Chapter 1:

"Are you truly as brainless as you make out to be, Longbottom? This potion is a complete disaster." Snape lectured as he stood over the boiling potion, now spitting out fumes of greyish blue coloured smoke that smelt like rotten eggs. Neville said nothing, frozen to the spot out of fear of the bat-like potions master, towering over him.

I clenched my hands into fists, trying hard not to react as he turned his sneering face to mine. "Miss Granger." His cold eyes fixed on mine and my stomach felt like it had been dumped into an ice bucket. No emotions flickered in those lack eyes of his, just complete darkness. "See if you can put your barely passable skills to some use for once and help Longbottom finish his miserable potion before he kills us all with his incompetence."

I gritted my teeth as I walked over to Neville, trying hard to keep my mouth shut. I glanced at Harry and Ron who both gave me supportive grins which I returned.

"You okay, Neville?" I asked as I reached him to find him quivering as he continued to chop up his rose stalks with shaking hands. I shooed him off to peel the boomslang skins before he chopped off one of his fingers.

"I'm okay." He whispered back, frowning as some of the pulp pulled away with the skin. I shook my head not knowing how he managed it. "Snape just scares me, that's all."

I sighed picking up the metal spoon and stirred the potion clockwise whilst adding the crushed beetle eyes Neville had done earlier. I frowned as the potion turned to a murky brown colour. Wasn't it supposed to turn to a dark orange? I mentioned this to Neville who just shrugged and said it looked orangey. Not satisfied I picked up a couple of the rose petals and dropped them in, smiling when it turned more of an orange colour. Trust Neville to forget to add an ingredient.

"Five minutes left." Snape announced to the class as he wandered around the classroom, checking on their potions and sneering every now and then. The only nod of approval he gave was to Malfoy's potion which was a navy blue colour. Malfoy gave Goyle a low five under the desk and gave me a self-satisfied smirk. I frowned back ignoring, glancing up at the blackboard. My frown deepened when I looked down at the text book. It said to add 1 litre of snake venom mixed with ½ a litre of milk. Snape's spider like scrawl on the blackboard said to add 1 litre of milk mixed with ½ a litre of snake venom.

I opened my mouth to ask when I saw Snape hounding on Ron and Harry's potions, though they didn't look much different from what he praise of Malfoy's.

Thinking it was more likely Snape would mess up than a trusty old text book I mixed together the litre of snake venom and ½ litre of milk in a beaker, stirring it with a tablespoon before pouring it into the cauldron. It hissed as I poured it in and a lot of steam billowed out causing me to jump back, worried. But nothing happened, the potion bubbled away happily and, satisfied, I turned and started clearing up.

As I turned back I saw Neville stirring the cauldron feverishly, his face a pale white. "What's wrong?"

He stared at me, wide-eyed. "I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't realise you hadn't added the beetle eyes and I already put the venom and milk in!"

"What?!" I yelled. As Snape turned to scold me for shouting his eyes widened at the sight of the cauldron. I turned just in time to see it exploding as everyone else ducked, and I ended up getting covered in the stinking potion. It tingled against my bare skin for a few moments before the tingling turned to a burning sensation. I screamed in agony as it felt as though my skin was melting off my very bones. The pain became too much and I blacked out from the pure agony, the last thing I saw being Snape striding towards me, an unknown emotion in his glittering black eyes.

I woke slowly, finding myself lying in bed in the hospital wing. Tentatively, I touched my skin, finding it sore, but intact. Harry and Ron must have rushed me to the hospital wing, I thought.

I sat up slowly at the sound of murmuring to see Madam Pomfrey talking to Harry who had his back to me. I frowned thinking Madam Pomfrey must have used a charm to dye her hair or something, because she was looking a lot younger than before.

"Harry!" I called, letting him know I was awake.

He turned and I froze seeing this boy wasn't Harry, though he was almost identical. His eyes were dark brown, not the emerald green Harry's were, and the lightning bolt shaped scar was absent from his forehead. He smiled seeing I was awake.

"Oh, good. You seem okay." He said.

Madam Pomfrey huffed. "Of course she's okay, Mr. Potter. She's under my care."

"P-Potter?!" I stuttered, barely daring to believe it.

The boy gave me a lopsided smile. "Yeah, James Potter. Nice to meet you."

I stared at James for a few moments before I fell back onto the bed in a dead faint.