Ron is an idiot...
Harry, a short young man with black hair and green emerald eyes, Ron, a tall red headed boy with freckles all over his face, and Hermione, a young lady with bushy hair and clever eyes, were waiting for their double potions class to start and the door to open. Leaning against the wall they were arguing about a prank Ron wanted to pull on Malfoy for revenge. While still keeping their voices as down as possible not be overheard they kept disagreeing.
“Harry, he does it to you all the time, it’s our turn to drop random stuff in his potion.” Ron was having trouble keeping his voice low as he turned red from frustration, he just couldn’t understand why it was a bad idea. In his mind, this was the perfect revenge for the insults Malfoy was throwing them constantly. The idea of getting Malfoy to fail a potion, which he has never done yet, was his favorite revenge plan. Ron thought he could get away with it, because no one would guess he did anything, if anything Harry would be blamed but with the amount of detention Harry is getting because of Umbridge he didn’t think Harry would mind.
“Malfoy knows potions better than us and doing this would make us no better than he is!” Harry was getting annoyed, he understood where Ron was coming from, Malfoy has been more of an annoying git than usual thanks to the Inquisitorial Squad, but he had a bad feeling about doing this and he always trusted that feeling.
Hermione was nodding along with Harry but ever since she started noticing her crush on Ron this year she didn’t want to end up on his wrong side by saying anything against him.
“Exactly! He’ll have an easier time fixing his stupid potion anyways so…”
Harry shut him up by elbowing him when he noticed Malfoy and his gang were close by. Draco Malfoy, a blond knockout with blue-grey eyes, had Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, both bulky boys, behind him as usual, then there was Pansy Parkinson, short brown hair and observant brown eyes and Blaise Zabini, a decent heighted boy with black hair and eyes just as dark, just behind them, being followed by Theodore Knott, a brown haired man with kind blue eyes and Daphne Greengrass, a blond with long hair and bright blue eyes. The Slytherins arriving meant the classroom would open soon and Harry didn’t want Ron to get in trouble before class even started.
“Just forget it Ron.”
And with that the door opened and Professor Snape, with hair looking a little greasy due to potions and black eyes, was at the entrance staring them all down.
“What are you all waiting for? Find your seat!” He said sounding impatient as usual.
Ron went in right after the Slytherins and found a seat diagonal to Malfoy. He made sure he was at the right place to be able to spell anything he wants into the cauldron while not being seen by anyone else. Harry sighed and just sat beside him, Hermione sitting with Neville behind them.
“Today we will be brewing one of the most challenging potions that may show up in your OWLS. It is the Binding Potion and when it is applied to any object it permanently glues them together, sometimes in unexpected ways. Can anyone tell me what the dangers are with this potion?”
Hermione raised her hand right away, Snape looked around hoping someone else would have an answer but eventually nodded at her to reply.
“The binding is permanent and if a person gets dosed with it odd things have been known to happen, for example there was a wizard who drank a vial thinking it was a calming draught and when he started to sweat, whichever piece of clothing that touched his sweat permanently glued to his body.”
“Correct, 5 points to Gryffindor.” Snape looked angry he had to give points but realized it was a good answer. “Now what is the main ingredient that causes the binding? Mr. Malfoy?”
Malfoy smirked and answered with a superior voice.
“Leech Juice, sir. It uses the leech anti-coagulant and reverses the effects, but if too much is used the potion can become uncontrollable and may even explode causing other outcomes depending on the stage of the potion.”
Harry was listening carefully knowing that this could be on his OWLS this year; meanwhile Ron was daydreaming about the next quidditch match against Hufflepuff.
“Correct, 10 points to Slytherin. Leech Juice on its own will not do much in potions but the combination with other ingredients can make it poisonous and potent. Now…” And on went Professor Snape on the making of the Binding Potion, the uses and the dangers of misusing it. Everyone was busy writing down everything he was saying, except Ron who was now daydreaming about beating Malfoy to a pulp. After thirty minutes of him speaking about the potion Snape finally told everyone to get their ingredients and start making it. Half of the class got up to get to the cupboard first wanting first pick, Harry among them, while the other half started preparing the cauldron for brewing.
Once everything was settled and the potion making was on the way Ron started whispering to Harry once more about his incredible revenge idea.
“Harry, come on! It would be so easy! Just tell me when Snape is busy elsewhere and I’ll do the rest, c’mon just say you’ll help!”
Harry gave him a glare and shook his head; he was busy slowly adding some Lovage leaves to the semi boiling, yellow colored potion before moving to the next step with the leech juice. He could already tell he was a few steps behind from most everyone else thanks to Ron’s laziness. So he just continued to ignore what Ron was saying and trying to do the potion the best he could on his own.
“For once it looks like a passable potion Mr. Potter; maybe it was not you who ruined every other potion you made but your partner. Mr. Weasley, fifteen points from Gryffindor for your lack of concentration and fifteen for your lack of participation.” Snape sneered before leaving to go talk to Malfoy about his perfectly perfect potion.
“Greasy Git… I’m doing it with or without you Harry.”
And before Harry had time to reply he noticed Ron levitating a leech that was semi juiced and dropping it in Malfoy’s potion. Harry reacted without thinking and ran towards Malfoy, he jumped in front of him, startling Malfoy to try and push him out of his way, Harry just pushed right back.
“Potter, what are you doing? Move!”
The next thing they knew the potion exploded all over Harry’s left side and partially on Malfoy and even Snape got some on his hands. The only thing he could feel was intense burning on and under his skin and he could hear someone yelling his name but it seemed to come from so far away. Black spots started to cloud his eyes and he was starting to feel sluggish and heavy. He could feel Malfoy slowly bringing him down with him.
“I… Wha?..”
And with that Harry passed out.