Emotions Running High
Summary: On a mission for S.P.E.W, Hermione accidentally gives Harry a healthy dose of emotion enhancer potion. What will happen when Harry's emotions are running high?
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Harry Potter.
Note: I completely redid this story. My original version had a HG/SS pairing as well- I cut that out (sorry to all those shippers!) and put in a scene in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I think this is funnier and follows the plot better.
Hermione slipped through the portrait hole and into the kitchens. Immediately, several house-elves rushed at her, squealing with offers of food and drink. The instant they recognized her, however, they all stopped short and eyed her warily, from what they deemed a safe distance. Only Dobby ran up and hugged her, yelling "Miss Hermione Granger!"
"Hello, Dobby," she said, attempting to pry him off her legs. "How are you? You look- Are those my hats?"
He moved back and beamed up at her. "Yes, Miss, and Miss's socks, too. Dobby has been taking Miss' clothing, for Dobby and Winky, Miss."
She stared at him, then at the other elves in astonishment. "You didn't want the clothes? All last year, I knitted hats and socks for you, but you didn't take them?"
The house-elves looked a mixture of ashamed and defiant. "We did not want to be set free, Miss," one of them spoke up. His fellow elves murmured their agreement. "It is a disgrace to an elf, Miss."
"They would not clean Gryffindor's common room any longer, Miss," Dobby confessed. "Dobby did it all himself, Miss. But Dobby did not mind, Miss," he added, seeing and misinterpreting her crestfallen face.
"I- well-" she spluttered. They didn't understand! But that would change. She reached down and grasped the bottle hidden in her pocket, reassuring herself it was still there. She had brewed the emotion enhancer potion, like the Polyjuice potion, in the abandoned girl's bathroom. Once again, she had had to steal ingredients from Snape's cupboard. Thankfully, he didn't so much as mention it; he just shot lots of glares at Harry, once again assuming it had been her hapless friend. (Harry didn't notice. He was accustomed to Snape's sneers.)
She forced herself to put on a smile and asked politely, "Might- might I have some tea, please?"
The house-elves were shocked, but delighted. And they would never turn down a request for anything, so within seconds a tea tray was speeding toward her. After pouring herself a cup, she removed the bottle from her cloak and poured a small amount into the large pot. She'd done some research and found a way to turn the potion cinnamon-flavored, for the elves' further enjoyment. "Now," she said brightly, "I'd like it if you all had some with me!"
The elves looked at one another uncertainly. "Please," she added. The elves had never had an offer like this, and looked at it with suspicion, but it was their custom not to refuse anyone. They fetched themselves small cups and, one by one, drank the emotion enhancer-laced tea.
Hermione smiled in satisfaction. She intended, now, to begin yet another speech for S.P.E.W. In this volatile state, they should riot up, and then there would be liberty!
She stood up, opened her mouth, and the elves ran away. It took a moment for her to register that they were scurrying to the large stoves and refrigerators, and consulting a menu on the wall. In excited, high-pitched voices, they began fervently planning the next meal for the Hogwarts students.
"Young sirs and Misses must have bacon!"
"Much bacon, yes. And sausages, must have those!"
"Eggs! Eggs for the sirs and Misses."
"Yes, eggs. Sirs and Misses must have their eggs. And we must make many kinds of the eggs!"
Hermione, shocked, tried to get their attention, but soon found that it was useless to talk to the elves in their current state.
"Toby will do the bacon, sir."
"Good, Toby. And Twinkle! You must take care of the young sir's and Miss' eggs."
"Desserts for the young ones! They must have a fine dessert with their breakfast!"
Even Dobby was joining in with vigor. Hermione sighed. Discouraged, she made her way to the portrait hole and stomped back to the Gryffindor common room.
Back in the kitchen, the house-elves turned to hysterically debating the best way to make the pumpkin juice better tasting then ever. "Cinnamon!" Dobby shrieked, seizing Hermione's forgotten bottle of the emotion enhancer. "Cinnamon flavoring for the brave, wonderful, kind, noble Gryffindors!" The elves agreed in loud cheers as he emptied the bottle into one of the jugs of iced pumpkin juice that would, the following morning, head up to the Gryffindor table.
"Wow," Ron said, entering the Great Hall. "The house-elves sure outdid themselves today! Look at this breakfast. It's like the start-of-the-term feast again!"
Hermione eyed the packed tables and let out a disapproving "harumph!" They took their seats and she grudgingly speared a sausage.
Harry yawned hugely. "I'm exhausted," he said, pouring himself a goblet of pumpkin juice. "I stayed up practically all night to finish my homework. That Potions essay was one of the hardest we've ever had."
Hermione gave him a stern look. "You should have finished it long ago, Harry! We had a week to work on it!" He simply shrugged and yawned again. "Honestly," she continued, ignoring Ron's eye-rolling, "you'd think you'd be more grateful to even be in the N.E.W.T. potion class. You did only get an 'E' in your O.W.L., after all, and if Professor McGonagall hadn't come through on her vow to help you become an Auror-"
"Okay, okay," Harry mumbled, taking a gulp of his pumpkin juice. "Hey," he said, straightening up, eyeing his goblet. "This is really good!" He finished the rest of the goblet in one long drink, and eagerly reached for the pitcher again. He drank another gobletful, all trace of being tired gone. "It tastes like cinnamon," he said enthusiastically, pouring himself a third goblet.
"Cinnamon?" Ron asked interestedly. "Let me try."
"No!" Hermione shrieked. Gryffindors all up the table turned their heads. "No one drink the pumpkin juice!" she said quickly, reaching to tug the goblet from Harry's hands.
"Hey!" he protested loudly. "I like this stuff! It's like caffeine!"
"It's worse," she moaned. She pulled her wand out and muttered, "Evanesco." The emotion enhanced-pumpkin juice vanished.
"Awww, Hermione," Harry whined. "That was really really good! I wonder what they put in it? Maybe I should go ask Dobby! Yeah, Dobby!"
"Sit down," she hissed, yanking the back of his robes. "Just sit and eat, okay? I'll be right back." She walked up and down the table, pulling the jugs toward her and smelling them, ignoring the odd glances she got. They all seemed fine. She then gave the room a quick scan. No one at any of the other tables seemed to be having an odd reaction like Harry. He was currently bouncing up and down in his chair, stuffing eggs into his mouth while attempting to give his opinion to a startled Neville on the finer points of flossing by magic.
Hermione walked back to the table, mind working furiously. She had obviously left the potion in the kitchen, and the elves, for some strange reason, had put it into the pumpkin juice. Thankfully, only one jug, and she had vanished it. Harry was the only one who had gotten it into his system, and the potion only lasted 24 hours. So, she reasoned, everything was okay, as long as she could keep Harry in check for today. Of course, they had double Potions with the Slytherins, then D.A.D.A., both N.E.W.T. level, but she was sure things would be fine. What could go wrong, really?
She sunk back into her seat, but looked up a moment later as Harry jumped to the top of the table. "Hey everyone!" he yelled happily, waving. The people who hadn't already been staring at his odd behavior turned to look at him, mouths open. "I just want to tell you all- I'm coming out of the closet!"
People gasped. Some girls looked crestfallen, some males hopeful. Cho Chang looked absolutely shocked, and Ginny Weasley hit her head, earning herself a reproachful look from her boyfriend Dean Thomas. Most people simply looked confused. "Yeah, I'm gay!" Harry shouted, with a big grin on his face. "And I'd like to thank all of you for being so supportive!" He waved again and jumped down from his chair. "I'm going to head down to Potions, Hermione," he announced loudly. "Don't want to miss that class! One of the best!"
Ron jumped up. "I'll come down with you," he said quickly, not wanting Harry to be roaming the halls alone. To everyone's surprise, Ron had managed an 'O' in his Potions O.W.L., forcing a disgruntled Snape to take him into the N.E.W.T. Potions class. He later confessed to Hermione and Harry that, after his career talk with Professor McGonagall, he had panicked and studied frantically. After they left the Great Hall, followed by hundreds of staring eyes (none more shocked than the glances coming from the staff's table), Hermione plunked her head down on the table and groaned.
Ron walked a little ways behind Harry, who was skipping down the halls. Skipping. He had no idea what had happened to his best friend, but he had a suspicion it had to do with Hermione and the cinnamon-flavored pumpkin juice. However, after six years with the bushy-haired witch, he had finally learned not to question her when she was in an obviously bad mood. He just hoped this odd behavior wasn't permanent.
Harry suddenly wheeled around and ran back, bouncing on his heels. "I was thinking," he said breathlessly. "I'm in Gryffindor, right?"
"Er… yes, Harry," Ron said cautiously. "Are you sure you're-"
"So that means I'm brave, right?"
"I guess-"
"And I mean, I've acted brave. I've done some brave stuff. So I'm brave. And if I'm brave, I should do more brave things."
"Harry, what are you talking-"
"And it's brave," he continued, "to tell the guy you like that you like him, right? So if I'm brave, I should go and tell this guy that I like that I like him."
Ron was beginning to get nervous. Harry was standing way too close to him, and though he couldn't be sure what he was saying, he was talking about having a crush on a guy. No way it's me, he thought. It can't be me! Harry's my best friend. But, to be sure… He cleared his throat and asked nervously, "Harry, who exactly is this guy you like?" Please don't be me, he prayed.
Harry laughed. "Draco!"
Ron sighed in relief. "Oh thank Merlin… Draco Malfoy!"
"Oh, you know him? Isn't he dreamy?.." Harry sighed.
"I- do I know him? Dreamy? I- eww!"
"So you think I should go after him?" Harry asked brightly.
"Go after him?" Ron spluttered.
"Good! Thanks, Ron, you're a real friend." Harry patted his friend's shoulder and sped off to the dungeons. Ron stood staring after him. After a few minutes of senseless gaping, he heard footsteps behind him. A harassed-looking Hermione ran up.
"Come on, Ron, let's go to class," she said impatiently.
"Harry-" Ron choked out, his mouth open.
Hermione sighed. "I know he's acting strange, but believe me, it's a long story. It'll wear off. In the meantime-" here she fixed him with a severe glance "-we just need to stop him from doing anything stupid, okay?"
"Stupid?" Ron sputtered. "Hermione, you know what he's planning to do? He wants-"
He was cut off by Draco elbowing him in the side. "Stand aside, Weasel," he said coldly. His crowd of Slytherins snickered as they made their way into the dungeons.
"You'd think that after his father got thrown in Azkaban, he'd at least start to learn his lesson!" Ron fumed, his face turning as red as his hair.
"Maybe he did," Hermione said calmly, hitching her pack and heading toward the dungeons.
"Are you serious, Hermione?" he exclaimed in outrage, following her. "With that horrible attitude?"
"Well, look at Snape," she responded, shrugging.
"Snape! Ha! Don't even get me started on Snape!"
She shrugged again. "From what I've heard, Draco's mother was a decent person forced into the marriage. Remember, the pureblood wizards had little choice in spouses."
"What you've heard?" he asked in amazement. "Hermione, how do you hear this stuff?"
She bit her lip. "Snuffles told me that," she answered quietly. Ron fell silent and brooding. That is, until they entered the dungeons.
The Slytherins were already seated, as was Harry. He was not residing calmly, though- he was twitching in his chair, eyeing Draco. Suddenly he got up and strode over.
"Oh no," Ron moaned, grabbing his head. "I forgot, Hermione, Harry fancies Draco-"
She dropped her things on her desk with a loud clatter and gazed at Harry in dismay. "Oh, and with the potion… I hope he doesn't do anything stupid," she said frantically, watching him closely.
Harry put his hands on Draco's desk. When the blonde boy looked up, scowling, ready to tell him off, Harry leaned close and whispered, "Looking sexy today, Draco." He then ran to the corner of the room, giggling to himself. Draco stared after him a moment, then promptly fell out of his chair.
"Mister Malfoy!" A cold voice said. "What is the problem here?" Professor Snape glanced from Malfoy on the floor, to the hysterical Harry in the corner, to Hermione, who was blushing furiously, yanking her hair, and refusing to look at him. He sighed. Another typical day of Gryffindor/Slytherin Potions class. Thank goodness this was a select group of Gryffindors and Slytherins, though he couldn't imagine what he'd done to deserve the Dream Team again.
"Everyone back in their seats!" he barked. Even Harry, in his present state, quickly complied and fell silent. He turned to write on the board, ignoring Mr. Potter's loud whisper of "Class is starting! Everyone, listen close, I can't wait to learn!"
Two classes later, he was thoroughly ready to let them go. Harry Potter had insisted on blowing winks and kisses at Draco throughout the classes. In return, Draco had scowled at him and blushed bright red. None of the students had been concentrating on their potions, and he had had to clean up several explosions. The only person who had managed to complete their potion successfully was Hermione Granger, and he had no idea how she'd managed to do it. She was forced to spend most of her time yanking down Harry's arm and hissing and him to concentrate. Whatever it was that had possessed Potter, not even taking a grand total of sixty-seven points from Gryffindor through the class had snapped him out of it.
Hermione had been developing a major headache through the day, and it excelled into a migraine during potions. This feeling only worsened as she trudged up the stairs leading from the dungeon and her eyes took in the scene at the top of the stairs. Harry was clutching Draco's hand, reciting some Muggle poetry. Draco was trying desperately to pull away, but Harry held on tight. The rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins were crowded around, obviously unsure of what to do.
"Draco, I love you," Harry declared. Draco flushed red.
"Potter, what are you on?" he said, with an attempt at his usual sneer. His voice trembled.
Harry got to his knees. "Date me, Draco!" he said in a loud voice. "I can't live without you! Be mine! Go out with me, please!"
Hermione had the wild thought that, for a moment, it looked like Draco was going to say yes. But then he glanced back at his Slytherin crowd, who were all chortling, and managed to choke out, "When pigs fly, Potter!" With that, he yanked his hand away and stormed off, leaving a heartbroken Harry and confused Gryffindors behind.
Hermione bit her lip, feeling absolutely terrible. Ron simply decided to give up, leaned over, and banged his head against the wall.
Eventually, they all made it to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry refused to look up, picking moodily at his food. The house elves, still in a hyper state, had once again outdone themselves, but none of the Dream Team noticed. They weren't quite sure how they were going to survive the rest of the day.
Draco sat in Charms, earlier even then the teacher, absolutely furious with himself.
Potter liked him. Potter had wanted to go out with him. After three months of useless lusting, Potter had come out of the closet and chosen him. And after three months of telling himself that, should the chance come, he would leap on it, he'd let the stupid Slytherins scare him off. Damn, damn, damn!
She would never brew emotion enhancer potions ever again, Hermione decided. Harry was absolutely unpredictable. He'd managed to totally turn his depressed mood around and was dancing down the halls, singing tunelessly. He was a horrible dancer, too. Any other day she would have told him this.
"Hello, kids," Tonks greeted them brightly.
"Hello, Professor," Hermione responded dully. Tonks had become the new D.A.D.A. teacher- Dumbledore was more worried then ever about the safety of the school and wanted a trained Auror to teach the students.
"Hellooooo, Professor Tonks!" Harry sang out. He sat down in his seat, jumped up and sat down again. Then he jumped up, circled the classroom, and peered out the window. "It's a bea-utiful day, isn't it?"
"Whoa," Tonks laughed. "Who spiked the pumpkin juice?"
To her utter amazement, Hermione burst into tears. "I'm sorry!" she sobbed.
Tonks gingerly patted her back. "Hermione- Hermione, are you okay?"
She sniffled and moved away. "Sorry," she said quietly. She took her seat and stared fixedly at the desk. Tonks started to say something, but the rest of the class filed in. Tonks shook her head (today her hair was shoulder-length and blue) before speaking.
"Good afternoon!" she greeted everyone and was returned with smiles. She was a rather popular teacher, even among some Slytherins. "We'll be learning some intensive curses in the next few weeks, starting with the Reductor Curse today. It's simple, really, though it takes a fair amount of power to manage. The key word is Reducto, and you just point your wand at the target. Everyone, get up from your seats, please."
They obliged, some shooting excited looks at each other. Harry was positively giddy. The Reductor Curse was one of the curses he had taught the D.A. Parvati beamed- she'd been complimented on hers, and was looking forward to showing it off. Sure enough, Tonks was impressed at how many people in the class had already mastered it, after she cleared the desks away and set up wooden targets. "Harry taught us, in the D.A.," Hermione whispered to her after she turned her wooden figurine into a pile of dust.
"Oh well, that explains it," Tonks grinned, turning to compliment Harry. Her jaw dropped. He was blasting targets apart cheerfully, stirring up piles of ash. Neville Longbottom sneezed and waved his arm in front of his face. "Hey-! Harry-! Easy!" Tonks tried to tell him, but he blasted apart statue right next to Ron. Ron jumped back and tripped over one of the desks in the corner.
"Someone disarm him!" Lavender Brown cried nervously.
"Harry! Harry! Stop!" Tonks tried again, but to no avail. It was only after he'd blasted away all the targets in the room that he turned to Tonks with a big smile. She raised an eyebrow, but made a graceful recovery. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Nice Reductor Curse. Don't ever do that again."
After Charms, Draco bolted out of the room and toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, which he knew Granger and Potter had. He was lucky- he caught Granger alone, dashing out of the classroom before everyone else.
"Granger!" he said, pulling her into an empty hallway. "I need to talk to you."
"What do you want?" she asked, wearily. She had no energy left to be angry.
He looked down and shuffled his feet self-consciously. "Is Potter okay?"
She sighed. "He was upset, yes. Very moody during lunch… made a remarkable recovery during D.A.D.A… blasted the whole bloody room apart. He's under the influence of an emotion enhancer potion, you know."
Suddenly, things made sense to Draco. And suddenly, things looked very bright. "You mean, he really does like me? He just made it extra clear because of the potion?"
"Yes, Draco, he does like you," Hermione said. She glared at him. "And you were awfully insensitive, you know. The poor boy-"
"I know, I know," he interrupted. "I was horrible… and I was wrong. I… I like Potter. A lot. And I want to change what happened. But I need help- I know of this spell, but it's really advanced…"
Harry ate dinner quickly and in the same foul mood he had been in after the scene with Draco (Ron had completely given up trying to keep pace with his abrupt mood swings). He went to bed early and woke up normal. Hermione pulled him and Ron aside before breakfast and confessed what had happened.
He suspected he would have been a lot angrier with her if he hadn't been so damn tired and humiliated. He just wanted to forget the whole thing and nurse his wounds. Upon hearing this, Hermione burst into tears, proclaimed that they were the best friends ever, promised that things would look brighter in a few hours, and dashed down to the library. Not bothering to question her unpredictable behavior anymore, Harry and Ron ate the house-elves breakfast, which had also tamed down quite a bit, in silence.
In the library, thanks to six years practice at memorizing the layout, Hermione found what she was looking for within a few minutes. The spell didn't look too hard, at least not for her. She bookmarked her page and headed triumphantly to the front desk to check the book out.
Draco left the Great Hall a bit early and met Hermione in the corridor. "I found the spell," she announced proudly, opening the book. "You have the pig?"
"Well, I will," he said, pulling a quill from his bag. He quickly transfigured it into a rather large swine.
"Lovely," Hermione said, looking it over critically. She tapped it on the back and muttered the incantation that she'd learned in the library book. Two small white wings grew out of its back.
"No way can it fly with those wings," Draco said, furrowing his brow.
"To fly at all, actually, it would need wings impossibly big and extremely muscular for an animal of its size and weight," Hermione told him in a rather lecturing voice. "That's why it's called magic, Draco."
He resisted the urge to sneer at her. He was trying to date her best friend, after all; he supposed he'd better get on her good side. "Thank you, Gra- Hermione," he said, with all the politeness he could muster.
She eyed him strangely. "I will never understand you Slytherins," she muttered. Wishing him good luck, she retreated farther down the shadowy hallway just before the Great Hall door opened and Harry trudged out, followed by Ron, attempting and failing to console him.
"Come on, Harry," Ron pleaded. "Getting this upset over Malfoy? He's not worth it! You're better than him, any day."
Draco gave the pig a little nudge with his foot. This would look really stupid if the pig didn't start flying, and soon. "Come on!" he whispered to it. "Granger, this better have been the right spell!"
The pig gave him what he swore was a reproachful look, then - his heart leapt- started moving its small wings up and down rapidly. It rose about a foot off the ground, and made its way down the hall.
Harry stopped dead. "What?" he muttered as he watched the pig fly towards him. His gaze, though, soon moved to the blonde standing behind it.
"Well, Potter," Draco drawled, trying with all his might to sound casual. Please, Merlin, don't let my voice shake. "Looks like I'd better keep my promise, I suppose."
"Huh?" Harry asked, completely confused.
"I did say I'd date you when pigs fly, Potter," he said. "I suppose I'd better keep my word- after all, I'm a Malfoy."
Harry stared open-mouthed at the pig, which had turned around and flew back toward Draco. He winced as it landed and rubbed its snout against his leg and snorted in recognition.
Something suddenly clicked in Harry's brain. "This your pig, Draco?" he asked, grinning.
Draco felt like he would die. "Er- no-" he lied lamely, trying to push the pig away. It stubbornly refused to cooperate. "Well- actually…"
Harry suddenly didn't need him to continue. He practically ran into Draco's arms. Draco was startled for a moment, but then grasped Harry tightly. "Sorry… Harry," he muttered into his ear. Harry simply chuckled, and lifted his head to wait for the long-awaited kiss.
Ron looked at Harry and Draco. "He's your best friend, Ron, you will be understanding," he muttered to himself, before leaning down and awkwardly patting the pig on the snout.
Draco broke apart from Harry just long enough to whisper in his ear, "Let's keep the pig."