The Potions Master's Daughter (Book Five)

Chapter 24

"She doesn't seem to understand that he's mine," Ginny said with a scowl, "She keeps flirting with him, and I even heard she's trying to slip him a love potion. I can't believe her!"

I let myself in and asked, "Wait, what's happening?"

Ginny shook her head in anger, turning away from the mirror where she was poking at her hair, "That stupid Romilda Vane. She keeps flirting with harry, and of course he's oblivious to it. I don't think everyone knows we are together, or else they just don't care. Like I said I even heard that she was trying to slip him a love potion to make him fall in love with her instead."

I dismissed the thought with a wave of my hand, "There's no way he's ever pick her over you Ginny, don't worry about her. If she tries anything we will take care of her for sure."

We took an hour to get ready before we headed down the stairs to where the boys were seated on the couch waiting for each of us.

Harry stood up and took Ginny's hand, leading her down the last few stairs then pronounced, "You look lovely my love."

Ron let Hermione walk down the stairs herself which was probably a smart choice, I"m not sure Hermione would've liked it as much if he had led her down the stairs but he also gazed at her adoringly and told her, "You look stunning," and took her hand.

Neville looked at me with a smile on his face, "Woah," he breathed, "You look amazing Jess, that dress looks gorgeous on you."

I blushed, my cheeks going nearly as red as my dress before I muttered, "Thanks. You look nice too."

Once we arrived at the party Slughorn showed up almost immediately and said, "Harry, my dear boy, there's some people I'd like you to meet," before nearly dragging him away, with Ginny following.

The four of us remaining milled around, chatting with friends and amongst ourselves. The food was excellent, and there seemed to be a number of Slughorn's old famous students milling around as well.

Suddenly Harry and Ginny appeared at our side, "Hello," he said a bit miserably, "We finally got away."

I laughed, "Come on, he's not that bad."

Harry couldn't respond, because he was cut off by some commotion. We moved forward to be able to see better, and I saw Draco being led in by FIlch. I groaned inwardly, what was he thinking.

"I found this one out in the corridor lurking around, he claims he was invited to your party tonight."

Draco pulled himself out of his grip and scowled, "Fine. I was crashing the party, are you happy?"

I caught my father's eye, who had appeared out of nowhere. He hadn't even said he was coming tonight. I jerked my head at Draco in an effort to have him get Draco out of this, or at least to talk to Draco about what he was doing.

Slughorn was looked a bit rosy from all the drinks he had consumed throughout the evening and was glancing around the room nervously as he realized the entire party had stopped to watch, "It's fine m'boy. The more the merrier, I'm sure we can let this go just this once. Come on in. Everyone can get back to themselves!" he announced.

I saw Severus say something to Slughorn before he went with Draco out of the room. When I got back to my group Harry had disappeared again, likely dragged away by Slughorn again. I broke off from the group to go use the bathroom.

On my way back I saw Harry coming back into the party looking stunned, if not a bit angry. I wondered where he had gotten off to. He spotted Ginny and started to make his way over to her but was cut off by Romilda Vane. She handed him a box, of what looked liked chocolates before he was able to take his leave, stuffing the box into his cloak pocket.

The rest of the evening, harry seemed a bit distracted and I was dying to know why. He didn't know I had seen him, but he hadn't brought anything up.

An entire week went by, and Harry still hadn't mentioned anything. I told myself I convinced myself there was something there when there wasn't. Perhaps he was just looking troubled from being around Slughorn so much.

Finally it was Friday night, the next morning we would leave for Christmas break. Hermione was going home for a bit, as was Neville. Harry was going home with Ron straight away. We were all going to meet at the Burrow for a few days over the holiday. I had almost gone straight to the Burrow, but Severus had told me Voldemort would likely want to train so I told them I would just come for a few days over break like everyone else. I also wanted to spend some time with Severus. Blake was going to come home with me and Severus for break, then just go home for a few days over the real holiday. We had told his parents he would be training with us, so they would let him come.

That night following my classes I was exhausted so I went upstairs to my bed for a quick nap.

As I came down the stairs I hadn't meant to eavesdrop but when I heard, "I'm sure Snape said he wanted to help Hermione," come out of Harry's mouth there was no way I couldn't listen in.

I hadn't talked to Severus all week, there hadn't been any need to. I was curious about Draco, but if he didn't want me to be a part of that, I was trying my best to respect his wishes-to his face at least. I'm sure I could just ask Draco about it over break at his party.

"What did he say exactly?" Ron asked.

I peered around the corner and saw just Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting all alone in the common room. This wasn't uncommon for this time of night. Everyone would normally be around the castle at this time of night, only coming back when it started to get closer to curfew.

"He saw he made an, uh, Unbreakable Oath?" Harry said it liked a question.

"Unbreakable Vow," Ron clarified, "But why would he Vow to help Draco?"

"I still don't understand, what is an Unbreakable Vow?"

Hermione answered him, "Well it's a vow that unbreakable. If you do break it, then you die."

"Why would Snape ever agree to helping Draco at that expense?" Harry wondered out loud, "Unless it's got something to do with some Death Eatery. What if he's helping Draco hurt Dumbledore? I know Draco is the one that gave Katie that necklace, and I think it was supposed to be for Dumbledore."

I heard Hermione answer, "There's no way he would be helping to hurt Dumbledore. How many times have we thought he was up to something and he wasn't? Besides, we are Jessica's best friends!"

"Yeah," Harry said a little angry, "That means it's our job to keep her safe. If her father is up to no good, we have to figure it out so we can keep her safe from him. You saw how chummy she was with Malfoy, she's either being deluded and lied to, or else there's a lot we don't know."

Ron sounded hesitant to agree with Harry, "I don't know mate. I mean Dumbledore trusts him and Jessica trusts him. Those are two of the greatest wizards of our time and they trust him, I don't know if we know enough to go against them. Didn't you say Draco didn't really want his help anyways."

After a pause came Harry's voice, "Yeah he did. It sounded like he thought Snape was going to take away his glory. Probably because he wants to take all the credit with Voldemort!"

I was done with this conversation, they were getting too close to the truth of what was happening. I mentally cursed Draco and my father for talking about this somewhere where they could be overheard by Harry.

I walked the rest of the way down the stairs pretending to yawn, "Hey guys."

Their heads snapped up and it was hard to hide the ashamed look Hermione and Ron had on their faces. Harry on the other hand had a defiant glint in his eye.

I stood in the cold with everyone as they boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home. I would stay with Severus for a little while until we apparated home.

I blushed a bit as I hugged Neville goodbye, "I'll see you at the Burrow right?" Neville confirmed.

I nodded. I was glad that Ron had invited Neville this year too. I had stressed about what to get him for ages, but I had finally picked out what I believed was the perfect gift. I was going for half of Christmas Day and a few days after that to the Burrow. Neville was coming Christmas evening too, so we could all exchange gifts that night.