You Get What You Deserve

There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape’s palm.

The Gryffindors burst into applause. Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown.

“Five points from Gryffindor,” said Snape, which wiped the smiles from every face. “I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed.”

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I climbed the steps to the Entrance Hall. I was seething about Snape with Ron.

“Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn’t you lie, Hermione? You should’ve said Neville did it all by himself!”

Hermione didn’t answer. Ron looked around.

“Where is she?”

Harry and I turned, too. We were at the top of the steps now, watching the rest of the class pass us, heading for the Great Hall and lunch.

“She was right behind us,” said Ron, frowning.

Malfoy passed us, walking between Crabbe and Goyle. He smirked at us and disappeared.
“There she is,” I said.

Hermione was panting slightly, hurrying up the stairs; one hand was clutching her bag, the other seemed to be tucking something down the front of her robes.

“How did you do that?” said Ron.

“What?” said Hermione, joining us.

“One minute you were right behind us, and next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again.”

“What?” Hermione looked slightly confused. “Oh – I had to go back for something. Oh, no...”
A seam had split on Hermione’s bag. I wasn’t surprised; I could see that it was crammed with a least a dozen large and heavy books.

“Why are you carrying all these around with you?” Ron asked her.

“You know how many subjects I’m taking,” said Hermione breathlessly. “Couldn’t hold these for me, could you?”

“But –“ Ron was turning over the books she had handed him, looking at the covers – “you haven’t got any of these subjects today. It’s only Defence Against the Dark Arts this afternoon.”

“Oh, yes,” said Hermione vaguely, but packed all the books back into her bag just the same. “I hope there’s something good for lunch, I’m starving,” she added, and marched off towards the Great Hall.

“D’you get the feeling Hermione’s not telling us something?” Ron asked us.