The Potion

Chapter 1

It is hard when your brother is one of the most popular boys at school, dates the most beautiful girl in your house and is star of the Quidditch team. You seem to fade into the background. So, I had to find my niche, something that would make me stand out. Sure I was an excellent rider, but so was my brother; sure I was likeable and funny but again, so was my brother. We both even shared a good amount of talent in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Yet, there was one thing that I did better than almost any one else in the school. And that was my talent with potions.

I could complete the most complicated potions without following any kind of directions. All I had to do was follow my instincts; this valuable skill caused me to rise to the top of my class in potions and therefore outshining my brother, because he was terrible at potions, barely achieving an Acceptable on his OWLs. Of course, there was another adversary that I had to beat out in potions. And he also happened to be my brother's worst enemy. So perhaps it was another similarity my brother and I had. We both had Severus Snape as adversaries, albeit in different ways.

My brother and his best friend/my secret crush, used to find numerous ways to torture and publically humiliate Serverus. It made me him pity so therefore, Severus and I were more undeclared adversaries than anything. Yet, my brother's last year at Hogwarts had gone without incidence and he was torturing Severus less and less, but I knew it had to do more with his girlfriend than any kind of new found mercy. That does not mean that the torture stopped completely; James still found some ways to torture poor Severus when Lily was not looking.

But I digress. I was talking about ways to stand out when your brother, who is also only a year ahead of you, tends to take all of the praise. I still remember my first day at Hogwarts.

I had yet to be sorted, when Professor McGonagall called my name, "Potter, Kathleen " Shaking, I managed to step up and sit down onto the stool. I closed my eyes tight as the Sorting Hat was placed on my head.

For a moment there was silence, when I heard a quiet, "Hmmm...Kathleen Potter, such intelligence, strength, talent. Yes you could go far; plenty of courage too just like your brother...what? You don't like being compared to your brother? I sense a need to be separate, special. Do not worry; I know right where to put you. GRYFFINDOR! "

So my first day here was overshadowed by my brother. It is a never-ending cycle. But now, everything's okay, because now I have found my claim to fame.

A potion that could take you into the future.

Okay, so many all the kinks still were not worked out, but I was getting there. I managed to get a time turner from Professor McGonagall, due to a hectic schedule (it was the only way to get one) and I would test my potion to see how many drops of I needed to go farther and farther into the future. Then I would simply use my time turner to go back. Of course, I could never be sure precisely how far into the future I was going. It was all estimation. I also realized that messing with time is never a good thing, which is why I did not go into the past; I did not want to change something and therefore alter my future or something important. So I resolved on going into the future; my goal was to see where I was twenty or so years from now and then come back, become famous, maybe write a book or two. My options and dreams were limitless. My life and future were laid out in front of me and my hopes were high.

"Hey, Kathleen. Anyone in there?" I regained my focus and looked into the dark eyes of my brother. He wore glasses and his dark black hair was a mess, as always.

"Jeez, James, what do you want?" I said, irritated at him for disturbing my reverie.

"Not much, I just saw you sitting here by yourself and I wanted to come say hi. Does a big brother need a reason to see his little sister? Besides, I brought friends." He gestured to Sirius, his hot best friend, someone I had a crush on since James brought him to the house. Remus was also there, looking rather pale, followed by Peter, the pathetic boy who always followed the others around. Sometimes I pitied him and sometimes I felt he brought it on himself.

"I do have friends. You don't have to look out for me." I said, bringing my parchment closer to me. I did not want him to see what I was writing.

"Yes, but sometimes I do worry, little sister." I glared at him. He only laughed in response. "Hey, one day I won't be there and you'll be sad"

"Doubtful." Then without warning, he ripped my parchment out of my hands and quickly began reading the pages.

"Give that back " I demanded.

"What is this? Ingredients to a potion? What kind?"

"Polyjuice," I blurted out thinking of the first one to come to my head. He would not know the difference anyway. "Professor Slughorn wanted us to write down the ingredients"

"You're a terrible liar, Kathleen, but good thing for you that I don't care much about potions. Well, we'll be on our way. See ya later, little sis." He threw the parchment back at me, grinned, then strolled away. Yeah, he did have a bit of an ego on him. I would deal though. Soon I could get an ego too.

"Do you think it's possible, Professor?" I looked up expectantly at Professor Slughorn, a rather large, but likeable man, slightly going bald. His eyes were a deep gray, with equally deep crow's feet in the corner, especially when he smiled. Yet there was a haunted look to his eyes, like there was something in his past that he still was not ready to cope with, and probably never would be able to.

"I don't know, Ms. Potter,"He sighed, "It's definitely tricky, not to mention dangerous. If one were to tempt it, she could be stuck in another time period forever, or incredibly alter reality. There are too many things that could go wrong."

"Yes, but hypothetically speaking, could such a combination work"

"I believe so, yes." He paused and noticed the excited gleam in my eyes and my excited grin, as I sat on the edge of my seat, barely able to contain myself. He narrowed his eyes and gave me a level look, "I seriously hope that you are not attempting such a combination yourself, Ms. Potter"

"Of course not. I am not that foolish."

"Because I do know of your time turner and this passion seems a bit too intense for your usual love with potions. Promise me you will not do anything foolish."

"Oh, yeah, of course," I said, airily, already putting everything back into my bag.

"Ms. Potter," he said, sternly, causing me to look into his face. He looked genuinely worried.

"I promise, Professor; you have nothing to worry about. Good night." I left him, my heart beating wildly underneath my robes and my light brown hair bobbing up and down as I walked quickly back to the Gryffindor wing.

It was late and no one was in the common room; the fire slowly dying out. I collapsed into one of the huge armchairs, staring into the fire. Was I right to do this? Was standing out and finally beating James at something, worth this much? What if things did not go as planned and I ended up one hundred years into the future, or I ended up in the right place, but everything had gone extremely wrong? For the first time, a sense of doubt and fear crept into my perfect plans. Professor Slughorn was no doubt going to go to Dumbledore and tell him of his suspicions. And I would be watched and stopped. The fact I had a time turner too did not help my case any. Maybe I should not have gone to Slughorn after all, but I could not help it. I needed some kind of reassurance from someone who studied potions a lot longer than I had. Besides, Slughorn was my favorite professor; he absolutely adored me and I knew he would give me an honest opinion on whether the potion would work. And he did, although at first he had been reluctant to say anything. But, his desire to please his best student outdid him.

My eyelids grew heavy, the light from the fire fading as the fire faded away. I struggled to keep my eyes open, so I could continue thinking about my actions but soon consciousness faded too and I was asleep. That night, I also dreamed.

I dreamed that I was in the future but there was no future, just a wasteland. I knew I was standing on land that used to belong to Hogwarts, but now there was no enchanted castle no Forbidden Forest. Just miles and miles of nothing; dirt, little shrubs, gloomy, ominous clouds overheard, and the most horrible sound, seeming to come from nowhere but everywhere at the same time. A cold, cruel laugh. I dropped my bag on the ground as I dropped to the ground as well. The sky opened up and rain fell, turning the dirt to mud and caused my hair to stick to my face. Thunder roared and bright green flashes of lightening filled the sky. Suddenly, the laughter ceased and a figure was seen in the distance. As I tried to wave to them, they seemed to get farther and farther away. "Didn't I tell you that one day I wouldn't be there?" It was my brother's voice.

"No, wait, James! Come back! Please come back!" I cried out. I tried to run after him but my feet were stuck in the mud. He faded from view as the laughter came back and with one final thunderclap and flash of green lightening, I woke up.

"Are you okay, Kathleen?"

I was sweating and breathing deeply. I realized it was already morning and I had slept out here all night. I looked over to find Lily, eyes filled with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare...just a nightmare." I said to reassure myself.

"Well, whatever it was, it had you screaming pretty loudly. Everyone was worried; you're just lucky James was not here, to hear you."

I perked up right away. "James? He's okay, right? Nothing's happened. He's fine, right?"

"Um, yeah. I'm supposed to meet him for breakfast. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare...a very bad, bone-chilling nightmare, but just a nightmare."
"Right," Lily paused, "Would you like to have breakfast with us."

"Sure, if you don't mind. Just let me change my robes." After a quick change, I ran back downstairs to Lily so that we could head to breakfast.

I tried all day to shake the dream and even after I saw James, I thought I would be all right, but that laugh and that lightening and the figure of James, it just stayed in my head. And then the day got worse.

At the beginning of potions, Professor Slughorn called me up to his desk and said that he wanted to see me after class. In Professor Dumbledore's office.

Author's Note: My second try at fan fiction. Hopefully, this time I stick with it.
P.S. this is a working title.