4th April 1996
“Harry, pay attention!” Hermione Granger hissed out of the side of her mouth.
“Malfoy’s up to something,” Harry Potter grumbled back. He idly grabbed an ingredient off the table in front of him and tossed it without looking into his cauldron, briskly stirring the brew whilst glaring across the room at his blond-haired nemesis.
Hermione tossed a pinch of powdered Belladonna into her cauldron and gently stirred it twice, before selecting a sprig of daisies and beginning to chop them. “Harry, Malfoy is brewing his own potion,” she said. “And you really need to be paying attention to this one. It’s very dangerous, as the peppermint—”
Her voice faded as Harry tuned her out. His friend could go on about potions – or anything – for hours, and Harry just didn’t care that much. What he did care about was what trouble Draco Malfoy was thinking up.
“HARRY!” Hermione suddenly hissed, and nudged him sharply in the side with an elbow. Harry winced and turned to ask her what she was playing at, only to discover Professor Snape bearing down on their table with a glare that was more glacial than usual. Hastily, he grabbed for the nearest ingredient to hand and went to throw it into his cauldron.
“No, Harry!” “Mr Potter, don’t you dare—!” Hermione and Snape cried at the same time, both grabbing for Harry’s wrist.
Harry’s hand, which had been opening, spasmed as he tried to close his fingers again as Snape’s hand gripped his wrist tightly, Hermione’s fingers just brushing them both. He almost managed to retain the entire handful of pomegranate seeds, but one little seed was jostled by the movement, and slowly slid off the side of his hand, landing in the boiling cauldron with a tiny splash.
Horror-stricken, the three of them looked down at the cauldron for a frozen moment, before it gave a tiny whumpf, and the contents abruptly exploded forcefully upwards, completely drenching Harry and Snape.
Harry’s ears rang with shouts and screams, along with Snape’s hisses of pain, as he sank gratefully into unconsciousness.