Riddle Me This

Chapter 38

Catherine's POV

Next morning in potions, Harry and Ron came in late, which surprised me because Hermione had told me that neither of them was going to do potions this year because they didn't get high enough on their O.W.L.s. So in they came, and Slughorn continued to ask what the concoctions he had brewed up may be, and dear Hermione was the first to raise her hand.

"Well, that one there is veritaserum, it's a truth telling serum. And that one is polyjuice potion, terribly tricky to make. And this one is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world." And as Hermione started to talk about Amortentia, the scents I'd been smelling began to make sense. The forest on a crisp spring morning, my grandmother's sweet pies, and Draco's cologne. I had thought he had put a little too much on this morning, but apparently not. I smiled as I bumped Draco lightly.

"What do you smell?" I whispered. Draco sighed.

"Chocolate truffles, the quidditch pitch before a game and..." He blushed and looked away. "You." I smiled shyly as I slipped my hand into his as I told him what I smelled. Then all the scents were taken away as Slughorn covered the cauldron. Well, except for Draco's cologne. Which wasn't to strong, but made me feel a little fuzzy inside.

It was then that Slughorn told us what was in a vial he had out. Slughorn told us it was liquid luck, and whoever could brew the perfect batch of living death within the last hour, would get a small vial of it. Well, let me tell you that it was a nightmare. Complete hell. And by the looks of Hermione, she looked like she would like to drown herself in her cauldron. I glared at my instructions, trying to remember if I had ever brewed it with Snape, only to remember I never brewed anything with Snape outside of Hogwarts. I followed the directions as closely as I could, but decided that the Liquid Luck was not worth my time, and gave up, perching myself as I watched Draco.

Now, he had always been good at potions, and watching him brew was fantastic. The way he'd be so careful to measure out ingredients, or cut/crush. It all made me smile fondly.

"Miss. Smith, is there something wrong?" Slughorn asked. I turned to him and shrugged.

"I gave up. I don't need Liquid Luck for anything." Slughorn looked slightly baffled.

"Well, why would you give up? Professor Snape had told me you were exceptional at potions. You got an O on your O.W.L.s in it and everything." He said, frowning slightly. I shrugged again.

"Living death isn't going to help me heal people, professor. And I don't mean to be pick and choosey or anything like that. I just don't want the prize. That and I'm getting pissed off, and the last time a potion pissed me off, I went from brewing the potion for the lesson, to trying to make my own." I was about to say more when Draco cut in.

"Please don't let her start experimenting. She causes more explosions than Finnigan." He said and then smirked at me. I pouted.

"I made a damn good potion last year that worked as a cauldron cleaner and instantly evaporated into a therapeutic vapor when finished." I said, crossing my arms and sticking my tongue out at him.

"Mature." Draco responded. I frowned as I then turned back to my cauldron and began brewing my own potion. By the time I was done, I had made a potion that solidified as soon as it was taken from the cauldron and turned into a snake that ate the unusable parts of ingredients used and disposed of them properly. I had written everything down and turned to Draco with a smile as I pointed to my cauldron.

"Not Living Death, and it didn't blow up." I said proudly. He rolled his eyes.

"Alright, I'll give you this one." Draco said. Once Slughorn had finished his rounds, Harry was the one to make the perfect batch of Living Death. Which was weird because I remember him HATING potions. Though that may have just been Snape. I don't know.

After class I caught up with Hermione in the library.

"Hermione, I need to talk to you about something." I said as we sat down in a more secluded location.

"What's that?" She asked as she pulled out her books. I took a deep breath as tears began to fill my eyes.

"We... We can't be friends anymore." I barely got the sentence out, but the look on Hermione's face almost killed me.

"Why not? Cat, what's wrong? Is this because of Malf-"

"No!" I interrupted quickly. "No. It's just that... with my father back... things are going to be different. Things are happening, going to happen, that are completely out of my control. And... And I don't want you to get hurt." I explained. "So in order to protect you... until Harry defeats my father... we can't be friends. I will still stand up for you, Hermione. I will do anything I can to make sure you're safe. But in order to make sure that happens..." I trailed off. Hermione looked upset, but took a deep breath.

"I understand. I don't agree, but I understand." She sighed. "You're going to him at the end of the year, aren't you?" Hermione asked. I nodded slowly. "Cat, you don't have to-"

"I do." I said. "I'm a bloody coward. I don't want to die. And if that means I have to act like daddies perfect girl until Harry takes him out, then I'll do it. I can't protect you if I'm dead, or in hiding. His men have been looking for me. Papa's been feeding my father and anyone who comes to him lies on where I am. I don't know what, but it's kept them from finding me. After this year, I won't be able to hide anymore." Hermione nodded.

"Promise me you'll be safe." She said, obviously very upset about everything.

"Only if you do too." I said back. Hermione nodded. "We should probably make sure we have a cohesive story to tell the others on why we don't spend time together anymore, or why we aren't friends." Hermione nodded.

"Well, we can make it simple, or complex."

"Simple. And I can think of one. We just fell out of it. Something changed. I mean, I'm spending more time with Draco than I am you as it is, and we're both stressed out. Just a simple, we stopped hanging out, and it just sort of died on its own. But I still stand up for you when anyone says mudblood because I was raised not to use that word and that it's something not to be spoken."

"And I can stand up for you because it's a school rule not to judge students on their parents." Hermione added. I nodded and walked around the table, sitting next to Hermione and giving her a big hug.

"I'm gonna miss you." I said as Hermione hugged me back, the both of us crying slightly.

"I'm gonna miss you too."

"Make sure Harry and Ron keep their heads on. They're completely lost without you." I mumbled into her shoulder.

"And you make sure the Slytherin's stay in line. They're complete tossers otherwise." We both gave a quite, pathetic laugh to that. I stood then, wiping my eyes.

"I'll see you when this is all over."

"See you later, Cat." I smiled softly, as did Hermione, before I grabbed my stuff and left, heading straight to Snape's office and crying my eyes out as I told him what had just happened.