Me and You // Ronarry {Discontinued}

Part 18

Summary: Harry holds Quidditch tryouts; first Slug Club party

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

Harry felt his face grow warm at Ron's words. Hermione, though, was frowning.

"You really shouldn't have said it," she said.

"Lay off him, Hermione," Ron said. "It was brilliant."

He threw an arm over Harry's shoulders and ruffled his hair.

After lunch, they had a free period, which was unfortunately spent on Snape's homework instead of relaxing. Then it was off to the dungeons for Potions. Only a dozen students made it to N.E.W.T. level.

When they entered the classroom, Harry wrinkled his nose. "How much cologne did you use?" he asked Ron. And how was he only just noticing?

"How should I know?" said Ron indignantly. "Your shampoo is overpowering everything else!"

Hermione frowned. She seemed to be doing some quick thinking, but she didn't get a chance to share whatever it was on her mind. Slughorn had started class.

Hermione, unsurprisingly, was able to name all of the potions Slughorn had set out for them to look at, including Amortentia.

"You recognized it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?" Slughorn said.

Hermione nodded, eyes bright. "And the steam rising in characteristic spirals, and it's supposed to smell differently to each of us, according to what attracts us..."

Oh.

Harry deliberately didn't look at Ron, though out of the corner of his eye he could see Ernie raising his eyebrow.

He made himself concentrate harder, keeping his eyes on the pages of the Advanced Potion-Making copy Slughorn had given him. It proved to be more effective than he thought, almost too effective; Harry could hardly read a damn word with the scribbles in the margins.

Crush with flat side of silver dagger, releases juice better than cutting, he managed to read. Worth a shot, Harry decided. He borrowed Hermione's knife and was amazed when his potion turned into the lilac as described.

Ron looked across the table at Harry's potion in disbelief. It looked even better than Hermione's, and that was saying something. Upon closer inspection, he glimpsed the margins, which had been written in. If he had more time, he bet he could have fixed his own potion, which had the consistency and appearance of tar.

"And time's... up!" shouted Slughorn. "Stop stirring, please!"

He passed between the tables peering into the cauldrons and it came as no surprise to Ron when Harry was announced the winner. Hermione, though, looked thoroughly disappointed.

"I suppose you think I cheated?" said Harry irritably once at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"Well, it wasn't exactly your own work, was it?" she said stiffly.

"None of the books are our own work," Ron pointed out. "Even the instructions Snape left on the board weren't ours. Honestly, Hermione, it's not a big deal."

Throughout the next two weeks, however, Hermione grew more and more bad-tempered. Even Ron, as much as he stayed out of it, wasn't all too keen on the book. Oh, well. At least Snape wasn't teaching Potions anymore; he'd probably be even more furious with Harry than Hermione was.

"Quidditch tryouts today," Harry said. "Although it's probably gonna take a while. Don't know why the team's pretty popular all of a sudden."

"It's not Quidditch that's popular, Harry, it's you!" Hermione said impatiently.