A Twisted Web We Weave

CHAPTER 7

“You’re doing it wrong.” Malfoy snapped irritably as he grabbed the knife from Harry and pulled the board with the mangled pieces of Durand bulb over towards him. Harry went to protest but could do nothing as he watched as the blonde Slytherin easily sliced through the hard outer shell of the bulb and began carefully scraping the tiny seeds out from inside. With nothing to do now Draco had taken over his job Harry took out his diary and began quietly noting the changes the potion was going through in the cauldron bubbling before him.

It had been three weeks since school had started back for the New Year and Harry was just barely surviving Potions with Draco Malfoy as a lab partner. The pair was tolerating one another if you could call it that. There was certainly no love loss between them and if either of them made a mistake the other was quick with a sarcastic barb. Harry although was genuinely impressed by how good Draco was at potions, his own inadequacy showing themselves in even the basic of potion practices. It had come to Harry’s attention very quickly that he unlike the other students who excelled in the subject was still only just managing to pass. Yet again the question of why Snape had allowed him into the class was brought into his forethought and that was what he was thinking about now as he watched the potion simmering in the cauldron turn from a clear colour to a blood red.

It didn’t register for a moment that something had gone wrong and it was only as the pages of Harry’s diary began to swirl violently in front of his eyes that he realized something bad was happening. As if in slow motion Harry stood to his feet hardly noticing the burn on his hands as he reached for the cauldron intent on putting the potion down the sink. Dimly in the back of his mind Harry could hear Snape shouting at him, but for the life of him his brain wouldn’t function long enough to allow him to make out the words. Beside him Harry watched as his blonde lab partner fell to the floor limply, as did the two Hufflepuff’s at the bench behind him. Again Harry dimly heard Snape’s voice but he couldn’t seem to remove his hands from the burning iron of the cauldron’s hot edge as the potion inside began to bubble violently and spill over onto the bench. In a dream like state Harry watched as a familiar black figure began dragging students from the classroom around him, the shouting and cries hardly registering in his mind. Finally though he felt the dull sensation of hands grabbing him and prying his own hands away from the cauldron. Managing to break the fog in his mind but unable to move Harry’s head lolled backwards on his body as he too was dragged from the classroom.

“Potter! Potter!” Harry didn’t remember much else after the door of the potions room sealed shut behind him, and it wasn’t until several minutes later that his mind finally registered the actual words that were being spoken to him. Blinking as the last of the fog in his scrambled brain left Harry was shocked as he stared up into the face of Snape who was now roughly slapping his cheek, while his other hand was holding open the boys eyes so that he could look clearly into them.

“What?” Harry managed to mumble as his motor functions slowly began to return to his body. If Harry hadn’t been still floating he’d have been sure he saw an expression of relief sweep over his potion professors face before the man stood up from the floor beside him. It was then that Harry was made aware of all the faces staring down at him, and then he realized that he was lying flat on his back in the corridor outside the potions classroom. Slowly Harry sat up and groaned as his head spun as if he’d flown to high on his broom. “Bloody hell what happened?” Harry whispered as surprisingly a familiar blonde haired Slytherin helped him up from the floor. Harry was a little shocked that Draco was helping him and stared at him strangely as the boy began to answer, not a hint of his usual malice in his words.

“We must have picked up a wrong ingredient from the cabinet. We created a silencer potion, its fumes are deadly. It’s a silent killer and you don’t know what’s happening usually until it’s too late.” Harry frowned and shook his head still feeling the after affects of this deadly potion they’d supposedly created.

“No, I doubled checked the labels, everything on the table was what was on the list on the board. I even wrote it down in my diary” Harry glanced up as a small vial of yellowish potion was pushed into his chest.

“Drink it, your hands are a mess.” As if noticing it for the first time Harry glanced down at his hands to see the big red blisters beginning to form on his palms where they’d been burnt by the edge of the cauldron.

“I didn’t feel it.” Harry whispered as he pinched the potion vial between two of his unburnt fingers and easily drunk down the liquid. “Yes I know, but you will when the fog created by the poison begins to leave your system.” Harry swayed a little on his feet and Harry was surprised as Snape moved to his side and grabbed hold of his arm in support, as did Draco on the other side. “Fuck it’s got a kick.” Harry whispered as he allowed the professor and the blonde to walk him easily into another side room where he was placed gently down on a chair in the middle of the unused classroom.

“Your luck yet again saves the day Mr. Potter, your quick thinking possibly saved the entire class.” Harry looked up at Snape still trying to comprehend what had actually happened. “Admittedly though I am somewhat perplexed by how you two turned a relatively harmless anti aging potion into its deadlier form, or how you came by the ingredients to do so in the first place, or how you Mr Potter could have told the difference between the two exactly the same potions and then had the forethought to add cold water in an attempt at diluting it?” Harry swallowed nervously as Snape folded his arms angrily across his chest, determined to get an answer to his questions even if he had to stand there all day. Harry glanced across at Draco in confusion and for the first time the blonde looked completely speechless as he shrugged his shoulder in reply.

“I don’t know how sir. We just followed the instruction in the text, and we have no idea where the extra ingredients came from, all the bottles of ingredients were from the cabinets, and Potter swears he doubled checked the labels before we began.” Draco looked quite frankly fearful of what Snape was going to say or possibly do next and Harry watched as Snape nodded before turning his glare to where Harry was still sitting in his chair, just now beginning to feel how painful the burns on his hands were.

“Potter? How did you know the difference?” Harry could have sworn Snape was glaring at him accusingly; as if it had been his fault everything had gone to the shithouse.

“It turned red.” Harry whispered as he closed his eyes trying to remember what had happened before and during the fog that had settled in his mind.

“What?” Snape snapped sharply almost in disbelief.

“The potion, it turned red. I remembered you said in first year, potions were never red, only poisons, so I went to tip it down the sink but I….” Harry trailed off as he tried to remember why he hadn’t been able to actually tip the cauldron.

“No Potter, the potion didn’t turn red. The silencer is deadly because it can be easily mistaken for other potions; it’s a clear colour like water and is virtually undetectable. The fumes don’t smell and you can’t see its vapor. You have no idea it’s killing you until you’re face down on the floor drowning in a pool of your own inner fluids. The potion did not turn red Potter.” All the while Harry shook his head determinedly at the professor. If there was one thing Harry remembered in the mayhem it was the colour the potion turned, and it was so clear in his mind.

”I’m telling you it turned red.” Harry spat nastily as his hands began to throb painfully.

“And I’m insisting Potter that this phenomenon is impossible and that the only way you could have known what was bubbling in that cauldron was if you’d added the extra ingredients yourself in full knowledge of what you were making.” Harry opened his mouth to protest already having seen where this was heading but almost immediately Snape cast a silencing charm on him and Harry was left without a voice. “I will hear no more of this argument Potter. I have been one of the leading potions masters in the wizarding world for over twenty years, there is not a potion currently in production that I do not know about. I do not know what sort of stunt you pulled today in my classroom or what you hoped to achieve by doing so but what I know for sure is there is no other way that potion of yours could have been transformed into ‘silencer’ without either yourself or Mr. Malfoy deliberately making it so.” Snape was glaring at Harry who without a voice merely opened his mouth wordlessly in an attempt at protesting. “Gentlemen consider the next two months on detention with me, and I think Dumbledore will agree with me that you should both be banned from this weekends Quidditch match.”

“But sir….” Draco finally found his voice as Snape surveyed the shambles of his class who had reluctantly taken up seats in the, dusty disused classroom across the hall from their own sealed off lab.

“Draco don’t push me, you my boy are walking a thin line already and I would advise you to keep your mouth shut less you wish for me to double the detention.” Almost instantly Draco shut up, his head falling to his chest to allow the blonde fringe to fall into his face like a protective curtaining. Harry had never in his entire school career seen Snape chastise Draco, in fact it occurred to Harry that the start of the new year had seen Draco seemingly no longer in Severus favor what so ever. There had been no usual favoritism and handing out of house points, and every mistake Draco had made Snape it seemed had jumped down his throat for it. “Now Draco please escort your lab partner to the infirmary and then you will both report to me after dinner to begin your detention. All of you get out of my sight!” With an irritated flick of his hand Severus dismissed his class, all of whom didn’t wait to leave, and scurried off towards their next class, minus of course their things, which were still sealed off in the poisoned lab.

Still a little shaky on his feet Harry let Draco guide him through the dungeons and up towards the infirmary. The two boys didn’t speak and neither of them met the strange glances the other milling students were throwing at them. Finally in relative quiet of the first floor infirmary corridor Harry spoke, unable to hold his tongue for any longer, especially now the silencing charm had worn off.

“Why did you stick up for me?” Harry whispered as Draco steered him into the hospital wing and sat him down on the end of a spare bed.

“Because I know you didn’t do it and neither did I. That potion was perfect.” Draco whispered as he casually shrugged his shoulders and sat himself beside Harry on the end of the bed to await Madam Pomfrey.

“I’m surprised he got up you, he usually just blames me for these monumental cock ups.” Harry glanced cautiously across at Draco who chuckled sarcastically a small bitter smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Yeah well that was before this summer, things have changed.” Draco muttered as he fiddled with a loose thread hanging from the cuff of his shirt.

“Yeah my summer pretty much sucked as well.” Harry whispered sharing the boy’s deep sigh as both sat side-by-side swinging their feet over the edge of the bed. “So how come he hates you now?” Harry inquired feeling strange about having a civil conversation with his enemy of five years.

“He doesn’t hate me he’s just pissed off because I chose him. It’s not like I got a choice or anything, and it doesn’t help that Julius is here, he’s not making things easier.” Harry frowned in complete confusion but wisely kept his mouth shut as Draco tugged the threat on the end of his sleeve to hard and tore a small hole in the fabric. “This sucks we didn’t do anything wrong, someone must have labeled the ingredients wrong in the cupboards.” Draco changed the subject quickly back to their present situation, and at that very moment the mediwitch strode through the doors and over to where the two boys were sitting.

“Show me!” The witch barked sternly at Harry who held out his sore and swollen hands. Harry watched the witch sigh heavily before flicking her wand. A moment later two large steel buckets appeared in front of Harry on a trolley and the mediwitch pointed to the buckets that held a green, sticky looking slime of some kind. “Put them in and leave them there for an hour, then I’ll come back and take another look at them.” With that the mediwitch strode off into her little office at the end of the ward leaving Draco and Harry alone again, and sitting miserably on the end of the bed.

Reluctantly Harry plunged his hands into the two buckets and shivered at the horrible sensation it was. Draco watched with sympathy before sighing and flopping back onto the bed in exhaustion.

“You don’t have to stay, I think it’s about lunch time anyway.” Harry glanced over his shoulder at Draco who had put his arm over his eyes and was quietly whispering something to himself that Harry couldn’t hear.

“Nah it’s okay, I’ll stay.” Draco replied shocking Harry a little that the blonde actually wanted to stay in his company. “I can’t face that lot at the moment, their like wolves ready to tear me limb from limb if I should mess up.”

“That lot?” Harry inquired not quite sure what Draco was talking about.

“My housemates Potter, the Slytherin’s.” Draco spat back watching from between his parted fingers as Harry nodded in realization, although it was clear the boy was still confused. With an exaggerated sigh Draco sat up and turned his face so that he was staring directly at Harry. “Do you ever get the feeling you’re being manipulated to suit someone else’s grand plan?” Harry bit his lip for a moment before answering, wondering if it was a trap. However as Harry stared in Draco’s blue eyes he realized the boy was being completely serious.

“Yeah, all the time.” Harry whispered as he flicked his hands around in the slime buckets where his fingers were beginning to go numb.

“Yeah me too. My Dad volunteered me for this apprentice program, made me chose a mentor from a short list of people he considered a good influence. The only name I actually recognized on the list was Snape’s so I chose him. Now he’s pissed at me, I’m not entirely sure why but he is.” Draco rested his head on his hands as he stared down at where Harry’s blisters were beginning to heal in the green slime.

“What do you have to do in this program?” Harry inquired watching as Draco look across at him sadly, his expression telling Harry far more than what Draco could ever explain.

“Just learn stuff from him I figure, I don’t really know how it works having never bothered taking an interest in Dad’s dealings…” Draco cautiously avoided making mention of the death eaters, but Harry knew instinctively that this was what this whole program was about. “It’s put Snape under heaps more pressure and now he’s being watched more closely what with me being his apprentice and all. I figure that’s why he’s really pissed with me.” Harry nodded quietly and watched as Draco stuck his finger in the bucket of slime and let the sticky green gunk drip off the end of his finger back into the buckets on the trolley. “So why was your summer shit?” Draco inquired casually as Harry twiddled his fingers again in the buckets.

“My godfather died, I got beat up by my fat cousin and his friends, and I thought about trying to run away but lost the nerve.” Harry whispered having finally been completely frank with someone about how completely shitty his summer had actually been.

“Shit, your life’s a bitch too.” Draco whispered having hardly flinched at hearing Harry Potter had thought about running away.

“Yeah.” Harry muttered as he finally couldn’t stand it any longer and pulled his hands out of the buckets of slime, revealing that the blisters on his hands had healed but his palms were still pink and raw. “Listen Draco, why are you…I mean why are you talking to me we hate each other.” Finally Harry couldn’t wait for an answer to the burning question inside of him and Harry watched as Draco looked up at him sadly.

“Want the truth Potter?” Draco whispered, waiting until Harry nodded before continuing. “Well I’ve got no one else to talk to. My dorm mates threw me out of my dorm on the second night and won’t talk to me because they’d found out I got to choose who my mentor was and they didn’t. I’m sleeping in the first year dorm now. Snape refuses to acknowledge my presence without shouting at me, and so the only actual person who has talked to me these past three weeks is you as my lab partner.” Draco lowered his head to his chest and avoided eye contact with Harry who was now gently patting his sore hands dry on a clean towel he’d found on the rail of the trolley.

“Wow that’s a bitch.” Harry muttered as he inspected his hands noting quietly that the burnt tissue had gone leaving behind the pink raw new skin which was tender to touch but not sore like before.

“It’s cool though right, I mean me talking to you. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, we’re not exactly friends are we.” Draco glanced up cautiously at Harry who shrugged his shoulders casually.

“I don’t care, you’re okay when you’re not being an arsehole.” Harry smiled at Draco who nodded in understanding. So this was what a truce felt like between Draco and himself, Harry was stunned.

“Detention is going to suck, so much.” Draco whispered as he changed the subject again back to their present situation.

“Yeah but maybe we can convince him we didn’t do it.” Draco shrugged his shoulders dubiously but nodded in agreement as madam Pomfrey came out of her office and strode down the ward to inspect Harry’s hands, which he held out in front of him for her. With a cursory glance over the boy’s hands she nodded and dismissed both boys as she wheeled her trolley of green slime back to where it had come from. Harry and Draco dropped down from the end of the bed they’d been sitting on and with a mutual silence both of them made their way downstairs where hopefully something was left of lunch.

TBC>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>