Truly Madly Deeply

Chapter Six - Spiteful Snape

~ Potions ~

The seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins were fairly quiet while preparing their ingredients. Draco was gently stirring the bubbling potion in the cauldron as Harry sliced the pixie lungs. Harry reached for a sharper knife and sent some of the diced sea slug to the floor. Harry swore under his breath and bent down to scoop them up.

Looking down at the floor he noticed a folded piece of parchment. He picked it up and turned it over. It had his name written on it in Draco's handwriting. Harry grinned, Draco had written him a letter. Harry slipped it in his pocket to be enjoyed later. He straightened up and dropped the sea slugs on the bench. All too soon the final ingredients had been added and the potion was softly simmering.

"When your potion is translucent it is ready to consume," instructed Snape. "Then pour it into two glasses and drink it."

Draco and Harry clinked their glasses together and drank it down at the same time. Harry felt an icy sensation in his chest which gradually abated. Snape stood at the front of the room smiling triumphantly. Once all the students had drunk the potion, he clapped his hands to gain their attention.

"The potion you prepared and just consumed is Veritaserum..."

Horrified gasps could be heard around the room.

"...with a strength rating of 7 which means it will last for 24 hours before wearing off. Dismissed." With those final words, Snape turned and strode over to his desk. He sat down, put his feet up on his desk and watched the shocked students with a decidedly evil grin.

Ron turned to face Hermione. "You knew, didn't you!" he yelled accusingly. "You knew and you didn't tell us or try to stop us taking it."

The rest of the class watched in stunned silence. It surprised none of them that Hermione had known what the potion was but it came as a real shock that she hadn't said anything or objected to Snape forcing students to drink the truth-telling potion. None of them, not even the Slytherins, was sure this was entirely ethical.

"Yes I knew!" Hermione exploded. "I let you drink it because I wanted to ask you a few things - like what you were doing last night when you snuck out of the dorm! I was in the common room and I saw you sneak out through the portrait hole. Where did you go?"

Ron gulped.

"I went to meet Lavender in the charms classroom," Ron turned bright red as he unsuccessfully tried to fight the potion.

Hermione let out a furious scream.

"I knew it, I knew you were with that tramp!" Hermione said self-righteously.

"Hey!" Lavender said indignantly.

"Shut up, you slut and keep your hands off my boyfriend!" Hermione said threateningly.

Harry looked stunned, he'd never known Hermione could be so profane or possessive. It just goes to show, no matter how well you know someone you never really know what's going on inside their head.

"Look, Hermione, I can explain," Ron started to say before being cut off by his irate girlfriend.

"There's nothing to explain. You cheated on me. You bastard!" Hermione's eyes were bright with unshed tears that she was trying valiantly to control. Betrayal was clearly written across her face.

The rest of the class backed out of the room. Harry grabbed Lavender and dragged her out with the rest of them. It was obvious to everyone that Hermione was just itching for an all out war with Ron, it was why she hadn't said anything when she'd realised what the potion was. No one wanted to be caught in the cross-fire. The other Gryffindors and Slytherins drifted towards the Great Hall for lunch, most fighting along the way as unspoken thoughts found their way out of their mouths.

Amazingly, Seamus seemed unaffected by the potion. Harry assumed it was due to the fact that he was always so alarmingly honest that they couldn't see the difference.

Dean was agonising over what was going to happen at lunch as he was going to sit with Ginny, who had not taken the potion, due to the fact that she was in the year below them.

"It's going to be terrible," Dean moaned. "I'm going to be forced to tell the truth while she won't."

"Don't worry, Dean" Seamus replied, sounding a bit amused. "I'll sit with you and ask you really embarrassing questions and then she won't get a chance to ask you anything."

Dean moaned again, knowing very well that Seamus would do just that.

Pavarti was trying in vain to assure Lavender that she wasn't a slut. Unfortunately, that was the general consensus around the school and Pavarti couldn't lie.

"Okay, so maybe everyone thinks you are a slut, but look at it this way, if Draco Malfoy can change, so can you," Pavarti said in what she hoped was a soothing tone. "You just need to maybe, not meet guys all over the castle and maybe not sleep with them on the first date. That's all."

Draco caught Harry's hand and held him back from the group.

"Harry, I don't think we should see each other for 24 hours. I don't want to end up fighting like everyone else is." Draco honestly didn't want that to happen to them and he knew that if they did spend time together, then the truth would come out whether he wanted it to or not. Damn Snape!

"What are you hiding, Drac?" Harry asked hesitantly, not entirely sure he wanted to know. Draco clapped his hand over his mouth before the truth could spill out. The blond boy turned and ran for his life. Harry stood stunned, staring after his beloved boyfriend, before taking off after him.

Chapter Six - Spiteful Snape