chap10pg2

Harry opened the letter, and instantly saw that it was from Hagrid. He read it aloud.
Dear Harry, Ron, and Hermione,
Sorry to tell ya, but my �business� has been delayed.
I�ll be gone for another few months.
Hope ya like yer new teacher.
Talk to ya soon,
Hagrid

�Oh no,� Hermione said, �I can�t believe that he�s going to be gone so much longer!�
�Fleur�s a good teacher,� argued Ron.
�Obviously you would think so,� said Hermione bitterly.
�Alright guys,� Harry interrupted, �We all miss Hagrid, but Fleur isn�t a bad teacher either, so I don�t know what you�re arguing about.� Ron and Hermione stopped bickering. They agreed with Harry, but they still stayed with their opinions.
The next day, Ron was out of the hospital wing. He still had a small mark where he was hit, but it was fading. Students in every house besides Slytherin came up to Ron, congratulating him on such a fantastic job as keeper. Even George and Fred were talking about his great saves. Ron seemed very proud to be recognized, and he walked around the hallway holding his head a little higher that day.
The next day Gryffindor had potions with Slytherin. Harry took his seat and waited for the right moment to interfere with Malfoy�s potion. Ron, who knew what Harry was about to do, did all he could to keep from laughing. Snape told them to begin mixing their Malaclaw bite remedies. The students began taking out their ingredients. Harry grabbed some kamla powder from his bag to add to Malfoy�s mix of zedoary roots and skin of asafetida.
While Malfoy�s head was turned, Harry tossed some of the powder into the pile of ingredients. He shuffled silently back into his seat. As he cut, mixed, and grinded his ingredients, he waited eagerly for Malfoy to add the sabotaged ingredients. But, Malfoy was busy telling his partner about how much money his father was being paid to stay in the ministry. The time passed as Malfoy lazily cut his bezoar leaves into small squares. Harry was getting angry at how slow Malfoy was going, but he couldn�t do anything to get him to speed up. As the lesson came to a close, Malfoy still hadn�t added the ingredients. As the students packed up their work, Snape told them that they would finish the potions tomorrow.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione left the room, Harry told them why Malfoy�s potion hadn�t exploded in his face. They were at the other side of the room, and couldn�t see what went wrong.
�He never added them,� Harry said angrily. �He was talking the whole time to his partner, and he never got around to adding them.�
�Stupid git,� muttered Ron.
�Wait a minute,� said Hermione, �This is perfect!�
�How so?� asked Ron.
�Well you see, tomorrow we can all sit as far away from Malfoy as we can. That way, Snape can�t suspect us when Malfoy�s potion explodes!�
�You know what, Hermione?� said Harry, �I think we�ve had a bad influence on you�� Hermione giggled as they walked off towards lunch.
The following day, they moved their seats as far from Malfoy as possible. Luckily for them, Malfoy had chosen a seat near the opposite corner of the room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sniggered in the corner of the room. The students retrieved their ingredients from their bags and started mixing. Harry stared with impatience as Malfoy slowly added the different ingredients. The three watched with bated breath as he idly picked up the zedoary roots, and dropped them into the bubbling cauldron. It started to fizz and bubble out of control. Malfoy, quite alarmed, looked straight into the cauldron.