𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒

Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Kiss

Snape hunched over the boiling cauldron, contemplating its swirling depths. It had been a month since that accident and he was no closer to discovering what had gone wrong with the potion than the day it happened. Idly stirring the clear candied-apple scented mixture, he sighed. Obviously, the normal attempts were not working. It would be unfortunate if Draco had to go to St. Mungo's, but at this rate...

The potion bubbled merrily away and still Snape thought. There was obviously a piece he was missing. He strode to the pensieve Dumbledore was letting him borrow and prodded its silvery depths with his wand. He had searched this memory over and over for any sign of what had caused the mistake.

Yet something still bothered him.

The classroom around him altered as the memory sifted into place. Draco and Potter were squabbling, per usual. No doubt the Potter brat had started it. Snape's view shifted as he had been observing Neville at the time, who was one step away from utterly destroying the potion. A few moments later, Snape had glanced back at Draco to see how he was doing-fine, by the looks of it. He seemed to be directing Potter in a most efficient manner, encouraging him to cut the Mandrake Root properly, something Potter did not seem too pleased about, judging by his stormy expression.

Snape paused, and sucked in his breath, his dark eyes traveling down to the cutting board. It was only the briefest of moments, but he could have sworn he saw a glimmer of red.

The memory suddenly fast forwarded. Potter had gone to the sink where he was talking with Granger. He hadn't noticed this before; instead he had been watching the other students, wondering if someone had dared to alter the potion.

"Harry, you're bleeding!"

Potter withdrew his bloodied hand, but almost as quickly the wound had vanished. Granger, in her usual thoroughness had healed it almost instantaneously.

"I didn't even know it was cut!"

No doubt, Potter-the dull wit that he was-told the truth.

The memory faded away, and a thin smile came to Snape's lips. At last, the mystery was solved.

Professor McGonagall greeted the class in her normal briskness, "Good Morning students. Wands out, please."

Usually, that meant an interesting lesson and the class did so promptly.

"Today, we will be studying a little differently. It is a rare spell employed, not overly difficult, but often overlooked in the textbooks. In fact, our book makes no reference to it whatsoever. However, I thought that it might come in handy-especially for the students here at Hogwarts."

For some reason as she said that she gave Harry a significant look, as well as a young girl in the classroom, Eloise Midgen-known for her extremely bad acne.

"Class-could anyone tell me what a 'Glamour' is?"

Harry paused. A glamour-the spell that Draco had used to cover his scars.

Almost before he realized it-his hand was in the air, beating Hermione to her usual privilege.

"Mr. Potter?" by her tone, one could tell the professor was surprised by Harry's hand, but Harry didn't notice.

"It's a spell used to cover something on someone's body. Only the caster can see his original-er-blemishes-and those that he trusts..." Harry faded away. That seemed about right.

She eyed him sharply, and Harry flushed under her gaze. Maybe he didn't have the dictionary definition like Hermione, but he had given a decent stab at it, he thought.