Seeing Penny sit down opposite him, with bruises forming on her face, Harry imdiately demanded, "What happened to you?" Alard at the state of his friend, as he examined her further. She looked like she'd just gone through a boxing match with a heavyweight like Mike Tyson.
"Potions." She answered, just as several other sixth-year Ravenclaws sat down equally bruised or worse. He looked around, noticing several other individuals were sporting similar injuries as they got stuck into their lunch.
"Care to explain? Or do I need to prank soone?"
"No, Harry, just an accident in Potions." Penny replied, selecting so sandwiches and salad, doing her best to ignore his stare demanding more information. "We were brewing a modified Calming Draught, one used by di-witches and wizards to help calm individuals in shock." She answered, before taking a greedy bite of her sandwich, grimacing as she chewed and flexed her bruised facial muscles.
"Unfortunately, Reese missed a step or two, and then added crimson root to the mixture, causing the cauldron to explode. That in itself wasn't too bad." She explained.
"Professor Snape saw what was about to happen and cast a shield, taking much of the force out of the explosion. But due to missing Valerian, it corrupted the potion turning it into a substance similar to Draught of Rage, which coated two-thirds of the class. And... well, after that it quickly turned into a full-blown fight, fists and wands. Due to the potion's effects, stunning spells were useless."
"Oh, anyone seriously hurt?" He asked, his mind playing out the scene Penny had just created.
"Nothing that can't be repaired with a night or two in the Hospital Wing, for the most part. However, Reese took the worst of it; he may lose his hand." She said soberly as several other Ravenclaws listened in quietly, the hall was surprisingly sober.
"The problem is that the mixture has to wear out by itself. So Potions is cancelled this afternoon as Professor Snape tries to create an antidote to counter it, or at least speed up its effects, otherwise they'll be raging for the next couple of days. And that puts a lot of strain on their bodies."
"Ah..." He said grimly, picking up an apple, rembering his own Potions lessons the year earlier when Justin caused his simple boil cure potion to explode, covering half the room with minor burns and boils.
"Just shows why Professor Snape's so stern, when that can happen with just an advanced potion. Just imagine what could have happened if you were brewing an expert-level potion, or sothing far more dangerous?" Penny reasoned.
"Yeah..." He answered as his mind started thinking over just how deadly potions could be as he thought over the number of potion brewing accidents he'd seen. Before his mind grabbed hold of an idea; if potions could explode by simple accidents, why couldn't you make one explode on purpose? Like a grenade? A ntal image of Snape desperately throwing exploding potion vials at an advancing horde of undead popped into mind for so reason, shortly before they dragged the professor off to get his hair washed.
"Harry?" Penny's voice rang in his ears, snapping him back to reality.
"Yeah?" He asked, realizing he'd spaced out as he ntally started drawing up design ideas for potion grenades, making note to ignore Terry rambling on ways to get back at Snape, since his fellow Ravenclaw had dreams of bewitching a horde of undead to drag the professor into the lake to wash his hair.
"You weren't listening, were you?" Penny stated with a hint of annoyance, giving him a stern look.
"Sorry?"
"Well, I need to brew so anti-bruising paste since they ran out in the Hospital Wing, so can I use your lab?"
"Sure, why not, I'll join you." He replied easily, accepting her request. "That's one of the potions I need to learn for this year anyway. Plus I wanted to ask you about sothing in private." He hinted, deciding it was ti to ask Penny if she wanted to join his 'study group'. They really needed to decide on a na for their group.
They reached the potions lab, only to see an Auror standing outside the door, who did nothing but nod at them as they entered, which Harry was grateful for.
"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Penny asked as she made herself comfortable on a stool.
Taking a stool across from her as his own, he started things off, "Well, last year and Daphne were trying to find a place to study without being disturbed, kind of like a private common room, where we could hang out and talk in private."
"So that's where you have been sneaking off to..." Penny wondered, clearly happy about having an answer to his disappearing acts.
Harry nodded, and she gave him her best stern look, which wasn't very effective, considering her face was just a giant bruise. "So what does this have to do with ? I doubt this is the average study group?" She comnted, once again reminding him why he considered her a friend.
"Well, naturally this is a study group, but we also talk about personal matters, such as possible business ideas and joint ventures." He listed, growing confident as he saw Penny's eyes light up. "We talk about politics and our future roles. It's also a good chance to make so deeper connections. Daphne's dad, for instance, is very well respected in the Ministry, and being on good terms with Daphne could only help you if you're still set on a Ministry career."
"So, it's a chance to get closer to the Greengrasses through Daphne then?" She asked, clearly wondering what else was going on.
"If you want," He shrugged, choosing his words carefully, "Padma's there, Tracy, and Blaise too, and of course myself, all of whom are heirs to respectable families. Consider it a ans to gain so additional contacts and allies. Think of it this way, you can help them out and a couple of years down the line, you could have so favours to call in to help you move up the Ministry."
"What if I'm not interested in the Ministry anymore?"
"Favours are always a good thing to have, Penny." He replied instantly, staring into her eyes, which were rather beautiful. That was sothing he was starting to notice more and more lately, the attraction of the opposite sex. The point was driven ho as he felt her leg brush against his under the table and felt a pleasant tingle. "What do you say?"
...
Harry made himself comfortable on one of the couches with Penny at his side as everyone slowly started to arrive over the next 30 minutes. They did this mainly so they didn't draw any unwanted attention to their eting point. It was their first chance to et since the opening of the Chamber of Secrets a couple of days earlier.
Not that they really had anything to hide, Harry's friendship with Daphne and Tracy was common knowledge amongst the Slytherins and most had no issue with it, except a few extremists who saw anyone non-Slytherin as beneath them. After all, Slytherin and Ravenclaw often had alliances because they could both value each other. Of course, Draco and his gang had a problem, but that was mainly because they just disliked Harry on a personal note rather than because he was a Ravenclaw.
You could say their little group was exclusive, or selective in nature, rather than outright secretive even if their eting place was. Sadly, not everyone would see it as that, but that was to be expected. People don't like or trust things they don't understand, or couldn't be a part of. He was sure that, in ti, people would want to join and be rejected, and naturally spread rumors, trying to paint them as sothing sinister. Honestly, if everyone was allowed to join, it wouldn't be exclusive, would it? It was invite-only.
He watched as Daphne and Tracy finally arrived, followed by Blaise. "Sorry we're late," Tracy said, "We had to dodge so Aurors, and had to lose a nosy tail." She explained, taking one of the free chairs.
"Who followed you?" he asked, leaning forward in interest.
"So generic Auror, no one we know," she said dismissively, clearly not thinking highly of them.
"The staff told all Prefects to watch for any unusual behavior amongst the students," Tonks revealed to the group. "It would make sense that the Aurors have similar orders."
"Know anything else?" Harry interrupted, trying to distract his cousin from questioning why Tracy was so uncaring towards Aurors. He knew why, of course; Tracy's father had been murdered, and the Aurors just dismissed it, hence she was of low opinion of the law enforcent departnt, but it wasn't his place to say that.
"The running theory is soone just ca into a bloodline inheritance as a Parseltongue over the sumr, or maybe just before the end of last year. Naturally, since most well-known wizards that have been Parseltongue have all been dark wizards, like You-Know-Who, they decided to carry on the family business... you know, kill all Muggleborns," Tonks said, breaking her questioning look at Tracey. "The Aurors believe it could be an illegitimate child of You-Know-Who, since he's the only known one in the last century."
"So the Headmaster hasn't told the Aurors the truth then..." he said, thinking over everything as the room descended into silence, both Penny and Tonks giving each other confused looks before finally an annoyed Tonks asked, "Are we missing sothing?" clearly not liking being left out of the loop.
"Sorry," he admitted, realizing he hadn't told either of them of the plot.
"We already knew of the Chamber," Daphne picked up.
"You knew?" Harry's cousin asked, clearly shocked.
"Yes and no," Daphne answered cryptically for him. She moved her gaze from Tonks towards Harry. "It seems your informant was correct about the plot," she said. Next to her, Blaise looked equally confused as the two girls, before he rembered why, whilst Penny and Tonks had similar confused looks.
"For those of you that don't know what we're talking about," Harry said, gesturing to Daphne, Tracy, Padma and himself, "Over the sumr, an information broker of mine overheard a plot being set up by Lucius Malfoy to take over the school, by using an artifact to open the Chamber of Secrets.
Of course, nothing happened when we ca back, so naturally we dismissed it, thinking Lord Malfoy may have canceled the sche after the events of the sumr," he explained, referring to Sirius' release.
...
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