Detention

Detention

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Prologue: In which there is mugwort and 'swords'

It was a sleepy day in mid September at the Hogwarts castle, but the sixth year Gryffindors were yet again cooped up in the dank, dark dungeons, being watched over beadily by that oily git Professor Snape. They were being tested on brewing Veritaserum, a powerful truth potion which once slipped into the pumpkin juice of an unsuspecting witch or wizard would have them spilling their most carefully guarded secrets to anyone who cared to listen.

As the test was being held under exam conditions (Professor Snape had said that this was to prepare them for the end of year exams, but most of the Gryffindors thought that it was really just an attempt to moke them suffer, and possibly an excuse to take house points from Gryffindors whose potions didn't turn out right), the students had to work on their own. Any communication between students during the lesson was not allowed, although Draco Malfoy could be seen at that very moment conversing loudly with his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, while Snape looked on and smirked.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had managed to secure places right at the back of the dungeon, with Hermione in between the two boys; just on the off chance that she would be able to help them when Snape's back was turned.

It was about half way through the lesson when Hermione dropped her jar of mugwort, which fell to the ground with a clink, rolled across the floor and came to rest under Ron's desk.

"Ron, could you get that for me please?" she said quickly, without looking up.

Ron ducked under the desk and retrieved the jar, handing it back to Hermione. It was then that Professor Snape chose to look up from where he leant against the front of his desk, talking to Malfoy and the other Slytherins.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, just what do you think you are doing?" he asked, managing to raise an eyebrow at them and smirk nastily at the same time.

"I dropped my mugwort, professor," Hermione replied, "And Ron picked it up for me."

"Uhh, yeah," Ron added, apparently wanting to help, and finding no other words with which to do so.

"I thought I made it quite clear that there was to be no communicating between students this lesson," Snape stated, loudly enough for the whole class to hear.

"You did, professor, it's just that I dropped my jar, and it rolled under Ron's desk, and -" she trailed off

"And I picked it up for her," finished Ron, now that he had recovered his full vocabulary. "We weren't cheating or anything, what's the big deal?"

"Silence!" commanded Snape. "I said no communicating, and I meant it. You will both receive detention for your troubles, and fifty points for talking back, Mr. Weasley. Now get on with your potions."

"What?" yelled Ron, indignantly. "That's not fair!"

"One hundred points!" Snape shot back. "Now on with your work before I make it a hundred and fifty."

Ron made no reply to this, but settled for forcefully chopping his lacewings, whilst glaring at Snape's back. Harry and Hermione could do nothing but shake their heads, having learned years ago that it was not wise to argue with Snape, as it only made things worse.

The rest of the class passed by without incident, except for Neville's potion turning neon orange and producing smoke that when inhaled by the other students, made them go temporarily cross-eyed and start reciting Shakespeare. This was doubly unusual due to the fact that many of the students, having come from wizarding families, had never even heard of Shakespeare, let alone learned the entire first act of Romeo and Juliet off by heart.

"Well, that was interesting," Harry commented with a grin, once they were back outside the dungeons, making their way towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"I liked the bit where Seamus and Dean started talking about their 'swords'," said Ron, as he and Harry grinned lopsidedly, remembering.

"Ron!" said Hermione, turning pink at the thought of Seamus and Dean's 'swords'.

"I still can't believe Snape gave us both detentions, though," he replied, deliberately changing the subject. "We didn't even do anything wrong."

"Since when has that stopped him?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, I guess. At least we'll be doing it together," said Ron.

Hermione smiled at this, as Ron's ears turned slightly pink and he looked at his feet, realizing what he had said.

"Of course," said Hermione, reassuringly. She knew that Ron had fancied her since second year, and figured that he would realize this too - when he was good and ready. Until then, she just had to be patient, and not let her feelings for Ron interrupt her studies. "Doing things you don't want to is always easier if you have a friend to help you pass the time," she said, successfully employing her best Hermione Granger 'I'm-just-stating-the-obvious' voice.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, although he still looked a little distracted.

The trio sat down and started filling their plates in silence, having each drifted away into their own thoughts as they reached the Great Hall.

As they started to eat, Ginny Weasley entered the hall with a group of Gryffindor fourth years, breaking off as they headed further down the table, and coming to stand behind Harry, where he was sitting next to Ron and Hermione.

"Hey Harry, Ron, 'Mione, mind if I sit here?" she said.

Harry jumped, so slightly that Hermione happened to be the only member of the group that noticed, and turned around to face her.

"Sure, you can sit here next to me," he said, moving closer to Ron, so that Ginny could sit down between Hermione and himself. "So, what did you three just have?" she asked.

"Potions," Harry replied. "Snape gave Ron and Hermione detentions for talking in class."

"Oh no, really?" she said.

"Yeah, it was quite unfair, really," Harry continued and Ron nodded, agreeing.

The two continued to chat merrily as Hermione looked on, wondering at Harry's sudden change of opinion from back in the hallway before.

She looked past Harry and Ginny to Ron, who was now helping himself to thirds, and hoped that he didn't notice how close Harry and Ginny had become over break this year. She knew that Ginny had liked Harry ever since she saw him at King's Cross Station, the year before she was due to come to school at Hogwarts, but Ginny had gotten over her crush after her third year (Harry, Ron and Hermione's fourth), when she started dating Michael Corner.

Ginny and Michael hadn't lasted long, and after a short relationship with Dean Thomas, she was now once again single. Hermione had noticed that Harry and Ginny had been spending an increasingly large amount of time together since the end of their last year at Hogwarts. She had also noticed that although Ginny could quite easily laugh off comments about how she used to fancy Harry, Harry now turned very slightly pink and laughed almost nervously when people made references to he and Ginny as a couple.

Hermione thought that Harry had every right to be nervous about this, as if she was right in suspecting that the tables had turned, and Harry now fancied Ginny, she knew that Ron was more likely to turn into a Hippogriff than he was to let Harry ask Ginny out.

She sighed, and went back to poking her food around her plate. Maybe one day Ron would realize that Harry and Ginny going out would not be so bad. Then again, she thought, he still hasn't figured out he fancies me yet. This could take a long time.

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