Firstly- 

Thank you, my lovely editors who agreed to help me with this and made it less shitty and more bearable to read. 
Ang315
Grimtales234

Enjoy!!!

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The room was sweltering. Humid and torrid, many students had cast aside non-essential garments. Cloaks hung on the backs of chairs, ties of green and gold loosened, shirts partially unbuttoned and no longer tucked in, all as sweat dripped down noses and temples. It ran down their necks and their chests, beading their brows.

The sounds of dicing, slicing, mixing, churning, bubbling, hissing and sizzling, of spoons clattering and pages turning all combined to create a cacophony that felt like the very essence of the potions classroom, where the sixth year Gryffindor and Slytherin students stood.

Professor Slughorn wandered around the classroom, peering into pots of students as he passed, remarking to each of how they could aide their potion into being a little less runny, a little thicker, to make the color duller or brighter.

One argument broke out in the corner, concerning how many bat eyes needed to be added after a certain amount of rotations, and about how that particular Gryffindor was a 'moronic sack of shit who would never amount to anything if they couldn't even read a textbook'. The professor hurried over and sent the boys out, and returned a moment later murmuring about how 'this house unity project was doomed into the dirt from the start'.

Indeed, many people thought it was a silly idea, but Professor Dumbledore had been adamant about making sure the teachers understood the new rules. Now, whenever a group project was introduced, teachers would arrange students from different houses to work alongside each other. Which, two weeks into the new policy, had already erupted into several arguments.

After a moment of regaining his composure, momentarily disrupted by the 'foul mouthed' Slytherin, Professor Slughorn continued his walking around the room, eventually gliding over to his prized students desk. That desk also happened to belong to Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter.

Both boys seemed deep in concentration. Draco was bent over a cutting board, measuring the distance between his slices of newt, while Harry poured over a textbook, making suggestions and comments which were only greeted with disdainful remark and a sneer.

However, their potion was in fair condition, and whether not Harry's comments contributed into their success, well, no one besides Draco would ever really know. Slughorn even commented on the fact, giving them a small amount of praise as he passed, beaming at Harry all the while. Draco wasn't spared much of a glance. Harry didn't seem to have been paying attention to the comment, but glanced up briefly as a neon green light flashed throughout the room suddenly.

Over at Neville's desk, a large pot with a nauseating green glow illuminated his face, along with the face of a very irritated Pansy Parkinson. Professor Slughorn didn't seem to have any advice for the pair, completely astonished by their ruined potion.

Professor Slughorn was nearing their table, and Draco was panicking. The potion had become a woodsy dark green color that was absolutely unacceptable. It was supposed to be a soft turquoise, and just shy of being chunky. At the very least, the texture seemed...tolerable.

Draco breathed harshly through his nose, glaring at Potter, who, of course thought this couldn't be his fault. Professor Slughorn arrived to peer over their cauldron, which he now viewed with a sort of...disappointment. He shook his head lightly. Draco was fuming. This was all Potter's fault.

Professor Slughorn gave Draco a slight pat on the back. "Perhaps the next lesson will turn out a bit better, you can't expect it to always be perfect. Why don't you both go through the instructions again, see if you can figure out what you may have done wrong." The old coot gave the duo a smile, and shuffled off behind his desk.

Professor Slughorn now sat behind his desk, with his stupid cooling charm and anti-humidity charms that made Granger's hair look even more horrendous than usual. Draco turned his heated glare back to his table partner, who was still awkwardly shuffling through the textbook and examining their left over ingredients, presumably to figure out 'what they had done wrong', as the professor had suggested.

"This is your fault," Draco muttered disdainfully, sneer firmly set as he mixed their potion seven times clockwise, and then three times counterclockwise, just as they were supposed to. Only, it didn't fix the color of this stupid, pointless, redundant, infuriating, useless, ludicrous, imbecilic, pointle-

"Would you like to explain why it is my fault instead of trying to kill me out of the corner of your eye?" Harry murmured, a sigh heavy on his lips and eyebrow quirked in question.

"You gave me too many eyes of bat. The instructions clearly read half a dozen, and you shoved an entire handful of the tiny things into my palm!"

"Perhaps you'll remember to count them yourself next time, as is recommended when working with another person," Harry quipped. Draco began to seethe as he realized Potter was hardly giving this any attention! As if this was some first year project and not a potion that would certainly end up as part of their exam! Potter didn't even have the decency to act like he cared! The insolent prick!

"When we began this potion I thought I could be reassured that even your idiotic self could count ingredients, excuse me if I believed I was working with someone who wasn't a complete imbecile!" Draco snarled at Harry, whose ears were beginning to redden in frustration.

"Why don't you go shove those bat eyes up-"

"You should be finishing up now. Please bottle up a sample of your potion and write your name on the bottle before turning it in! Neatly, mind you! And don't empty your cauldrons yet!" Professor Slughorn announced. Soon the sounds of quills scratching and clinking bottles filled the room. A murmur of voices penetrated the humidity, of people groaning and complaining and wondering just what they had done to make the universe hate them.

"Now, before we continue, who remembers the name and the properties of this particular potion?" Professor Slughorn squinted throughout the classroom, where several hands had been raised. "Yes, Ms. Dunbar?"

"The potion is called Fes-Festina Tempus, and it reverts the drinker to a younger age," Fay Dunbar said quickly, a tall girl with long brown hair.

"Nicely done. In fact, this particular batch that I've had you make is supposed to turn someone's age back a year, for about a half hour or so. Some of you will be testing out your potions today. Would anyone like to volunteer for extra cred- ah! Ms. Granger, why don't you come up?"

Murmurs of unfairness flitted throughout the room. "She's already got top marks! Why pick her?"

"My hand was raised way before hers!"

"Teachers pet."

Ignorant to it all - or maybe just acting like she was - Hermione walked lightly to the front of the classroom, another small bottle of her perfect looking potion in hand. She smiled at Professor Slughorn, though her happy face was mostly obstructed by the disaster her hair had become.

"Whenever you're ready, Ms. Granger."

Hermione brought the soft turquoise liquid to her lips, almost sloshing some onto her uniform as she shook her hair out of the way. She drained the liquid quickly, and set the potion down before a look of slight pain came over her face. Harry would never tell her it looked like she was constipated.

She huffed through her nose, sounding almost as if her breath had been forcefully knocked out of her. A small poof of turquoise air left her nostrils, before Hermione's hair grew out significantly, she shortened around an inch and her face rounded out just a bit. The class clapped and she curtsied.

"Well done Ms. Granger!" Professor Slughorn praised, and Hermione had a small hop to her step as she went back to her desk next to Blaise Zabini.

"Would anyone else like to volunteer before I hand pick?" Less hands were raised this time. "Hmmm...Ms. Greengrass, why don't you come up?"

As the slender blond took her own potion, the same procedure happened. Her hair shortened, her face rounded out, she wasn't as tall, her shoes were slightly clunky on her feet, and her arm was bent at an awkward angle.

Wait...what?

Daphne screamed and fell to her knees. Professor Slughorn rushed to put a spell on her arm to keep it from moving, and gave her a small potion that seemed to be for numbing. He called over her desk partner quickly, and Parvati assisted her out of the room and into the hospital wing.

Professor Slughorn chuckled a little sheepishly. "I may have forgot to mention that injuries sustained at that particular time do return. As this potion does not simply change your features, it changes your entire body chemistry from a years time. This includes maturity through puberty, hair, height, scars, so on." Slughorn smiled bashfully, as if forgetting that he didn't tell the class that an assignment had been pushed back. "Now that we have that out of the way...would anyone else like to volunteer?"

No one raised their hand. The classroom had gone from an eruption of chaos and shouting to utter silence. It seemed that everyone hoped that if they were quiet and didn't move, the professor wouldn't see them. Professor Slughorn sighed heavily, murmuring about the mood swings of teenagers. "Very well...here we go, Mr. Potter, come here."

Harry's head snapped up so quickly Draco thought he may have given himself whiplash. His eyes were full of dread as he realized he would be drinking his own botched potion.

~~~

Damn, it only took me a year to get around to this. Let me know thoughts, yeah? And if you're re-reading this cause you read my last story, Potions Class Gone Wrong!!!! :DDDD