Irresistible Poison DRARRY

Irresistible Poison - Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Chances

The magic of love is the ignorance that it can ever end.

Harry sat on the floor of the Restricted Section for a long time, staring off at the darkened shelves with unseeing eyes, the book laid open next to him. His mind was reeling with an endless stream of thoughts, which were coherent one moment, and then fell apart the next. A tiny, furtive movement to his right caught his eye — Harry finally stirred, then sat up straight.

He strained in the dimness, until he realised that it was only a small brown spider, scurrying along the edge of one of the lower shelves. He relaxed, and leaned back against the wall. A wave of sadness washed over him as he thought of Ron once again. Every time a spider showed up in their dormitory, Ron would protest loudly until Harry took it outside. Now Harry's eyes followed the unconcerned spider as it spun a fine thread, and lowered itself to the floor; he did not obstruct its path. The spider scuttled into a shadowy corner, and then out of sight.

Harry picked up the book with a sigh, and decided to make the best of his stolen visit. After bookmarking the page on Love Potions, he browsed through the rest of the book, lingering with interest on the Loss of Substance potion — it was on the preceding page. Draco hadn't been lying, after all.

So was the distant iciness in Draco's voice not a lie, as well?

* * * * *

The next morning showed the true damage to the relationship between the two Gryffindor boys more starkly than ever. Harry discovered that the insidious tension was just as bad, if not worse, than Ron's fits of screaming rage the night before. That had been an explosion, which had to be faced and dealt with; but now, this cold hostility was like a thorn embedded deep, bringing an awful, nagging pain that would not go away.

Seamus, Dean and Neville sat up in their beds and watched in surprise as Ron strode out of the dormitory early that morning, slamming the door behind him. Shortly after, Harry got dressed and quietly slipped downstairs as well. As the door closed softly this time, the other three boys traded meaningful looks.

"Now, it seems that the Snog Appointment didn't go as well as planned," Seamus observed. "Ron looked as if he'd collided headfirst with a storm cloud."

"Agreed," said Dean, rolling his eyes. "If we ever need a volcano in the background for a school play, Ron would be the perfect human prop. Even got the flaming red on top of his head."

"What happened, d'you think?" Neville asked curiously.

"Well, judging from his hellish mood, Ron definitely didn't get much action," Dean answered.

"Maybe he got chanced upon and passionately mauled by Millicent Bulstrode?" Seamus suggested. "That'd really explain things. Though Harry's behaving rather suspiciously, so I reckon that he's got something to do with all of this. I wonder what..."

"Hermione was back in the common room rather late last night," Dean offered. "And Harry sneaked into the dorm even later."

"So who snogged whom, exactly?" Neville persisted.

"Aha," Seamus said, with a devious smile. "That, my friends, is for us to find out."

* * * * *

Once he left the boys' dormitory, Harry made his way down the stairs. At the back of his mind, he knew that Ron had gone out to the Quidditch field for some quiet time alone to himself. It was still far too early for breakfast, and no one else was up yet — but as he had expected, he found Hermione waiting for him in the common room. Her eyes were bright, but filled with worry.