“What’s it do?” asked a thin girl with waves of brown hair.
“Prissy, come on,” said her friend Annai, as she pinned back her auburn hair. “It’s obviously poisonous, just look at it! Maybe it’ll give the entire house of Slytherins the runs!”
Priscilla laughed. “It looks rather plain to me, despite being quite red. Does it explode?”
“Hermione will tell us,” Annai said with a wink, her eyes dark as coal. “Won’t you, Hermione?”
The gang all took seats around the room; Hermione and Ginny by the fireplace as usual, Ron and Harry sat on the couch. Neville sat on a pouf in the corner, his face showing just a hint of remnant green hue. He looked rather sickly.
“I’m sure you’ve all heard that Malfoy and his goons turned us green in Potions earlier,” Hermione said as she addressed the room. She was answered with several nods.
“The whole school’s talking about it,” Annai said with a frown.
Hermione twirled the leafy stem of Shady Crimson in her hand, smiling decisively. “We’re going to turn them the colour of glory! The colour of bravery! The colour of Gryffindor!!”
The common room burst into a round of applause, Ginny whistling and howling.
Suddenly, Ron waved his hand in the air, gaining several curious looks from his housemates.
“Hermione,” he said coyly, tucking a finger under his chin. “Truth or Dare?”
“Er… truth!” She stammered, wondering what he was up to.
“How do you plan on getting this stuff close to the Slytherins?”
Hermione’s jaw dropped and she looked down, anxiously tucking a lock of wavy hair behind her ear.
“I hadn’t thought of that actually...”
“Just as I thought,” Ron said coolly, giving a sideways glance to Harry. The green-eyed boy nodded in response. Without a word, Ron snatched the leafy twig out of Hermione’s hand and the two boys headed for the portrait door.
“Do either of you plan on telling me what you’re doing with my Shady Crimson?” she demanded, her hands on her hips.
Harry sighed, taking off his glasses to wipe them on his sleeve. “Hermione, me and Ron had a chat about it. We know how to get this stuff into Draco and his mates. We can’t tell you, you’ll only be angry.”
Ron lowered his eyes. “She’s already angry,” he mumbled, trying not to look up.
“You’re going to the house elves, aren’t you?” She cried, hands on her hips. “What about S.P.E.W?”
“Spew, who?” Ron said innocently as he shoved Harry through the portrait hole. Suddenly, they were gone. Outside, the muffled sounds of two boys hitting the floor could be heard.
Hermione sat down on her pillow again, arms folded. Those two were going to involve the house elves in the scheme, it just wasn’t fair. Ginny fretted, noting the sudden tension that had filled the room.
“Truth or Dare?” Ginny exclaimed, pointing to a quiet girl with braided brown hair. The girl looked to her left and right, hoping against hope that Ginny hadn’t actually picked her.
“C’mon, Martha, truth or dare!?” Ginny said with a grin, cocking her head to the side.
“Oh, erm,.. truth?” Martha stammered.
“Who’ve you got a crush on?”
All eyes turned to Martha. She was so shy, no one really knew much about her. The next words to come from her mouth were sure to be scandalous.
“I… don’t want to say,” Martha said with a blush.
“Rules are rules,” Annai called, pelting her with jelly beans.
“Alright, alright!” Martha said, holding her hands in front of her face. “His name is Johnny Swaos… he’s in-”
“Slytherin?” said a 5th year named Jess. “You fancy a Slytherin?” Martha put her hands over her face and shoved her face into the couch cushion.
“I can’t help who I fancy!”
“You’re mad!” Jess continued, crossing her arms. “Who would ever like a stinking Slytherin? I think you’ve braided your hair a bit too tight, there, Martha!”
“Oh, back off,” Ginny said teasingly, tossing a pillow at her. Unfortunately Jess wasn’t looking and took a flying pillow to the face, knocking her out of her chair.
“Alright then,” Jess said venomously, getting to her feet. “Truth or Dare, Ginny!”
“Dare, of course!”
Jess rubbed her hands together, eyes sparkling with glee. “I dare you to wear ‘Potter is Hotter’ on the back of your robes all day tomorrow!”
Ginny laughed, her bright red hair shining in the firelight. “Truer words were never spoken. You think that’s a dare? I’ve already gone and kissed a girl! I’ve got no problem wearing that! Sod it, I’ll wear it all week!”
Suddenly, a glimmer in Ginny’s eyes brought the room to silence. In her mind, her own hilarious idea was brewing. She looked up, skimming the room with her eyes.
Meanwhile, Draco had the place of honor in the dark pits of the Slytherin house that evening. He took the satin, hunter-green couch flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Everyone wanted to hear about their clever prank against the most irritating Gryffindors in school.
“They were absolutely oblivious!” he laughed derisively. “They had no idea we were dropping Thornmallow into their cauldrons. I think sitting next to Longbottom has turned Granger as dumb as a post!”
A fair-skinned girl named Cricket twirled her fingers in her curly red hair flirtatiously. “You’re so clever,” she cooed, sitting nearer to Draco. “I wish I could’ve seen their faces!”
“I saw them,” said Johnny Swaos proudly. He was nearly as blonde as Draco, and quickly moving up in the ranks of Draco’s crew. “They looked like walking pickles in robes.”
“Aren’t you worried they’ll try to get payback?” voiced Bianca, looking at Draco concernedly.
“Of course he isn’t,” Cricket said venemously. “As Slytherins, we always have the upper hand in warfare.”
“I’m just looking out for Dr- I mean, my fellow housemates,” Bianca shot back.
“Ladies, ladies,” Draco said witheringly as he leaned back on the couch with a satisfied grin. “Please, try not to fight over me...”
The next morning, almost every Gryffindor had arrived early to the Great Hall for breakfast. Everyone except Ginny and several other Gryffindor girls, who oddly had yet to arrive. Everyone else was huddled together, whispering. They knew that Hermione and Neville’s plan of revenge involving that mysterious herb was soon to go down.
At the Slytherin table, Johnny noticed that several of the Gryffindors were stealing glances at them.
“Draco, have a look,” Johnny whispered, motioning to the other side of the room. Several of the Gryffindors continued to look over their shoulders at them, almost as if with curiosity or apprehension.
“Let them look,” Draco said grandly. “Anything those kiss-arse Gryffindors have planned, we’ll be ready.
With that, Draco held up his frosty mug of pumpkin juice and clinked glasses with Johnny.
“Cheers!” He said victoriously, clinking mugs with Crabbe and Goyle. They all took a giant swig.
“Oh, it’s on,” Ron whispered excitedly, waving his bacon in the air like a torch of victory. “Any moment now…”
“I don’t want to know,” Hermione said sternly, sporting her S.P.E.W badge on the front of her robes. She was still annoyed that he and Harry had used the house-elves to mick the Slytherin’s pumpkin juice with the leaves of Shady Crimson.
Hermione was about to scold them once again when she heard a sudden burst of frantic yelling. Everyone in the entire Great Hall turned towards the noise. Crabbe and Goyle were pointing their fat fingers in each other’s faces, screaming like madmen.
“You’ve got red on you!” They howled simultaneously. “So do you!”
Draco was holding his butter-knife up like a mirror, howling like a sick dog.
“My face!” he cried, grabbing Johnny by the collar. “What’s happened to my face?!”
The Great Hall began to fill with the sound of snickering. Bianca and Cricket looked at each other in shock, hoping that they hadn’t been afflicted as well. Pansy, however, was looking towards the Gryffindor table with heavy, black eyes.
Suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall burst open. Ginny walked in, followed by several more Gryffindor girls. They marched inside, giving little twirls. Every one of them had the words “Potter is Hotter” written in fiery lettering on the back of their robes.
Ginny gave a victorious smirk to her friends as she took a seat at the table. Roop and Annai followed her, proudly turning this way and that to show their motto with pride. After them came Priscilla, and even Martha, who shuffled in as quickly as possible. Every one of their robes boasted the same.
Potter is Hotter
Finally, a 6th year named Steph strode nonchalantly towards the Slytherin table, giving one last spin to show off her lettered robes.
“You may be flaming red,” Steph announced loudly, staring into Draco’s horrified face. “But Potter is still hotter.” As she turned and walked back to the Gryffindor table, almost the entire Great Hall burst into raucous laughter.
Professor Dumbledore waved his hand, silencing the room, but students continued to snicker to themselves as Draco, Crabbe and Goyle speed-walked out the main doors and ran all the way to the Hospital Wing. Revenge was indeed sweet; they’d be stuck the colour of permanent blushing for hours, at least!
Hermione couldn’t help it, and her stern face cracked into a shy smile. Their revenge couldn’t have gone any better. Ginny threw an arm around the brunette’s shoulder and they, too, toasted their pumpkin juice.
“I swear, the elves didn’t mind helping us,” Harry explained.
“Yeah, the practically worship him,” Ron added, stuffing a forkful of eggs in his mouth. “They loaded us up with enough tarts and cauldron cakes to live off of for a year!”
Neville, who was finally smiling again, turned to look towards the Ravenclaw table.
“Luckily we’ve got potions with the Ravenclaws today,” Neville said with a sigh. “Without the Slytherins to start up with us, maybe Snape will be slightly less… horrible.” Neville shuddered.
“You’re forgetting Luna,” Hermione said plainly. “She’s got that unparalleled ability to make Snape flip his greasy wig.”
“Not today,” Neville stuttered as he stared hopelessly at the back of Luna’s blonde head. “Don’t start with him today…”