𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟎𝟑 - 𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙆𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙎𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙊𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙖'𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙨.

In fact she and Harry had gone back and forth over the difference between Phee and the Half Blood Prince... her arguing that Phee was considerably more trustworthy than some shady randomer whilst Harry believed that knowledge was knowledge and he was a good teacher.

Harry had Herbology first thing the following morning. He had been unable to tell Ron and Hermione about his most recent lesson with Dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being overheard, but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch toward the greenhouses. The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse.

"Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who," said Ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed this term's project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. "But I still don't get why Dumbledore's showing you all this. I mean, it's really interesting and everything, but what's the point?"

"Dunno," said Harry, inserting a gum shield. "But he says its all important and it'll help me survive. "

"I think it's fascinating," said Hermione earnestly. "It makes absolute sense to know as much about Voldemort as possible. How else will you find out his weaknesses?"

"So how was Slughorn's latest party?" Harry asked her thickly through the gum shield.

"Oh, it was quite fun, really," said Hermione, now putting on protective goggles. "I mean, he drones on about famous exploits a bit, and he absolutely fawns on McLaggen because he's so well connected, but he gave us some really nice food and he introduced us to Gwenog Jones. "

"Gwenog Jones?" said Ron, his eyes widening under his own goggles. "The Gwenog Jones? Captain of the Holyhead Harpies?"

"That's right," said Hermione. "Personally, I thought she was a bit full of herself, but --"

"Quite enough chat over here!" said Professor Sprout briskly, bustling over and looking stern. "You're lagging behind, everybody else has started, and Neville's already got his first pod!"

They looked around; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit.

"Okay, Professor, we're starting now!" said Ron, adding quietly, when she had turned away again, "Should've used Muffliato, Harry. "

"No, we shouldn't!" said Hermione at once, looking, as she always did, intensely cross at the thought of the Half-Blood Prince and his spells. "Well, come on . . . we'd better get going. . . "

She gave the other two an apprehensive look; they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them.

It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair, and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again, and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside, and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood.