Chapter 87: 87 The Next Step

The next day, Harry, Hermione, and Neville used a combination of spells to ensnare, entice, and entrap ten more ghosts. It was the most they had ever done in a single day and they celebrated by pretending supper that day was a feast in their honor.

They only had the four House ghosts left, and those they knew they weren't going to be able to get. For the last few weeks, The Bloody Barron never left the dungeons where the Slytherin House was, The Grey Lady never left Ravenclaw Tower that was opposite Griffindor Tower and housed Sir Mimsy De Porpington who hadn't been seen in a month, and the Fat Friar that lived in the basement just past the kitchens was a no-show.

Of course, they knew that if they did try to do anything with those particular ghosts, they would definitely get into trouble. They were the House ghosts and were supposedly mascots or something, even though they didn't actually do anything. That wasn't the worrying thing for them, though. It was the rumor of a fifth ghost. One that was invisible most of the time and would only appear when it was sure of getting away after playing a trick.

“It's a poltergeist.” Hermione whispered that night in the Griffindor common room. “His name is Peeves and according to one of the Ravenclaws that Lavender talked to, Mister Filch knows him.”

Harry was surprised by this, especially since he had spent the better part of three whole weeks with the caretaker and Missus Norris and hadn't seen or heard about anything like that. When he thought about it, he guessed that his own presence there must have kept the ghost, or poltergeist at bay. He smiled at this, because it meant that the remaining ghosts were afraid of him and by extension, Hermione and Neville.

“I think we're going to have to accept that we're not getting them.” Harry said.

Hermione frowned and opened her mouth to speak, so Harry took her hand and held it.

“They are actively hiding from view now. I'm sure we might stumble across them at some point, when they get bored and want to venture out into the castle. Until then, we have to be patient.” Harry said.

Hermione sighed. “It's just so nice to walk down the corridors and not get frightened by a fluttering curtain or a groaning voice, because it's not an actual ghost doing it.”

Harry and Neville both nodded in agreement.

Hermione tightened her grip on Harry's hand. “As long as we stay ready to cast the immobilizing spell, I think you're right. We can relax about the ghosts until they show themselves.”

After that, they went to bed to rest up for classes the next day. They didn't get new material for either Charms or Transfiguration, so for the three of them, they were pretty much self-study periods. The teachers didn't stop Neville from sitting next to them, as long as he kept quiet. They cast the silence spell and did their practice spell work without letting anyone know what they were actually doing.

Most of the week passed by without incident. Wednesday was Hedwig and flying day, so Ron joined in on the group during the lesson and they had a great time. The next day passed and then it was Friday. A fateful day for a few people, because it was Double Potions day.

Harry carried his trunk along, as he always did, because it let him carry his potion things without trouble, unlike every other student, except for Hermione, Neville, and now Ron. Once he knew the secret of the trunk and why Harry carried it around, he had asked, quite sheepishly, if Harry could take his things, too.

The problem Harry now had was that he had converted and given his normal cauldron to Nicolas Flamel. He only had the solid gold one to use and there would be no way to hide it. He handed Hermione her things, Neville his, and Ron took his with thanks. They set up at the two tables at the front of the room and Harry was the only one to not bring out his cauldron.

Professor Severus Snape strode into the class and the door shut behind him. He walked right up to his desk and turned around to glare at the class, as was his normal behavior, and he spoke.

“Some of you... have failed to fully prepare your ingredients.” Snape said and let those words linger in the air for several moments. “However, since I have been instructed to teach you, regardless of the state of your ineptitude, I have adjusted your ingredients to match those of your classmates.”

A few people were quite happy to hear that, since they had barely finished half of their ingredients. The ones that weren't happy were Harry, Hermione, and Neville. After everything they had been through in that class, they knew that their hard work was now being shared with everyone and their ingredients would be less than ideal.

This was confirmed when they retrieved their ingredients from the box they were stored in and all of the seals had been opened. Half of their prepared ingredients were perfect and half were what the other students had done. They didn't complain as they took them back to their desks, since complaining would only earn them docked points.

“Your brewing must be precise, so follow the instructions on the board.” Snape said and tapped it to make the writing appear. “Be sure to have your cauldron up to the proper temperature before starting.”

Harry put his hand up.

“Yes, Mister Potter?”

“Can we fix our ingredients while the cauldron heats up?”

Snape gave him a particularly intense stare and Harry diverted his eyes and read the instructions on the board. “Are you... unhappy... with your work?”

“No, with yours.” Harry said, to several gasps.

Snape strode over to Harry's table and sneered at him. “Would you care to repeat that?”

“You are supposed to be an expert potion maker. You could easily have fixed the other ingredients to give everyone the best chance to make the potion, right?” Harry asked and Snape didn't respond. “Instead, you made us all have the worst possible ingredients. How are we supposed to do it properly if you ruined it for everyone, even the ones that had proper ingredients beforehand?”

“Ten points from Griffindor.” Snape said. “A student shouldn't question a teacher's teaching methods.”

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“Can I pass in my potion right now to get an Acceptable grade? I did all the work and you said as long as I did it, I would get that grade.” Harry said.

Snape looked down at the ingredients and back at Harry. “It doesn't look like you did it all.”

A few of the Slytherin students laughed.

“Those aren't my ingredients.” Harry said and pushed them aside and produced all of the ones he had made the week before. Each one was still sealed and perfectly prepared.

Several gasps came from the Griffindor girls.

Snape stared at the ingredients and didn't comment.

“I guess I have to stay and brew it, then? Let me just get my cauldron.” Harry said and reached into his trunk and slowly lifted up the solid gold cauldron. He was very careful and put it onto the table with a heavy thunk. Even in the moderately lit dungeon room, the gold glinted and glittered.

There were shouts of surprise, several more gasps, and even one shrill shriek. Harry suspected that one was Lavender and glanced around to see that her mouth was covered with her hand.

“Quuuiet.” Snape said in his signature drawl and silence fell across the room. “Mister Potter.” He said and looked at him in the eyes. “Where did you get that cauldron?”

“I bought it.” Harry said, completely truthfully. “You all saw the delivery last week.” He said and looked around to take his eyes away from the professor's searching look.

Snape let out a huff, a bit surprised that the boy had left him such an obvious opening. “Unless you brought enough to share with the class, you cannot use it.”

“I brought enough to share with my friends.” Harry said as he turned back to face front.

Hermione gasped this time and the entire class started talking and whispering loudly.

“Prove it.” Snape said.

“Okay.” Harry said and reached into his trunk and lifted out another solid gold cauldron. He struggled a little with it and Hermione helped him plunk it down onto the table. “Neville? Give me a hand with yours.”

Neville ran over and he and Harry carried his back to Neville's and Ron's table.

Harry went back to his table and everyone thought he was done. “Ron? Give me a hand with yours.”

“MINE?!?” Ron yelled, his face burned red, then he ran over and helped Harry carry his solid gold cauldron to his table.

“Help me with Lavender's, will you?” Harry asked Ron.

“IEEEE!” Lavender squealed and then slapped both of her hands over her mouth.

Everyone stared as Harry and Ron carried over the gold cauldron to her table.

Lavender had tears in her eyes as they plunked it down onto her table. “H-H-Harry... oh, Harry.”

“Is that it?” Ron asked, just as surprised as everyone else.

“There's one more.” Harry said and they went back to his trunk. “I knew as soon as I took mine out, people would freak out about it.” He said and the two of them tried to lift the large cauldron.

“Ugh, I think we need another set of hands.” Ron said. “Oi! Neville!”

Neville came over and with the three of them struggling, they barely lifted the heavy thing over the lip of the trunk. They let it thunk onto the stone floor with a solid metal twang sound that carried through the classroom and rang in everyone's ears. They were all completely silent at the sight of the large solid gold cauldron that no one in their right minds would ever buy.

“Whew! That thing is heavy!” Harry said and stood up straight as he looked right at Snape. “Happy Christmas, Professor Snape.”

The entire class completely lost all decorum and pandemonium ensued.

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