Too Much?

3

The remaining school days appeared to be tough even to the Slytherins, considering their natural hate in doing schoolworks. Piles and piles of homeworks are being served to them everyday, that even Pansy forgot to roll her eyes at Astoria or Granger every Potions class. The class appear to be the one of the most difficult, and Pansy's concoctions appear to be worse every single day. She never failed Potions, and though she hates to admit it, Granger never did as well. But the latter is also having a hard time to successfully complete every task, too and Pansy deemed it to be very unusual that Potter is the only one to get things right. If she remembered it right, Potter was terrible at Potions for the past five years, not to mention the fact that Snape is doing everything to make his life miserable at the subject.

"What do you think about Potter, Blaise?" she asked one time when they were doing homework for Charms in the common room, right after she told him her suspicions about Potter. Blaise could only shrug his shoulders. "Well, you said he got that lucky potion. Maybe he's using it everyday."

"But that's illegal! And it's just a vial-you don't reckon a small vial would last even for a month?"

Blaise is still scribbling in his parchment when he replied, "No, I don't think so."

"Certainly!" exclaimed Pansy, before looking away, drifted in her thoughts. I know there is something...but what is it? What is it that he got that nobody else have?

"You must know, you can certainly die by doing absolutely nothing, but those homework would never be finished on their own," Blaise remarked, pulling her out of her thoughts. Pansy grunted in annoyance, but proceeded to work anyway. After all, a failing grade is still a lose of pride. And no, there's no way she would allow the others to make fun of her.

The next weeks became worse, that Pansy totally forgot to play the role of Draco's girlfriend. She began rushing her meals, and not only that—she began eating too much, too. Once at breakfast did Blaise had enough to call her attention. "Pansy, you're eating too much!"

Pansy paused at this remark, a huge sausage is still on her fork. She noticed Millicent grinning sarcastically at her, and she gave a rude hand gesture in return. Before the latter could respond, the owls started arriving, dropping mails and packages to their owners.

Pansy's toffee-colored owl dropped a fine envelope; she recognized her father's handwriting immediately outside the envelope. She did not even bother to open it and her attention was caught immediately by Potter's voice from the Gryffindor table. Potter got a package, and Pansy caught a glimpse of a new Advanced Potions book. She felt the realization slowly dawning upon her at the sight of it. She drank her goblet empty just before her breakfast disappeared, then whispered hastily to Blaise, "In the common room, let's go!"

Once they're there, she told him what Potter got in mail this morning. "He got a new book, I knew it! The secret to his success is the book he borrowed from Professor Slughorn!"

"And now that he got a new one, you don't reckon he would return the old one back?"

"Of course he would!"

"Well, if I were Potter, and it's true that the old book does wonders, I would probably not give it back. I would give the new one in exchange."

Pansy paused to think for a moment. "I don't think he's cunning enough to think about that."

And Blaise proved himself to be right, because when Pansy tried to borrow a book from Slughorn with the excuse that she temporarily lost hers, the old book he lent her happen to be not old at all. It has a battered cover, but the pages are all good as new. Of course, she was extremely frustrated, knowing that Blaise would have the last laugh.