The Battle Inside {Completed}

Chapter 5

Harry's POV:

I stepped out of the compartment and into the open with my invisibility cloak and darkness powder.

I was headed for Malfoy's section of the train- Slytherin. I threw the darkness powder around me and then rushed to throw on my cloak and listen to Malfoy.

I heard Pansy cooing next to him, and I cringed.

"Hogwarts is a waste of time, now." Malfoy sneered easily. Blaise laughed, and Malfoy silenced him with a glare.

"Are you sure Draco?" Pansy wondered.

"Yeah, Pansy. Especially with Potty, Weaselbee and Mudblood." he retorted. "And that knock off Bumblebee Dumbledore." I winced at the name calling and watched everything from the luggage rack above. I panicked. Draco had seen me move.

Everyone got off the train. Draco stayed behind. He grabbed his luggage and mg heart pounded as he closed the door.

"Mind your own business, Potter." Draco sneered. He kicked me in the face, hard.

Suddenly the door opened after a few minutes. It was Luna. She muttered a spell that uncovered me, and I breathed heavily.

She had on strange glasses. She helped me up. We walked the rest of the way.

She silently fixed my nose, or at least I thought. I nodded gratefully, but winced in pain.

We both hurried of to our house tables after a long lecture from Professor Flitwick. Ron looked happy to see me, and Hermione looked relieved.

"Why is he always covered in blood?" Ginny demanded worriedly.

"What happened?!" Hermione interrogated.

"Not now!" I hissed in return. Dumbledore cleared his throat and told us about why we were in danger.

We went to sleep that night fairly early, for we knew the hardest classes were to come.

Ron and I sauntered through the halls. We finally found a suitable "watching post", which was really just a ledge where we stuck our feet to see everything and laugh during our free period.

"Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonogall yelled over the ruckus.

"Uh oh..." I muttered. I began to walk over to her, but sensing how slow I was, she came up to me.

"Mr. Potter, do you mind me asking what you and Mr. Weasley are doing here?" McGonogall demanded sharply.

"Free period." I answered simply.

"So it is no longer your ambition to become an Auror? I thought you would like to fill that with potions. Slughorn is perfectly fine accepting students with Exceeds Expectations on their Potions' NEWTS." McGonogall countered.

"Oh, I'll go there then." I promised.

"Good," she approved. "And take Mr. Weasley with you, he looks far too happy over there."

"Come on, Ron." I ordered. He nodded, and I noticed what caught his attention. Lavender Brown was staring at him. I yanked him away and we headed for Slughorn's classroom.

"Come in! Come in! Harry, Mr. Weasley!" Slughorn welcomed us. Hermione looked a little shocked, but managed to keep a straight face. She had just finished reciting the names of the currently brewed potions on the table.

We went to the cupboard to retrieve potion books. Inside, there was an old, tattered book and a new one. We fought over the new one, and Ron snatched it first. I groaned and took the old book.

"This is Liquid Luck," Slughorn explained as he showed us the tiny bottle. "Everything will go your way with this...until the effects wear off. I will give it to whoever brews an exceptional drought of Living Death, the instructions will be found on page 10 of your books." He waited for the rustling of pages to end before finishing. "You may begin!"

I slowly opened to the first page of the book. Someone had written Property of the Half-Blood Prince inside of it. I scowled deeply. I decided to make the best of it, and turned to page 10 to begin. Words were written all across the pages. I struggled to read the actual writing but found the side notes quite helpful. Silently, I glanced over at Hermione. She looked desperately into her cauldron. I felt a little sorry for her.

"Crush it, it releases the juice better." I informed her.

"The instructions specifically say to cut!" she snapped in return. I took a step away from her and continued to follow what the book said. Soon, Slughorn came around to inspect our work. He passed by Hermione's, and raised his eyebrows at Ron's. Hermione looked shocked, and her hair was ascew in different directions. Slughorn came up to my potion and dropped a leaf in it. The leaf dissolved with a slight hiss.

"One drop of that could kill us all! Harry is the winner!" Slughorn announced. I tried to grab the Liquid Luck, but he held it just out of my reach. Finally, he handed it to me.

As we walked back to the common room, Hermione glared furiously at me. I just shrugged a little, causing her to stomp off.

Ron and I continued on our own.

"Harry?" Ron questioned.

"Yeah?" I replied. I sighed, and my hand brushed the glass window among the stone.

"Do you think Lavender Brown likes me?" he whispered, his voice was barely audible above the chatter.

I snorted, "Ron, you're mental..."

"C'mon, Harry! Up, up, up! Quidditch tryouts today! Show 'em who's boss!" Seamus Finnagin chanted. I groaned audibly-Ron and I had stayed up late last night going over Quidditch tactics. I looked to my left and saw Ron trying to pull the covers further over him, but by the way Seamus was yelling, I knew all of the boys would be up regardless within minutes.

I got up slowly and retrieved my Quidditch uniform, which was still rather smelly from the last match. I grimaced at the smell and reluctantly put it on.

Hermione was waiting for me down in the Gryffindor Common Room, and she adknowledged and smiled at me.

"Where's Ron? Oh, well, nevermind! Hurry up! Let's get a bit to eat before your tryouts." she advised tersely. I only nodded as we hurried down the staircases. The thought of possibly crushing people's dreams made me grimace.

We were sitting at the tables, and Hermione had her nose in the Daily Prophet. This would be an interesting tryout.

"Let's go, 'Mione."