CHAPTER ONE:

Waking up

Harry woke up to the feeling of his blood running cold while a potion trickled down his slender almost feminine throat. As he started to drift back into the blanketed bliss that was sleep he heard a voice off to his left.

"POTTER! OPEN YOUR EYES! YOU MUST STAY AWAKE! DO YOU HEAR ME, MISTER POTTER!"

'Oh no...Not him, please, anyone but him,' Harry thought as he struggled to stay awake.

"Harry, please open your eyes. Professor Snape and I need to have a word with you my dear boy."

Reluctantly, Harry opened his eyes to meet those of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What scared Harry though was that the usual twinkle in the headmaster's eyes was absent. Such a thing never seemed to bode well and Harry instinctively knew that the conversation he was about to have would be a serious one.

"What is it, Professor?" Harry hoped that the potions master didn't hear the trepidation in his voice.

"I think that this can wait until we get up to my office, Harry," the headmaster was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey, the school's medi-wizard.

"Albus, you can't be serious! He can't possibly leave the hospital wing so soon! The boy has just woken up after being in a coma for three full weeks!"

Harry's eyes widened, 'Wait, I've been unconscious for three weeks?' He thought he must have misheard and was about to ask for an explanation when he caught sight of his potions Professor's scowling visage. 'Maybe I'll just wait for Dumbledore to explain. He usually gets around to it...eventually.'

"Calm down, Poppy dear. I assure you this is in his best interest. I promise he shall be retuned to the hospital wing in one piece, just as soon as Severus and I have had a small chat with him." Seeing the look of determination on Albus' face the nurse knew it was pointless to prolong the argument.

She shook her head and sighed, "Fine, Albus but I want him back here at the first sign of any fatigue." With a final glare she stalked towards her office muttering under her breath about interfering headmasters.

A few minutes later, Harry was dressed and following Professors Snape and Dumbledore to the landing with the stone gargoyles where the headmaster's office was located. The gargoyles sprang aside upon hearing the password (Sugar quill) to reveal the revolving stair case that led to Dumbledore's office. Once inside the headmaster offered his usual lemon drop to his guests who both declined, Snape with a none to polite scowl and a snapped "no" while Harry merely shook his head in refusal.

"Very well," Albus finally began, "Harry this may seem an odd thing to ask however please humour me in answering it. What is the last thing you remember clearly?"

Harry frowned, 'why is he looking at me so intently and why the bloody hell is my neck so stiff?'

"Well Sir, I remember learning to make a hair growth potion in potions on Friday. After that everything's kind of a blur. I'm sorry," Harry apologised feeling guilty when he saw the look of disappointment on both professors faces. "Professor Dumbledore, Sir, might I ask why I woke up in the hospital wing, and what was that potion Professor Snape was giving me when I woke up?" Harry inquired.

"Well, the potion Severus was administering to you when you awoke is called ju due toxin."

Harry looked puzzled and asked, "Where have I heard that name before?"

At the answering growl both professor Dumbledore and Harry looked over at Snape in question.

"You should know that name very well, Mister Potter, as you have an essay due next week on that very potion and its effects on the body."

It all started to come back to Harry. He had gone on a Hogsmeade weekend with Ron and Hermione and had split from the group to go replenish some of his potions ingredients when he had seen Snape being attacked.

FLASHBACK

"Oh my God, that poor man! He's being attacked," a woman screamed off to Harry's right. Harry looked over and saw two men attacking a third. While the man was holding his own, Harry could see another man approaching the outnumbered victim from behind. Without even thinking about it, Harry pulled out his wand and ran to aid the unknown man, since it didn't seem to him that anyone else was eager to help him.

It wasn't until he reached the battling men that Harry saw the man being attacked was his potions Professor. Harry tripped one of the attackers with a spell as the man tried to stab Snape. Once, Harry might have been tempted to simply let Snape alone. However Harry had seen enough death in his short life and was determined to stop this if it was the last thing he did! As he lunged in to stun the attacker he felt a sharp blow to the head followed by an intense burning searing pain in his neck before all went black…

To be continued…