Hermione's Mistake

The sixth years taking the Potions exam filed silently into the dungeon, Ron and Harry among them. The room was filled with lots of little cubicles, each supplied with all the necessary equipment, including a sturdy cauldron, beakers, spoons, and knives. The ingredients were secreted in silver containers, which would be charmed so the students could not open them until the exam had started. They each moved silently to a cubicle, no one wanting to disturb anything and risk raising Professor Snape's ire. Neville went to a corner cubicle, hoping he could stay unnoticed, while Harry and Ron settled into cubicles next to each other, in the middle of the room. Hermione stood back, unsure of where to go. Eventually there was only one left, on the right hand side of the room, which Hermione sat down at quietly. She was shivering slightly, however she couldn't decide if it was the everpresent chill of the dungeons, or the mind-numbing fear she faced. She had read at least three of her Potions books in the common room, desperately trying to remember something. She thought she had learnt a few useful things, but it was like trying to hold water in a paper bag; by the time she reached bottom of the main staircase they had gone again. There was nothing she could do, she would just have to hope that some innate ability would allow her to pass her exams.

Professor Snape swept into the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Very well, you are all here to complete your Potions practical examination. During this examination you are expected to complete one potion heretofore unknown to you. It is extremely complex, and the slightest mistake on your part could result in disaster," he glanced pointedly at Neville. "However, the attentive student, who has listened to every instruction in every class, should find it presents no challenge. When I turn over the hourglass, the instructions will appear inside the cubicle in front of you. You will have two hours in which to complete the potion. You must then decant it into the silver flask, which you will leave next to your cauldron. Be warned, any attempts to cheat, including looking at the work of any of your fellow students, will have most dire consequences. Do you understand me?" He looked around the room. Everyone avoided his gaze, except for Malfoy, who looked smugly back at him. "Very well. The examination commences...now." He waved his wand, and the large hourglass at the front of the room turned over. Silver sand began to trickle down into the bottom, glowing slightly as it did so.

The instructions appeared in front of Hermione. She stared blankly at them, unsure where to start. 'Finely slice two mandrake roots.' That seemed simple enough. She opened her containers carefully until she found the mandrake roots, and selected the two best. She began to slice them with a delicate copper knife, but her hands were shaking badly. The slices were extremely uneven in size, and some of them had not even been cut through. She rested her cool hands against her hot, aching forehead. If only she could remember a spell to soothe her head, but everything seemed foggy. She sighed and tried to calm herself down - panicking now wouldn't achieve anything. She returned to her potion, and moved on to the next step. She gradually moved through each instruction, trying to complete them carefully, but nothing seemed to be going right. It took her five minutes to light the fire underneath the cauldron, and that was a simple spell she had learnt in first year. Her palms were beginning to sweat, and her head was aching worse than ever. One instruction required her to stir the potion ten times in a clockwise direction, but she lost count after a few stirs. She couldn't even find the boomslang skin. Finally she realised she was up to step twenty-eight - the last one. She sighed with relief. She only had a little time left. The hourglass was beginning to glow more and more brightly as time ran out, and the top bulb was almost empty. She leaned in to read it more closely, and almost gasped with shock as she realised she had completely missed steps twenty to twenty-five. She looked around at all the other students, who were finishing up. Even Neville was starting to decant his potion. She sighed, and added the obsidian powder. Her hand slipped, and she added more than twice as much as she needed. She looked down at her potion in horror as it bubbled, with a thick layer of smoke filling up the cauldron and rolling over the edges. As it cleared her finished potion came into view. The obsidian powder was intended to thicken the potion to a syrup. Unfortunately hers had thickened too much. In fact it had solidified into a small, glistening rock at the bottom of the cauldron. She stared at it, and began to shake more violently than ever. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't even hand that up; it would never fit into the silver flask. Discreetly, she pick up the pestle she had used to crush the scarab beetle eyes, and tried to use it to break off part of the rock. Suddenly, just as she broke of a bit, there was a commotion at the front of the room.

Goyle had stood up suddenly, let out a strangled yelp, and fallen to the ground. Professor Snape hurried forwards, as the Slytherins in the room let out concerned exclamations. Just then the hourglass let out a great flash of light, almost blinding those students who were unfortunate enough to be looking at it. Professor Snape stood up from where he had been leaning over Goyle.

"Mister Goyle will be fine. If someone could take him down to the hospital wing? Thankyou Mister Crabbe, Miss Bulstrode. I assume your potions are completed and in their flasks? Very well, you may take him down. The rest of you ensure have decanted your potions into the flask, then you may depart. Quietly, thank you." The students hurried out of the room, some already discussing the exam, others speculating on what had happened to Goyle. Hermione quickly shoved some of the pebbles and dust into the flask before rushing out.

She caught up with Harry and Ron just as they got to the Gryffindor common room, where they were discussing what had happened to Goyle.

"Personally, I think it was brain cramp," Ron was saying. Harry frowned.

"Brain cramp? Is that some sort of wizarding disease I've never heard of?"

"Nah. You know when you stretch your leg too far, or use it the wrong way, and get a leg cramp? Well, it's kinda like that, but in his brain." Harry laughed. The Fat Lady interrupted them.

"I'm sure you're enjoying your discussion of your unfortunate friend," Ron sniggered at this, "but if you want to go in, say the password and get inside. I don't want to wait for you all day."

"Sorry," said Harry, "elixir." The painting swung open, and they walking into the common room, which was filled with sixth years celebrating the end of their exams. Butterbeer and fizzing whizbees were being passed around, and everyone was talking as loudly as they could. The seventh years had obviously decided to go to the library or somewhere equally quiet to study; there was no way they'd be finding a quiet spot in the common room. Harry turned around as he heard Hermione walk in behind them.

"Hi, Hermione! I suppose you're glad that's over. I don't know why you get so worried though, you always get full marks. Still, I suppose even the brightest witch of our age has to get the odd pre-exam jitters." Hermione smiled wanly. Ron turned around, and looked at her pale face.

"Are you okay, Hermione? You don't look too well."

"I'm fine," she wanted to say, but the words just wouldn't come out. She felt weak and shaky, and her legs didn't seem strong enough to hold her up. She leaned against the wall heavily.

"Hermione?" said Ron again. "You look really sick. I think we should take you to the hospital wing and see what Madam Pomfrey says." She shook her head, and immediately regretted it as pain filled it.

"I'm alright," she said faintly. "I've just been studying too hard. I might go and lie down. I just need to rest."

She walked across the common room and up the stairs, Harry and Ron looking after her concernedly.

"I should go and make sure she's alright," said Ron, starting across the room. Harry grabbed the back of his robes.

"You can't. Remember what happened last time you tried to go up there? We'll get Parvati to go up. Hey, Parvati!"

Parvati turned around, a frothing butterbeer in her hand.

"Oh, hi Harry!" she said, blushing slightly. "Do you want a butterbeer?"

"Oh, er, thanks," Harry said slightly confusedly, blushing in return. "Listen, could you do me a favour? We're a bit worried about Hermione. She's gone up to your dormitory, do you think you could go and see if she's feeling alright?"

"Sure," said Parvati, handing him the butterbeer. She moved through the crowd to the stairs Hermione had walked up a few moments before. A minute later she was back.

"Well, she seems alright," she said. "I looked in, and she was fast asleep on her bed, fully dressed. I pulled a blanket over her, I think she'll be okay. She's probably just tired out, you know how hard she's been studying." Harry smiled at her.

"Thanks for that, Parvati." He raised his voice slightly as someone put on the new Weird Sisters album. "Um, I don't suppose you'd like a dance. No, sorry, stupid question, forget I asked," he muttered. Parvati shook her head.

"I'd love a dance, Harry." Harry looked at her in shock.

"You would, er, I mean, that would be great." He turned to Ron. "Ron, stop looking so worried, mate. You heard Parvati, Hermione's fine. She's just tired out." He took Parvati's arm, and left Ron looking concerned, and unsure what to do next. In the end he grabbed a butterbeer and sat down in an armchair. Around him the party carried on, and upstairs Hermione slept deeply.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. Hermione awoke, groggy and disoriented. It was still dark, and she could hear sleepy exclamations from all over the tower.

"What's happening?" Lavender asked sleepily.

"I don't know," she said. "It sounds like everyone's going down to the common room." They got up and joined all the other girls on the staircase down to the common room. Everyone milled around looking confused. Most people were yawning, and a few seemed to have curled up in the armchairs and gone back to sleep.

"What happened?" Hermione could hear people saying, "What's going on?"

"Everybody listen to me!" A few people jumped, amidst the confusion most people hadn't noticed Professor McGonagall come into the room.

"We're not exactly sure what has happened. All we know is that there has been some sort of magical explosion outside. All exits from Hogwarts are completely blocked. Professor Dumbledore has contacted the Ministry of Magic. They have not had sufficient time to work out what has happened, however they do not believe it to be dangerous. They will contact us as soon as they have further information. In the meantime, there is nothing you can do, so I suggest you all go back to bed and try to get a few hours sleep before bedtime. We will inform you of further developments at breakfast. Thankyou, now back to bed, all of you. What's that, Colin? Yes, I am sure you will all be able to get home for the holidays. Don't worry, we don't want you here either. Now, bed, everyone!" Most people were more inclined to stay in the common room, preferably to continue with their end-of-exam celebrations, but Professor McGonagall was firm. She ushered them all back to the dormitories, and ensure everyone was quiet at least, if not actually asleep. Hermione lay down gratefully. She still felt ill, and quickly fell back asleep.

The next morning she overslept, and was again late to breakfast. Thankfully, despite the broken night, she felt much better, and due to the excitement of the events, her late entrance to the Great Hall attracted little attention. Harry smiled at her.

"You look a lot better," he commented as he made room for her to sit next to him. "Can you move up a bit further?" he said to Parvati, who was sitting on his other side. She sat down, and took a bowl of porridge. She noticed that almost every other student was eating either porridge or scrambled eggs; no one had been brave enough to try the toast. The conversation mainly centred on the mysterious explosion.

"Gas explosion," Dean said around a mouthful of eggs.

"Honestly, Dean," said Lavender impatiently, "something like that's not going to block all the entrances to Hogwarts, is it? Anyway, you heard McGonagall, it's a magical explosion."

"Could be magical gas," muttered Dean darkly.

Just then Dumbledore tapped a glass, and attention turned to the front of the hall. He smiled down at them, as they gradually became quiet.

"I have just received news, both good and bad, from the Ministry of Magic. They have had experts out here, and believe they have discovered the cause of last night's disturbance. It was an explosion of adamas gas, which has created an impenetrable cloud around the school grounds. By impenetrable, I mean that all paths, including the floo network, are blocked to us."

"See, magical gas!" whispered Dean triumphantly, then gulped as the headmaster gazed at him.

"Thank you, Mister Thomas. As I was saying, what we heard was an explosion of adamas gas. The good news is that as the Ministry of Magic knows what has occurred their experts will be able to immediately start removing the cloud. However the bad news is that an explosion of this type is extremely rare, and extremely complex to resolve. It will take at least five weeks before anyone can leave the castle." Uproar immediately broke out around the hall. They were meant to be leaving for the holidays; no one wanted to spend the summer holidays at school. "Quiet, please," Dumbledore continued. "I am quite aware that none of you want to miss out on your valuable holidays. Rather, we will delay your holidays until the cloud is cleared, and in the meantime the staff have agreed to start you on next years' lessons. Seventh years will be able to discuss their plans with us; many of you who are considering careers such as Healing will be able to start further study by owl. If you have any further questions, you may take them up with your head of house. Lessons will continue as usual on Monday. Thank you."

The students looked at each other. No one quite knew what to say. It seemed they would simply have to put up with being stuck at school for a few more weeks.