Puddle-Wonderful

Chapter Two: Snakes and Ladders

The next day things had already gone back to excruciatingly boring. Harry sat by the window in the common room, book in his lap, staring at the rain splattering against the glass. When he'd got back to the tower the previous day, Hermione had launched herself at him in a fierce hug and told him what idiots they'd all been for being out there in the first place, while Seamus let out a low whistle and yelled out that he wished girls would react that way towards him. Harry ignored him -Hermione was just a friend after all- and went to play a game of chess with Ron until it was time for bed. That was when Harry had really been able to think.

As he'd sprawled there underneath his hangings, he had tried to remember what had gone on during the game, tried to think of any detail he could that would give him the answer to what had happened, but everything still seemed a blur and all he could remember was flying towards an area where nobody else had been. Frustrated, he had tried to sleep, letting the soft snores from Neville's bed soothe him, and eventually he must have dozed off because when he woke up, it was light, and he'd quickly rushed to get dressed and get on with his day.

Harry was jolted out of his thoughts as Ron heaved a book and smacked it down hard on the table in front of him, and sank onto the couch.

"I don't think I can stand much more of this. Harry, mate, you'll go out there and get into another accident with Malfoy to stir things up, won't you?" Ron sent Harry a pleading look and Harry had to keep himself from laughing at how desperate he seemed.

A scoff came from Ron's side as Hermione lowered her books gently onto the table and took a seat. "Honestly, Ronald, you are not about to risk Harry's life for entertainment." She shook her head and opened her book immediately to the right page. "We shouldn't have gone out there yesterday. I knew something awful was going to happen with this nasty weather."

Ron flopped down in his seat and let out a long sigh. "It wasn't the weather's fault, Hermione, it was that git, Malfoy's. I can't believe he had the gall just to fly in front of Harry like that. And when they were on the same team! Yeah, some team-mate."

With a roll of her eyes, Hermione got out some parchment. "I don't think he did it on purpose, Ron. In fact, I don't think either of them did. Even if it looked different..."

"Wait, you remember what happened?" Harry asked, pushing himself to the end of his seat.

She gave him an odd look as though the answer was obvious. "Of course. Harry, I was watching the game through the omnioculars. You can rewind them to watch games again."

Harry sat there with his mouth partially hanging open; this is exactly what he needed to understand what was going on.

"What... did it look like?"

Shifting in her seat, Hermione glanced off to the side, hesitating before looking over at Harry. "Look, Harry, I know it's not your fault. When I replayed it in slow motion, you were perfectly in Malfoy's line of view, he should have seen you in his peripheral vision, there is no way he couldn't have."

"Ha!" Ron exclaimed, looking triumphant. "So it was the git's fault after all! I knew it!"

Cringing, Hermione gave Harry an apologetic look before continuing. "Unfortunately, no. Harry turned his head and looked right at Malfoy before looking to see where the ball was. You should have seen him too. The only thing I can think of is that you thought you could stop on time. But that doesn't make much sense."

Feeling his stomach drop, Harry sat back in his chair, letting out a long breath. "You mean to say it's my fault then."

"No, no...Harry...that's not what I mean at all. Just that you both had to have seen each other and neither of you stopped or veered off course. It's like you wanted to hit each other." With a shrug, she looked down at her book as though it somehow held the answer.

"I didn't see anyone. There was no one there to see! How could I have looked at him and not seen him?" Harry huffed, leaning his face on his hand and staring out the window once more.

He heard Ron shifting in his seat before he spoke. "Well, maybe you couldn't see him because of the rain?"

Snorting at that, Harry continued to stare out the glass. If he'd looked right at him there was no way it could have been the weather that caused it. They wouldn't have been that far apart for it to have interfered in his vision. But then that meant that it had been Harry's fault because even if Malfoy should have been able to see him, he never looked directly at Harry. He couldn't understand it. Why couldn't he remember any of what Hermione had just said? Had he really hit his head that hard? Harry stared at the glass for a long time, when suddenly he thought he saw something reflected in it. Furrowing his brows he shifted a bit closer as a flash of white against the glass startled him and caused him to jump back.

He felt both of his best friends look up from their books in surprise.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, concern lacing her voice.

He stared at the glass for a few more moments, trying to work out what he'd seen reflected, before giving up and looking over at Hermione. "Yeah, I'm fine. Look, I think I'm going to go to the library where it's quieter."

"Oh! I'll come with you then, I hate studying in the common room when everyone is about," Hermione said as she rose partially from her chair.

"No!" Harry yelled, causing her to freeze and Ron to give him an odd look. "I just mean...no, that's fine. You stay here. I think I just want some time to think, you know? Um...I'll see you guys in class after." With that he quickly shovelled up his books and made his way out of the common room, the feel of his friends' gazes burning questions into his back.

*

When Ginny finally found him, Harry was sitting with his chin resting on his fist, staring out at nothing in the Defence Against the Dark Arts section, looking for all the world as though he was pondering the questions of the universe. It brought a small smile to her face as she walked over and took a seat next to him.

"You know, just because it's a library doesn't mean you have to try and look philosophical." She nudged his arm and let out a soft laugh so as not to disturb the others around them.

He blinked and looked over at her with surprise as his eyes finally focused. "Ginny, what are you doing here?"

"Well, that's a good question. You see, I was born on this earth because my Mum and Dad decided that they loved each other enough to have seve--"

Harry let out a laugh and then rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head. "I meant, what are you doing here in the library, not on earth."

"Oh, that's far simpler to answer without getting into one of those sex talks," she replied, grinning at him. "I just finished my essay for Sprout so I decided to see if you were alright." When Harry gave her a quizzical look she continued. "I spoke with Hermione and Ron not too long ago and they told me what happened in the common room."

He sighed and sat up a bit straighter, pushing his book away from himself. "I'm fine, it's just that Hermione is going to hand the omnioculars over as evidence and it's going to look like I'm the one that did it."

"Why would she do that? Harry, she's your friend. She's not going to just hand something over that's going to get you into trouble," Ginny explained, reaching out and touching Harry's arm gently.

"Yes she will, because I'm going to tell her to."

"What? Why!? Are you looking for a month of detentions?" She gave him a searching look as she sat there bemused.

Shaking his head, Harry toyed with the edge of the pages on the book in front of him. "No, but undoubtedly someone would have seen that Hermione had omnioculars. As soon as they remember that and tell someone, the teachers will know and then Hermione will get in trouble for withholding information. I don't want anyone else involved in this. It's Malfoy and me."

Ginny sat there watching him as he spoke, and nodded her head a bit. She supposed she could understand where Harry was coming from. Hermione and Ron had been his best friends since he'd arrived at Hogwarts, and they had always been inseparable. She understood that he felt a need to protect them, even if it was from something as small as detention.

"You're a really good friend, you know that?" She smiled over at him and he just shrugged.

"I don't know about that, I just know they would do the same for me," he replied and then gathered his books, sticking them in his bag. "I've got to go. I've got class and I can only hope Malfoy hasn't heard about this yet or I'll never hear the end of it."

Ginny laughed at that and then stood up and pecked him on the cheek. "Well, then good luck. I think you might need it if he has found out."

Harry stood there for a long moment just watching her, and she did her best not to blush or ask him what he was thinking about. There was something in his expression that looked as though he couldn't quite comprehend whatever was on his mind, and it made Ginny want to ask him to sit down and talk about it. However, the moment passed and he gave her a tiny smile before making his way to the door and slipping out. With a sigh, Ginny watched him go. She wondered if he'd ever understand her feelings for him or if he would ever gain some for her. For now she was stuck in a place of trying to be a good friend and trying to get him to have a sudden moment of revelation where he would see she was in front of him all along, waiting to be swept off her feet.

She was beginning to wonder if he ever would.

*

Down in the dungeons everything had returned to normal as the excitement from the day before died down. Draco couldn't work out whether this was a good thing, as he sat curled up in his favourite armchair in the common room, staring into the fire.

The day before, every single person who had any sense in Slytherin was fawning over him, or fetching him hot chocolate from the kitchens. But as was usual at the school, one drama was replaced with another, and fussing over Draco's brush with death had fallen by the wayside in favour of speculating who on earth was Hermione Granger going to choose between Weasley and Potter.

It was a reoccurring topic of the Slytherins, if for no other reason than it gave them ample opportunity to insult the trio in as many imaginative ways as they possibly could. It wasn't unheard of for certain people to stay up all night discussing it, seemingly unable to run out of steam. In this particular incident, people began speculating over whether Granger's upset over Potter's fall was any indication of her supposed hidden feelings for him.

Frankly, Draco couldn't care less who was dating who. He figured that Granger would be more likely to go for Potter, simply because Weasel didn't have enough brains to realise he could transfigure that hideous red hair into something nicer -like white-blonde, for instance- so it was unlikely that he would be able to keep up with half of Granger's chosen topics of conversation.

Potter, on the other hand, while undoubtedly annoying as they come, and lacking any sort of dress-sense, at least had the fame. And that was attractive, or at least Draco had heard. One couldn't help it when living amongst so many girls, who for unknown reasons all seemed to think that there was something attractive about Dumbledore's little golden boy.

"Hey Draco!"

Draco blinked a few times, dropping his musings, and looked up as Blaise wandered over to him.

"What are you doing?" Blaise asked, as he perched on the arm of Draco's chair.

Draco snorted. It was rare that he let someone get into his personal space like that, but as with everything, there were always exceptions, and Blaise was certainly someone he seemed to make exceptions for.

"Wondering how best to make Snape deduct points from Gryffindor in class," he replied.

Blaise laughed, and turned slightly, reaching down to run his fingers over Draco's class ring. "Aren't we too old for those types of games?" he asked, his voice deliberately quiet in an attempt not to provoke.

"I'm never going to be too old for making Potter and his little friends angry," Draco told him, with absolute certainty, and turned his gaze into the fire. "I don't know why you think I should be."

"I just think there are better things to be thinking about." Blaise shrugged, then let his fingers trace down to Draco's palm. "We waste too much time on Harry Potter, when we could be making other plans."

"Like what?" Draco glanced up at him, surprised. What exactly could they plan for? His life had already been carved out, even if Blaise's hadn't. He was to finish his studies, and then apprentice under Professor Snape, if he allowed it. Assuming both of them remained alive through the war.

"Are you trying to hit on Draco again?" Pansy asked as she entered the common room, and caught sight of Blaise trying to shift even closer to Draco on the chair.

Blaise narrowed his eyes at her, and folded his arms over his chest. "Is there something wrong with that, even if I was? Which I'm not."

"Not at all." Pansy smiled as innocently as she possibly could, and skipped over to drape herself over the other arm of Draco's chair. "If you don't mind failure."

Blaise rolled his eyes. He was far closer to victory than she would ever be.

"Now, now children. There is plenty of me to go around."

Draco smirked from his position in-between them. It was hard to be so desirable, but he supposed that somebody had to do it. But jokes aside, it got a little tiring after a while. Draco wasn't unaware of the reasons why people usually tried to flirt with him. It was partly to do with who his father was, but mostly it was because he was considered the most influential Slytherin at the school. In essence, if you got in with Draco, you had it made.

Which was exactly why he never focused on one person for too long; who could he really trust?

"Were you listening to a word I was saying?" Pansy asked, running her fingers over the crook of Draco's elbow as she glared across at Blaise.

"I doubt it," Blaise responded. "Why listen when you never have anything good to say?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "When you two have finished, I'll be in class if you want to catch up."

With that, Draco got up, and grabbed his bag from foot of the chair, intent of going down to the potions classroom and helping Professor Snape for a little while before the class began. It sure beat sitting around listening to his friends bicker.

"Draco, wait! I'm sorry. I do have something important to tell you."

"I don't care if you love me," Draco tossed over his shoulder, as he made his way to the exit.

Pansy laughed, shaking her head. "No! It's about the accident yesterday!"

Draco stopped. Now she had his attention. He turned around, watching her for a second as he tried to judge whether she was lying or not, and then walked back over to her. "What about it?"

"I overheard Weasley talking to that Irish boy earlier--"

"Finnegan."

Blaise frowned. "How the hell do you know who he is?"

Draco shrugged and gestured for Pansy to continue. "What did they say?"

"Apparently Granger was out watching the game and she had omnioculars. It automatically records everything, remember? They have a second-by-second account of your collision with Potter."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Why have I only just heard about this?"

"Because I only just have! I came here straight away."

Draco sighed. He didn't doubt that for a second. And it was so typical of Potter and his rubbish friends! The mudblood had probably kept it to herself until Potter had been released from the hospital wing, so she could talk to him first.

There was only one obvious conclusion as to why nobody had told him already: the omnioculars were bound to have shown that Potter had deliberately ploughed into him, and not the other way round. Draco knew that if it had shown him to be at fault, Weasley would be down in the dungeons dragging Dumbledore with him, quicker than Draco could say 'you're a big fat muggle-born lover with stupid hair!.'

As it was, things had been suspiciously quiet on the Gryffindor front, and now Draco knew why.

A slow smirk crept onto his face, and he hitched his bag higher onto his shoulder before turning on his heel in what he hoped was a dramatic imitation of Snape's usual exit from a room, and he marched back towards the door.

"Where are you going?!" Pansy called after him.

Draco smiled to himself as the entrance to the common room slid aside. "To get an apology from Potter!" he tossed back to her. "It will be spectacular, so I suggest you see it."

Draco counted to five in his mind and then smiled; predictably both Pansy and Blaise ran out of the common room after him.

It definitely wasn't going to be a class one should miss.

*

As Harry reached the classroom door, he peered around it a little nervously, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that Malfoy wasn't there yet. Quickly, he made his way over to one of the tables and started setting out his belongings. If he could seem distracted and not pay attention to anything going on over on the Slytherin side, maybe he could get through this class with as little humiliation as possible. Oh, who was he kidding? Malfoy would make his life a living hell either way. He took out his book and placed it on the desk in front of him, flipping quickly to the potion they were supposed to be working on that class.

As he sat there he let his mind drift back to the library where he'd told Ginny about the giving over the omnioculars. He hated the idea of letting everyone think that he had actually purposely ploughed into Malfoy when he hadn't, but there was really no way around it, was there? Apparently it was all there and recorded. But it made no sense with the images in his head. He couldn't have possibly not seen him if he looked straight at him. He let out a sigh and then jumped as his ink bottle was knocked over, splattering his robes.

"Urgh! Watch where you're going!" Harry exclaimed, quickly up-righting the small bottle.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see it there, must have been an accident. Or was it really?" came the drawl above him. It only took a moment for Harry to register who it was and he let out a breath, lifting his eyes to look into the face of Malfoy.

"Look, I don't know what you've heard, but I didn't do it, alright? So why don't you and your goons go away?" Harry glared as he saw Blaise and Pansy take stools close by as though getting a seat for a particularly good feature film.

Draco gave him a slow smile as he stood there, arching a brow. "Why would I do that when you so very obviously owe me an apology for trying to kill me?"

"I didn't try to kill you! I didn't even see you there, Malfoy. All I saw was open sky and then I looked away and suddenly I crashed into you. That's what I remember and that's the truth."

Suddenly Harry wished he had waited a while longer to go to class so that he could have met up with Ron and Hermione. It was beginning to feel like he and Draco were a spectacle, there for only the entertainment of others, and he had no one there to back him up if things began to get bad.

Draco leaned his arms on Harry's table and looked across at him innocently. "Oh, I believe you Potter, of course I do. Only, there's one tiny problem to that, isn't there?" He smirked at him and tilted his head to the side. "There's proof you're lying."

Swallowing hard, Harry stared up into his face. He knew he wasn't lying but he wondered how Malfoy could have possibly found out about it so quickly. He heard a soft laugh off to the side where some of the other Slytherins were starting to settle down along with Pansy and Blaise.

"I'm not lying and I'm not apologising for something I didn't do on purpose. So do what you will, Malfoy, but you're not about to get anything from me."

Draco let out a laugh at that and looked down his nose at Harry as though he were a particularly interesting insect. "That's where you're wrong, Potter. I will be getting more out of you than you could ever imagine."

Furrowing his brows, Harry just sat there silently, staring up at him and hoping that would be the last of what he'd say for the course of the Potions class. Of course, that didn't mean he wouldn't have to be paranoid in the halls or in any other class with Malfoy, but at least he'd be able to handle that.

Suddenly the doors banged open at the end of the classroom and Harry had never been so glad to see Snape in his life. That thought in itself was highly disturbing and Harry forced himself to look down at his text book so that it wouldn't seem as though he was engaging in conversation. He had learned a long time ago that the best way to get through Snape's class was to completely ignore everything.

Hermione came rushing into the classroom with Ron at her heels and she waved at Harry, giving him a small apologetic smile for not being there sooner.

"As you know," Snape began without even waiting for the class to get settled. "You will soon be taking your NEWTs and it is of the utmost importance that you are able to brew these potions to perfection. As I have no doubt over half of you will fail to do so individually, I have decided that for this class you shall be in pairs. Any objections will not be heard. Whoever you are sitting closest to is your partner for the class. Begin."

Harry looked about himself when he said that and found that there was no one sitting at his table. Suddenly a body sat down next to him, plonking a cauldron onto the table and waving a knife in his face.

"Looks like we're going to have to be partners, Potter. You mess this up and you'll wish you were never born. But then, I supposed with your hideous looks and luck, you're already wishing for that, aren't you?" Malfoy sneered as he opened his book to the page with instructions.

Grabbing the knife out of Malfoy's hand, Harry glared over at the other boy. "Well, if you hadn't decided to sit so close to me we could have avoided this little mishap. What are you trying to do? Get me to apologise by climbing into my lap?" Reaching out, Harry grabbed some ginger root and began cutting it into small pieces. When he looked over at Draco he had a look of horror on his face.

"What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed, giving Harry a withering look.

"Uh...cutting the ginger root for the potion. What are you doing?"

"Possibly throwing up at your complete lack of skill with a knife," Draco retorted, grabbing the knife back. "Do you think you could possibly, oh, I don't know, place ingredients into the cauldron without messing things up?"

It had been approximately five minutes and Malfoy was already getting on Harry's nerves. It almost made him wish he really had flown into him on purpose.

*

A short while later the potion was sitting in the cauldron simmering and Harry had to congratulate himself on not strangling Malfoy in front of the entire class. With a sigh he let himself sink down into his chair.

"Well, I think we actually managed to pull it off," Harry said tiredly, his patience wrung out completely.

Draco snorted at that and looked over at Harry. "I bet that's a first for you." He picked up a small vial and then dunked it into the cauldron, filling it to the brim before corking it. "Fortunately, you have my expertise to help you along."

With a roll of his eyes, Harry decided it best not to argue with what he was saying in case he decided at the last moment that Malfoy would look better with warts all over his face.

"Since it was due to my incredible knowledge and as you are a fiend who tried to kill me, I expect a full grovelling apology right about...now." He looked over at Harry expectantly, chin raised in the air.

"Excuse me? I didn't do anything wrong and I'm most certainly not grovelling to the likes of you, so you can just forget about it!" Harry growled, his eyes narrowing.

Tilting his head to the side, Draco sighed. "Yes, well, don't say I didn't give you the chance. It was nice knowing you, Potter." With that he lifted his hand and placed something into the simmering cauldron with a plop.

Furrowing his brows, Harry sat bolt upright. "What did you just do?" Draco only smirked at him and Harry had an overwhelming sense of dread for about five seconds.

And then the cauldron exploded.

The entire classroom was dripping and covered with a thick pale pink potion from top to bottom, and smelled of wet dog and sulphur. Harry sat there stunned as he turned his gaze over to Malfoy who was doing a fine job of acting like he was shocked. It wasn't long before a wet, gloopy, pink and black Professor Snape was down upon them.

"What is the meaning of this? Who did this?!" he said in a deadly tone, indicating that whoever was responsible was in for it.

Draco shook his head and stared innocently at Snape. "It was Potter, Sir. I was asking him to apologise for what he did to me out on the pitch, and he got this crazed glint in his eyes before dropping something into the potion making it explode. I managed to get a sample before he went mad." He held up the small vial he had taken earlier.

All Harry could feel was a sense of shock, anger slowly edging its way in. "I did not! You made it explode! Why would I do it when Snape is already out to give me bad grades?"

Sighing, Draco looked over at him sadly. "That's just it, isn't it? You hate him so much and know that he wouldn't give you a good grade so you tried to sabotage mine and get back at the Professor by making the cauldron explode and creating this mess. It sounds like the perfect motive to me, Sir."

Snape gave Harry a long look and let a small smirk curl at the corner of his mouth. "It does indeed sound perfect. In fact, there is absolutely no motive for Mr Malfoy to want to ruin all his hard work over this class period. Mr Potter, you will not be receiving a grade for this class and I expect you to be in my office at the end of the day to receive whatever punishment I see fit. Is that understood?"

"But he's just doing it to get me in--"

"Is that understood!?" Snape scowled down at him, shooting him a glare that clearly read no one should mess with him.

Harry grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes at him. "Yes, Sir."

"Very well." He stood up straight and moved to the front of the class. "You are all dismissed. Leave your potions on my desk. You are responsible for cleaning yourselves off and you can all thank Mr Potter for that."

Draco shot Harry a triumphant look before moving to the front of the room to place his vial on the desk. When he returned he picked up his belongings and gave Harry a smile.

"I warned you. Ready to apologise yet, Potter?" He raised a brow and didn't give Harry any time to reply, making his way out of the door at the back of the room.

Oh, he was ready for something all right, but it certainly wasn't apologising.

*

"I'm going to kill him!"

Hermione shot Ron a disproving look, and curled her feet up underneath herself on the garish red couch in the Gryffindor common room. "Oh that will really solve everything, I'm sure."

"To be honest, Hermione, right now I'm pretty much feeling the same as Ron. It's one thing to act like a righteous little prat, and another to sabotage the potion, get me a fail in the class, and a detention to boot!"

Hermione sighed. She was just glad that it was very nearly the end of the school year - one more week to go and they would be out of there, which meant that Draco Malfoy and his exploding pink gloop would soon be forgotten. Not that she wanted Harry to have to go back to the Dursleys' of course, but it would be his last year, and as soon as his obligatory six weeks had passed, he would join her at the Burrow for the rest of the holidays.

"Maybe we should come up with a really good plan to get him back," Ron suggested, looking hopeful.

Harry nodded. "I'm fed up of letting the git think he can get away with doing what he wants. He doesn't own the school."

"Even if his father did pay for a huge chunk of it, however distasteful I find the idea," Hermione pointed out. She lay her knitting aside and leaned over, touching Harry's arm. "Can't you just let it drop? Dumbledore will likely wish to speak to you both anyway, since you made me hand the omnioculars in."

"Still don't get why you did that, mate." Ron looked bewildered, as he worked on opening a chocolate frog. "Seems a bit silly, really, grassing yourself up like that."

"There were loads of people out there, Ronald. Harry was sure to have been caught out eventually - people would have remembered my omnioculars."

Ron glared at Hermione. "But weren't most of them people who liked Harry? There was you, me, Seamus, Dean, Neville, the Patil twins. Lavender if I remember rightly. I know Cho was out there watching from the stands but what were the chances she'd do something like that?"

"It was a really crap kiss," Harry said wryly.

Ron laughed, while Hermione rolled her eyes, and picked up her knitting again, working her way down a red stripe.

"Anyway, mate, my point is, I can't really think of many people out there who would try and get you in trouble. Maybe Parkinson but she was probably too busy admiring her own reflection in a puddle. I know Zabini was nowhere near, because he was right by my goal."

Hermione sniffed. "There were plenty of people milling about. Who knows what they saw?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Mostly Harry's fans, weren't they? I saw that Romilda girl with her friends. Think she's still got a thing for you, mate?"

Harry laughed, shrugging a shoulder. "I hope not. It's a bit weird when girls think they like me because I have to kill someone."

Hermione laughed at that. "I think they like you because you're pretty cute."

"WHAT?" Ron looked scandalized for a second, but a sharp look from Harry made him close his mouth. "What I mean to say is that you're not pretty cute, Harry, but you're handsome and rugged. You know? For a guy."

Harry smiled, ducking his head. Ron was so transparent sometimes, and he didn't exactly have reason to be jealous. Hermione was saying it to be nice - everyone knew where her real interests were. Apart from Ron, of course.

"It's true, Harry. You've grown up to be really handsome. I'm sure lots of girls like you for more than being Harry Potter the hero."

Harry scoffed. "Oh right, so instead of basing a relationship on my supposed hero-status, I can base one on my dashing good looks. Personality is so outdated!"

"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it," Hermione told him, pausing in her knitting to push her hair behind her ear. "So back to the point, you are not going to retaliate, alright? You have to be bigger than Malfoy in this."

"He's bigger anyway, isn't he? Malfoy's a right short git." Ron laughed.

"That may be because you're one of the tallest boys in the year," Hermione pointed out. Ron shrugged.

Harry wrinkled his nose, looking over the common room, watching Colin as he tried to show a third year girl some of the photographs he'd taken. "Okay, I won't try and get revenge just yet, Hermione. But if he does anything else then I'm not going to just sit back and take it. Someone has to show him he can't just waltz around here doing what he wants."

Hermione sighed, but nodded, and the three of them lapsed into a comfortable silence, listening to the rest of the common room as they relaxed.

"Uhm...Harry?" Ron suddenly piped up. "Don't you have a detention with Snape right about now?"

Harry glanced up at the clock. "Oh shit."

*