"Potter," said Snape, in an icy, amused voice, "and Malfoy, come up here."

Dracoś jaw dropped; so did Harryś. "No!" they said, in unison.

"I won´t be Malfoy," said Harry in a furious voice, but Snape was not impressed.

"Get up here, both of you," he said.

Malfoy was the first to get to his feet. Casting an icy glance at Harry, he stalked up to the front of the room, grabbed the potion, and stalked back to where Harry was sitting. Harry cast an anguished glance at Ron and Hermione, who gazed back in sympathy. Ron shook his head; Hermione mouthed something at Harry that he didn´t quite catch, but he knew Hermione well enough to know what she was saying, You´d better go along with it Harry, it´ll count towards your final marks!

* * *

All over the room, students were drinking down the potion — there were gasps and giggles from Lavender and Parvati, a yell from Neville, who, having transformed himself into the much larger Pansy Parkinson, suddenly found himself being choked by too-small robes, and helpless laughter from Ron and Hermione.

"Here," said Draco, thrusting the cup at Harry, who looked at him with loathing.

"Well, I haven´t poisoned it, Potter, drink it," he said.

"I´d rather drink poison than turn into you, Malfoy," said Harry between his teeth.

"And I´m not looking forward to being a speccy git for half an hour, but you don´t see me whinging on about it," said Draco. "Or are you afraid?"

Harry pushed his chair back violently, and grabbed the cup, into which Draco had already put one of his own silvery-blond hairs. He pulled out one of his own hairs, took a mouthful of potion, dropped his hair into the cup, and handed the cup back to Draco, who drained it.