Harry joshed, chuckling, while Jon used a drying charm on Spike.

* * *

"Lucius Malfoy, come in! Wormtail said, you had important news for me?"

Lucius Malfoy bowed low. "Yes, my Lord. I have news from Hogwarts. My son has written about his new professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"And why should that be important for me?" Voldemort asked condescendingly.

"The professor's name's Serena Potter."

These words managed to attract the undivided attention of the hooded figure facing Lucius. The piercing and callous red eyes seemed to glow more intensely than they had just a moment before.

"Serena Potter! So that little bitch has left her hole, then? Does she think that she doesn't have to dread me anymore?" Voldemort hissed.

"And there is something else, Master. She has a son. His name's Jonathan and he's also at Hogwarts."

"A son?" Voldemort's ugly, inhumanly face twisted into a malicious grin. "That should make it quite easy for us to punish her appropriately. It shouldn't be too difficult to get hold of the boy. And if we have him she'll probably put herself into our hands rather willingly. She thought she could deceive me. And she even thought she could escape punishment. But after all these years she'll realize that Lord Voldemort won't forgive or forget. I'll have her pay for what she did! Lucius, bring her son to me, but alive. I'm looking forward to seeing her face when she watches her son die a slow and painful death."

Lucius bowed again, expecting to be dismissed, when the Dark Lord continued, "If we do it right, we could kill two birds with one stone. What do you think? How far would she go if she believed it would save her own son? As far as handing over Harry Potter?"

The cruel, sinister laugh that filled the air made even Lucius Malfoy shudder.

* * *

If Jon thought Friday had been a hell of a day, he learned on Saturday that no matter how lousy a day was there would always be another day to cap it - like Saturday. Additionally, he learned that life was a lot more fun if you had friends to spend your time with.

After having been unable to answer even half of Harry's questions, he had asked his mother if she could tell Harry more. She had agreed and they visited her on Saturday afternoon. Harry had hardly been able to wait for the weekend. Since he didn't often have the opportunity to talk about his parents with people who had actually known them, and who were also willing to talk to him about them, his impatience was understandable.

Jon and Harry entered Serena's quarters directly after lunch. Hermione rather wanted to go to the library and study and Ron had insisted on accompanying her. Serena beckoned her visitors to three huge, quite worn-out looking armchairs in front of the fireplace.

"That's exactly the same look that one of the house-elves gave them when they arrived from home," Serena commented, amused by Harry's sceptical expression regarding the armchairs. "But they are clean and outrageously comfortable, believe me."

Jon nodded in agreement. "These armchairs are the only pieces of furniture that Mum cannot live without. But if I'm not entirely mistaken we had only two. Where'd that third one come from?"

"I did a Copy Spell. I thought it might be a good idea if Harry doesn't have to sit on the floor," Serena replied, smiling.

As soon as she had served tea and biscuits, Harry started to bombard her with questions and she tried to answer them as thoroughly as she could. All went well as long as Harry kept asking about his parents. Serena told anecdotes from James' life and gave vivid descriptions of a lot of pranks that 'The Unholy Quartet' had played, particularly on Snape. More than once they burst into fits of laughter and needed several minutes to calm down enough to be able to speak again.

Since Jon was more interested in information about his mum's childhood than the life of an uncle he'd never known, he was the first to notice. Serena told a lot about James, a good deal about his friends, and a bit about Lily, but as good as nothing about herself. She always managed to dodge these questions from Harry, give vague answers, or unobtrusively change the subject back to James.

At length, Harry noted it as well when he asked her for the reason why no one had ever mentioned her to him. He refused to accept her excuse that it was a long story and already late, and that she'd tell him another time.

"I'd rather to miss dinner and hear this story," Harry insisted.

"No, you won't. Eating's important, especially since you're still growing."

"Oh come on, it's not the end of the world to miss a dinner. I... Wait a moment... You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?"

"Changing the subject. Evading my question. But it won't work. I won't discuss the pros and cons of eating meals at regular times with you. I want to know why no one felt compelled to say 'Harry, you might want to know that you have an aunt, and she's a witch, and alive'!"

"But I can't see into people's minds. How should I know what their reasons were?"

"Well, I suppose, you've got an idea. At least you know why you stayed away from me."

Jon followed the discussion with much interest. Usually his mother didn't tell what she didn't want to, and there was no point in trying to persuade her. He'd had that experience more than once already. If Harry should contrive the impossible, Jon wanted to know how.

Serena fell silent for a while, thinking carefully about her answer. Her expression was rather unhappy when she sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Harry. I can't tell you." She hesitated a moment and repeated then, shaking her head, "No, I can't. Not yet."

Harry was taken aback. "What do you mean you can't?"

"You wouldn't understand it. You'd want explanations I can't give. I'd have to tell you things you aren't supposed to know. And without any explanation," she seemed to consider the possibility for a moment but then shook her head again, "no, that wouldn't work."

"I can keep a secret."

"I don't doubt it. But I can't tell. I'm sorry."

Harry stared at her, hurt suddenly creeping all over his face. "You can't or you don't want to? You never bothered to visit, or even to write. Not a single bloody birthday card! If there were a plausible reason for that, you'd tell me. But you don't!"

He drew air sharply through his now clenched teeth. Rising from his armchair, he leaned over Serena and sputtered, "I'll tell you what I think: You just weren't interested in me. You had your own son, your own family, so why should you bother to look after your brother's offspring! And people didn't tell me because they wanted to spare me the embarrassment of hearing about another aunt that doesn't want to have anything to do with me! But don't worry, I wont force my company on you!"

Without waiting for a reply, he spun around and stormed out. Shocked, Serena stared at the door that had slammed shut behind Harry. Sighing, she tilted her head and massaged her temples with her palms.

Jon asked bewildered: "Mum, why won't you follow him? Tell him that he's wrong?"

Serena shook her head without taking her hands away. "I can't," came the response, muffled through the sleeves of her robe that hung in front of her face. Another deep sigh followed and then she finally lifted her head. Her incredibly tired looking eyes met his.

"I wish I could tell him everything. I wish I could tell you. But it's too dangerous for anyone to know."

Jon opened his mouth to assure her that her secrets were safe with him and Harry, but Serena raised her hand to silence him and continued.

"I know you wouldn't betray me. But there are always methods to force certain information out of someone. The last thing I want is to put you in danger. Maybe it would be the best to just let Harry believe he's right."

After having said this, Serena resolved to sit unmoving and watch the flames that greedily licked the logs in the fireplace. If she was deep in thought or just staring, Jon couldn't tell.

* * *

When Jon entered the common room a little later he was greeted with angry glares from Ron. Seemingly he had got tired of spending time in the library with a swotting Hermione, which was as good as being there alone, and had returned to the common room. Harry was also there, but he ignored Jon. Judging by Ron's glares, Harry had already told him about the visit and his theory.

Before Jon could direct his speech to Harry, Ron cut him short, "Spare your efforts. Harry doesn't want to talk to you."

"And he can't tell me that himself?"

"Are you deaf? He doesn't want to talk to you! He said that if you don't speak to him, he could do so as well."

"But I have no problem speaking to him," Jon replied, looking intently at Harry, who avoided returning Jon's gaze.

"Until it comes to the answer of a certain question. And by no means an unimportant question, I might add."

Harry was still trying to ignore the argument going on about him, but his forehead was crumpled in a deep frown.

"You confuse something here, Ron. Beside from the fact that I don't know about that either - it wasn't me who refused to answer," Jon said, unwilling to let the subject drop now and leave it until Harry had calmed down.

"But your mother did. And certainly you're taking her side."

"Her side? I wasn't aware that I had to choose a side. I didn't even know there were sides."

"Now you know. And since I'm taking Harry's side, I won't be talking to you either." To emphasize his last sentence, Ron demonstratively folded his arms and averted his gaze from Jon.

"Are you sure that you do that only from loyalty to Harry or is it because you are sour that I advanced Hermione and you hadn't the guts to do it?"

Harry looked highly irritated that the argument still wasn't over and that he couldn't sulk in peace. On the contrary, the volume of both voices had increased considerably. Fortunately there were only a few other students in the common room, but they followed the dispute attentively, partly with interest and partly with annoyance about the disturbance.

Ron gasped for air with indignation. "How can you talk such rubbish! I'm not in the slightest bit interested in Hermione! And even if I was - and I am NOT - why should I be jealous of her turning you down?"

"SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" Harry suddenly shouted. And speaking to Jon, despite his determination, he added, "Leave me alone, I don't need your sympathetic company. I have enough friends. I was fine without you, and that hasn't changed."

Now it was Jon who looked hurt. But only for a few seconds, before he forced his face into an unreadable expression.

"Oh, I understand. You were only so nice and friendly because you wanted something from me. And now that I've told you everything I know about your bloody parents, I'm no longer of use for you. Thank you very much! And I was so foolish to believe you'd like me. To think we were friends - stupid me! So you don't want to talk. Fine. Now I don't want to either."

Jon spun around and strode hurriedly towards the painting and out of the common room. In his current mood, he couldn't care less if Harry would answer back, deny it, or just glare daggers at Jon.