Harry Potter and the Changes of the Heart
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I am not J.K. Rowling, (though I wish so so soooo much I was), and I am making no money whatsoever on these works.
A/N This is my first work that I had any confidence to publish, it's an AU Harry Potter after the war (one year) where several characters who were dead at the end of the series weren't killed during the war, and all the main characters went back to finish their last year at Hogwarts. For the moment it is rated T, however it could move up to an M rating, we'll see how it goes. Only time will tell. ;-)
Chapter 1
Narrative POV
It was only six months after the final, total fall of Voldemort. The Order had broken up, life had gone back to almost normal, and all but very few of Voldemorts followers had been rounded up and thrown back in Azkaban. Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone back to school, finishing their seventh year and taking their N.E.W.T's. They've been back for several weeks now, and things are starting to look different. With the war over and lives returning to normal, life as they knew it has to change forever.
Harry's POV
I sigh, looking at the potion I was supposed to be making for Slughorn. I wish I still had Snape's book, it made this so much easier. According to the directions it was supposed to be an electric blue, and extremely smooth, but mine was looking like someone had vomited in my cauldron.
"Harry my dear boy, what on earth is that?" Slughorn asks, coming up behind me and glancing in my cauldron. "I know the potion is more complex than last years, but you should have been able to do this with ease."
"I know professor," I sigh, "I don't really know what went wrong, I followed the directions exactly. " I can't really see the board, but that's not your fault.
"Well, let's see if I can help."
Slughorn leans over my cauldron, wrinkling his nose at the faint odor wafting up from my brew. I look over and catch Ginny's eye, and give an exaggerated shrug. Oh well, at least this way I'll be able to see what I did wrong, even if Slughorn can't understand why.
Ginny's POV
As Slughorn leans over Harry's cauldron I see Harry look my way. I catch his eye and smile when he throws his overemphasized motions. I giggle under my breath when Slughorn reels back as though punched when a bubble in Harry's cauldron explodes, spewing a foul smelling gas into the air. I wonder if that boy realizes just how much he means to me, even if all of his potion work was Snape's cheat work. I jump as Slughorn's voice booms loudly enough to rattle my scale.
"Well there's your problem my dear boy," He declares, scooping up a glob what appeared to be berries, "you were supposed to slice the Baneberries, not dice them." Harry turned bright red, God he's so cute when he's embarrassed, and looked down.
"I'm sorry professor; I couldn't really read the board." Harry said this really low, so only Slughorn, and of course, me, thanks to the linking potions we had both drank before class today, could hear him. I frown, I didn't know his glasses were that bad, I thought he could see all right. I make a mental note to ask him about that later.I sigh, turning back to my own, now bright pink potion, and wonder what on earth I could have messed up. Not that I'll be getting any special help from Slughorn, ever since Harry had to get rid of that old book his potion making has gone down so fast that Slugorn's old head is spinning.
Draco's POV
I sigh as Potter once again gets all the attention from the Slug. God I'm so tired of him being such an attention hog, it's not even as though he's that good at potions anymore. I never understood how in our sixth year Potter had gotten so good at the subject that had always been among his worst.
But it made him seem so much more….interesting. I shake my head and push that thought down, not wanting to think of just how much he had secretly admired Potters potion skills, or the jealousy that came of not being in the Slug Club. It's a stupid club anyway, who wants to have dinner with a professor every week? Bloody kiss-arses if you ask me. Though I do have to admit, the favoritism is something I miss from when Professor Snape was teaching. Not that Slytherin needs the favoritism; it just makes me feel a little better to not be on the ignored side.
The whole time the Slug was examining Potter's potion Potter kept looking over. I know that he was looking at the Weasley girl, but I couldn't silence the voice that was begging him to look at me.
Hermione's POV
When Harry's potion bubbled and popped in Professor Slughorn's face I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. Serves Harry right for cheating all sixth year. My potion was precisely the shade of blue the book showed, and the texture was absolutely flawless. That book was the only reason he did better than me, and technically he was making the potions wrong.
I glance over when Professor Slughorn points out Harry's mistake, chuckling at the red creeping up his neck and into his ears. But when Harry looks down, and mumbles something I couldn't hear, I notice the true shame in his posture. I wonder if it might be his glasses, they've probably not been checked for a few years. I decide I'll just talk to Harry about it later and raise my hand, waiting for Professor Slughorn to come check my work.
Ron's POV
I wrinkle my nose, the stench coming from Harry's cauldron was absolutely revolting. Shaking my head I turn my focus to my own potion, which admittedly wasn't much better than Harry's, but at least mine didn't smell like the toilet in the boy's dungeon bathroom. Harry's been having a really hard time since he had to get rid of Snape's old book.
I smile when I see him glancing at my sister, I didn't really like it at first; but then again Harry was a much better choice than any of Ginny's other boyfriends. I glance at Ginny and see her smile, blushing slightly at Harry's antics. Behind her Malfoy is looking at Harry too, wait a minute, is that…jealousy I see? I shake my head again, No, if anything Malfoy is jealous of Harry, after all. I have to admit, Ginny has turned out really attractive. Of course that violated everything I know about being a Weasley. After all, the rest of us are stuck as freckly, lanky, gangly, and truly ginger. She gets to be hot?
I sigh, and turn back to my potion, fully expecting it to explode. Very carefully I slide the cat hairs off my scale and into my cauldron, and groan when it starts smoking.
A/N So, that's the first chapter. Let me know what you think, like I said this is the first time I've ever felt confident enough in a work to publish it. Any feedback is appreciated. 3