Dawn Rivera

Birthday Surprises

The next day Harry confides in Danny, Hermione and I the task that Dumbledore has set him. Hermione and I still refuse to remain in Ron's presence longer than it takes to give him a contemptuous look. Not only is Ron hurting Hermione, but both of them are hurting my brother.

Hermione and I take gloomy views.

"He must be determined to hide what really happened if Dumbledore couldn't get it out of him," I say in a low voice, as we stand in the deserted, snowy courtyard at break. "Horcruxes...Horcruxes...I've never even heard of them."

"You haven't?" Danny says.

Harry and Danny look disappointed.

"They must be really advanced Dark magic, or why would Voldemort have wanted to know about them?" Hermione says. "I think it's going to be difficult to get the information, Harry, you'll have to be very careful about how you approach Slughorn, think out a strategy..."

"Ron reckons I should just hang back in Potions this afternoon..." Harry says.

"Oh, well, if Won-Won thinks that, you better do it," I say, flaring up at once. "After all, when has Won-Won's judgement ever been faulty?"

"Hermione, can't you - " says Danny.

"No!" she says angrily, and storms away, leaving Harry and Danny alone and ankle-deep in snow.

Potions lessons are uncomfortable enough these days, seeing as Harry, Danny, Ron, Hermione and I have to share a desk. Today, Hermione and I move our cauldrons around the table so that we are close to Ernie, and ignore Harry, Danny and Ron with haughty profile.

Slughorn is calling for silence at the front of the room.

"Settle down, settle down, please! Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! Golpalott's Third Law...who can tell me - ? But Miss Rivera can, of course!"

I recite at top speed: "Golpalott's-Third-Law-states-that-the-antidote-for-a-blended-potion-will-be-equal-to-more-than-the-sum-of-the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separate-components."

"Precisely!" beams Slughorn. "Twenty points for Gryffindor! Now, if we accept Golpalott's Third Law as true..."

Nobody apart from Hermione and I seem to be following what Slughorn says next.

"...which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion's ingredients by Scarpin's Revalaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in and of themselves, but to find that added component which will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements - "

Ron is sitting in between Harry and Danny with his mouth half open, doodling absently on his new copy of Advanced-Potion-Making.

"...and so," finishes Slughorn, "I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!"

Hermione and I have left our stools and are halfway towards Slughorn's desk before the rest of the class realises it is time to move, and by the time Harry, Danny, Ron and Ernie return to the table, we have already topped the contents of our phials into our cauldrons and are kindling fires underneath them.

"It's a shame that the Prince won't be able to help you much with this, Harry and Danny," Hermione says brightly as she straightens up. "You have to understand the principles involved this time. No short cuts or cheats!"

Looking annoyed, Harry and Danny uncork the poisons they took from Slughorn's desk, which are garnish shade of pink, tip them in their cauldrons and light fires underneath them. I glance at Ron, who is now standing there looking rather gormless, having copied everything Harry and Danny did.