Third Place - Angst

Harry was still uncomfortable remembering his behavior after the Welcoming Feast. It had been two days and he had not set eyes on Malfoy since, but the rest of the school wouldn't let him forget. He had been given strange looks and a few daring souls actually came up and asked him why he had acted so weak. Ron ran interference for him and explained several times that Harry had been hit by some sort of hex or spell. Hermione spent her extra time in the library looking for any spell or curse called Subicio but had reported that she had come up with nothing so far.

Harry feared that she wouldn't be able to find the counter-curse, or, even worse, that she would tell him that nothing like that existed and Harry would have to figure out why he had wimped out like that. Harry's thoughts swirled around the incident and he really tried to figure out what exactly he had been thinking when he had been pinned to the wall. All Harry could remember feeling was the need to do and be whatever Draco wanted. He even remembered being a bit afraid of Malfoy but that the need to please Draco had been stronger than even the fear. The overall compulsion had been to give himself to Draco, which was not something Harry was going to admit to anyone.

"I wonder how awful Snape'll be this year?"

Harry shared a grimace with Ron and Neville as they made their way down to the dungeons. Neville was quite obviously dragging his feet as they came closer and closer to the classroom.

"Cheer up, Neville," Hermione said. "It can't be any worse than any of the other past years."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Neville took a deep fortifying breath and stepped through the threshold. His friends followed right behind.

The potions classroom was as it always had been. Cauldrons every where, rows and rows of jars filled with all sorts of grotesque and vile things. It was still dark and gloomy and still slightly damp from all the condensation.

"What on earth?"

The Gryffindor boys closed in around Hermione to see what had gotten her riled. In her hand was a card with a name on it. She looked up with disbelief.

"We have been assigned seats." She gestured to the back of the class. "Look! All the Gryffindors have been placed in the back!"

"That is the only place for Gryffindors."

Hermione turned her outrage to the Slytherin part of the room, which happened to be the front of the room. All the Slytherins were placed in the first three rows while the Gryffindors were assigned to sit in the back two.

"I can not believe this!" Hermione turned back to her friends. "We are not first years who can't find their way around a cauldron." She waved her hands towards the rear of the class. "And to be placed in the back! I mean, that is just clear house favoritism."

"Hermione, calm down before we have to change back."

"What?" Hermione spun to where Ron was already sitting in his assigned seat. He was calmly taking out his book and parchment. Hermione stared in clear disbelief as the rest of her housemates were happily finding their own name cards and settling in.

"Hermione darlin', we for one are quite happy to be as far away from old hook nose as possible," Seamus Finnigan drawled as he passed her and went to sit next to Neville. Hermione was clearly at a loss for words and turned to Harry who was still at her side.

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said. He placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled gently. "We won't miss anything back here. The classroom isn't that big. And besides, this way we'll be closer to the supply closet and be able to get the best ingredients first."

Hermione chewed those words over and finally gave in unhappily and allowed Harry to lead her over to their seats next to Ron. Harry had been given a seat in the last row all the way at the end furthest from the door.

"Nice to see Snape still cares," he quipped. The other Gryffindors all chuckled but were cut off as the classroom door opened to admit their nemesis, otherwise known as Professor Severus Snape.

Snape did not look at the rear of the room once during the entire period. Neither did he walk further than half way down the aisle before turning back towards the front of the room. He did not hover over anyone and barely said anything at all to the Gryffindors. When Seamus's cauldron bubbled over, Snape merely snapped "Clean it up immediately. Zero points, Mr. Finnigan." And went back to discussing potion color with Pansy Parkinson.

"Hey, I just figured out what's missing," Dean Thomas whispered to his friends. "Malfoy's big mouth."

"Yeah, where's the git got to?" Seamus said as he mopped up his slimy mess.

"Maybe Snape thought he was too brilliant and just passed him without any work," Ron whispered sarcastically.

"Well, I noticed he wasn't making any scenes at mealtimes. He hasn't been there since the Welcoming Feast," Neville never took his eyes off his stirring ladle as he whispered that observation.

"Geez, you don't think he's getting his meals catered, do you?" Ron asked. The others all chuckled.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for talking in class."

No more words were said.

Indago - Chapter 5

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