DEVOTED , h. granger

forty two.

"ron reckons i should just hang back after potions this afternoon."

"oh, well, if won-won thinks that, you'd better do it." maeve rolled her eyes, slamming down he chalice on the table at once. "after all, when has won-won's judgement ever been faulty?'

harry looked startled. "what's wrong with you? what's happened with you and ron?"

ron scowled, avoiding maeve's gaze as he chugged down his drink.

"nothing." she spat, and hermione rolled her eyes, turning to harry.

  "they've had a row because seamus made a joke about clover working her way through our friend group, and maeve laughed." the girl explained.

"i hardly even laughed, ron's just being sensitive." maeve mumbled.

"no, you were basically saying she doesn't like me." ron grumbled back.

"no, i wasn't! of course she bloody likes you, she snogs you enough! i just thought the joke was funny, that's all."

the red-headed boy looked unimpressed, but he relaxed his shoulders a bit with a hum.

hermione scoffed at both of them, before turning to harry. "well, i'm going to the library later to pick up some textbooks for maeve, so i'll see if i can find anything about these horcruxes." 

SLUGHORN WAS CALLING FOR SILENCE FROM the front of the room. "settle down, settle down, please! quickly now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! golpalott's third law... now, who can tell me—" hermione immediately raised her hand. "miss granger can, of course!"

hermione recited at top speed: "golpalott's-third-law-states-that-the-antidote-for-a-blended-poison-will-be-equal-to-more-than-the-sum-of-the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separate-components."

"precisely!" slughorn beamed. ten points for gryffindor! now, if we accept that golpalott's third law was true..."

"you can breathe when you talk, hermione." maeve teased, and the muggle-born nudged her in her sides, holding a small smile.

"...which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion's ingredients by scarpin's revelaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in of themselves, but to find that added component which will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements—"

maeve pretended to nod off at his words, harry and ron chortling along with her.

"...and so," finished slughorn. "i want each of you to come and take one of these vials from my desk. you are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!"

hermione had left her stool and was halfway towards slughorn's desk before the rest of the class had realised it was time to move, and by the time harry, ron, maeve and ernie returned to the table, she had already tipped the contents of her vial into her cauldron and was kindling a fire underneath it.

"it's a shame that the prince won't be able to help you much with this, harry." she said brightly as she straightened up. "you have to understand the principles involved this time. no short cuts or cheats!" she looked extremely pleased with herself as the others uncorked their potions.

maeve did not have the faintest idea what he was supposed to do next, so she glanced at her girlfriend, who was now waving her wand enthusiastically over her cauldron. unfortunately for her, she could not copy the spell she was doing because she was now so good at non-verbal incantations that she did not need to say the words aloud.