Irresistible Poison DRARRY

Irresistible Poison - Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Hanging By A Moment

Love means never having to say you're sorry.

Hermione slid into the seat beside Harry during breakfast the next morning, looking tired, yet jubilant.

"I think the Anti-toxin potion is the best bet we've got," she muttered quietly, loud enough for only Harry to hear, as she helped herself to a generous serving of baked beans. "Well, actually it's the only plan we have, but it's pretty promising, so that's something we can be pleased about."

"What's something we can be pleased about?" Ron interrupted, as he leaned over and caught the last part of Hermione's sentence.

"Uh..." Hermione bit her lip, thinking quickly; Harry swiftly covered for her.

"That I'm feeling well enough to join tomorrow's Quidditch training," Harry answered with a small, casual shrug. "My ankle's already had a couple of days to rest up — and I need to practice harder for the re-match, whenever that may be."

Ron brightened, then suddenly frowned and groaned. "Oh no, I have detention with Snape tomorrow evening! Damn, I won't be able to sit in for practice."

"Well, you wouldn't have gotten detention if you hadn't insinuated that Snape was colour blind," Hermione pointed out, rolling her eyes.

Ron looked unrepentant. "I only suggested that he get his eyes checked. I mean, as I told Snape, mauve isn't exactly a very subjective colour, you know. And my Toadstool Tonic was clearly mauve, but he kept insisting that it was a 'sickly shade of violet'."

Harry cracked a grin. "I'm sure Snape was really touched by your concern for his health." He mimicked Snape's low, venomous voice, his tone dripping with sarcasm: "'Yes, Weasley, mauve isn't a very subjective colour. But it's only my opinion that counts.'"

"That really wasn't worth the detention, you know," Hermione told Ron, with a shake of her head. "Honestly, it looked a bit more on the lilac side to me."

"Hey, thanks for the support, Herm," Ron said huffily. He turned to Harry. "But I was talking to the rest of the team while you were in the hospital wing — they're comfortable with the formation we're currently playing, so I guess it's fine if we just stick to that for the next match."

Hermione bowed out of the conversation as Harry and Ron started discussing Quidditch matters — she waited somewhat impatiently, since she urgently needed to talk to Harry about the Anti-toxin potion. And she vaguely wondered how Harry's meeting with Malfoy last night had gone; she'd been in the library until it closed, and Harry still hadn't returned by the time she went back to the Gryffindor common room.

The Quidditch talk finally ended with Harry asking Ron to see if Seamus could cajole Madam Hooch to schedule the Slytherin-Gryffindor match after their upcoming game with Hufflepuff, which was their next opponent on the original list of fixtures. Seamus was sitting at the other end of the table, so Ron took his toast and went off to talk to him.

"All right," Hermione said in a low voice, immediately after Ron departed. "So how'd it go last night? What did Malfoy think of the Anti-toxin idea? Does he reckon it's worth a shot?"

Harry furrowed his brow, racking his mind to recall what Draco had said in response to the Anti-toxin idea; then he realised that he hadn't actually gotten round to telling Draco anything about it in the first place. They had been distracted by... a lot of things.

"Uh," Harry looked sheepish, "I actually... haven't exactly told him about it, just yet."

"What?" Hermione looked at him in disbelief. "What do you mean, you haven't exactly told him? But you were with him for ages last night! What were you doing all that time?" A certain realisation dawned on her face, and she stared incredulously at Harry. "Don't tell me he started kissing you again!"