Author's Note: This is probably the last chapter that depicts the original run/beginning of this story. The fun, light hearted aspects are soon going to take a turn!


Harry Potter and the Wish of Life

Chapter 7

Potions with Uncle Sevi


Harry's jaw dropped.

Who was Cho Chang?

"You're joking, right?"

Ron shot him a confused look and then, in a hurried whisper, asked, "What are you talking about, Harry?"

"Cho Chang? The Ravenclaw Seeker?"

Ron's brow furrowed, "Harry, I have no idea who you're talking about. The Ravenclaw seeker is that girl, Emily Meanie." He pointed at a very elegant African girl who was talking to Roger Davies.

Harry was about to continue when Hermione looked over at them from her side of the table, "What are you two talking about?"

Ron turned slightly red, "Nothing. Could you pass me the bread basket? Yeah ... that one ... thanks."

When Hermione had turned back to Parvati, Harry tried again to get Ron's attention. "Ron. . ."

"Not now, Harry!" Ron snapped.

Irritated, Harry turned away from Ron to face whoever was sitting on his left. Seeing Colin Creevey's eager, smiling face, Harry groaned inwardly and reached for a slice of quiche.

"Hullo Harry! Back again, 'eh?"

"Er - That's right, Colin."

"Too bad we didn't get to hang out at your birthday party - I looked for you everywhere!"

"Right, too bad!" Harry responded dryly as he scooped some mashed potatoes onto his plate.

Pretending to be deeply interested in his food, Harry made it a point not to make any more conversation for the rest of the meal.

After everyone had eaten their fill and the school anthem had been sung, Harry, Ron, Hermione and the other Gryffindor prefect, an Indian girl whose name Harry didn't know, gathered the rest of their house and herded them toward their house entrance. Since there were no longer any sixth year prefects and the seventh years were still in the hall, the four of them had to juggle the entire truckload of Gryffindors. It was hours before they had gotten the first years settled, and by the time the trio were about to call it a night, they were knackered.

"Night girls!" Harry called to Hermione and the other prefect, Aishwarya, as the girls headed up toward their dorm. It was then he heard his name being called and turned to see his mother looking a bit awkward in the empty common room.

Harry's face split into a grin, "Hey, Mum!"

"Hi, Mrs. Potter!" Ron greeted before stepping onto the staircase, "Well, I'm off to bed! Night, Harry!"

"Ron-" Harry's eyes widened. He had been hoping to talk more with the boy, but as Ron bounded up the stairs he watched his chances fly out the window.

"I know you're probably cross for me to turn up here, but -" Handing a piece of parchment to Harry, Lily smiled, "You left your timetable at the Gryffindor table."

"I'm not cross!" Harry exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his mother in a hug. "I'd love it for you to visit!"

Lily looked pleased and hugged him back, "How did the first year round up go?"

"Ah, it was fun. Kinda cool to put a scare into those kids." Harry grinned into her hair.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Just like your father. Anyway…" She turned as if to leave but then hesitated, "I was going to say, I know you're feeling much better, but perhaps you'd like to sleep in our suite tonight? Plenty of extra room-"

"Sure!" Harry didn't need to be asked twice.

Surprise crossed his mother's face, "Really?" They headed out of Gryffindor tower, "But don't tell your Dad it was me who mentioned it. He thinks I'm nutty overprotective, already."

"Well, it's better than just being plain nutty like Dad-" Harry laughed.


"Double Potions first!" Hermione complained as soon as she sat down at the Gryffindor table, her heavy bag slamming against the ground.

Ron looked up from his bacon and eggs, "'awt? eff fot pafd!" Then after swallowing, he reiterated, "Snape's not that bad."

Harry sighed.

Hermione's brown eyes narrowed, "To you two! I do all the homework, answer all the questions and I still don't know why he doesn't like me!"

Ron mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like "Smart Chap" before smiling disarmingly at Hermione.

Harry poked at the sausages on his plate as he awaited the Owl Post. On cue, hundreds of owls began to make their way into the hall. Hedwig immediately zoomed down on to Harry, pecking him fondly before attacking his bread bun with a vengeance.

Harry opened his one letter and smiled once he saw Hagrid's messy scrawl.

The hut? After school tomorrow? Bring Cutesy!
Hagrid

Harry rolled his eyes, remembering the day before they left to Hogwarts. His mother had introduced him to "Cutesy" - Hagrid's birthday gift to him. To his complete and utter non surprise, it was an ugly creature called a Frungalump, complete with thirty five sharp teeth and three nostrils the size of a small book. Lily had wanted to set it out in the wild, but Hagrid had begged for it to be brought to Hogwarts.

"Potter! Can you please try to comb your hair once in awhile? It feels like my eyes are burning looking upon your sorry arse." Draco's drawling voice quipped from behind him.

A little surprised, Harry turned, ready for battle, before noticing the friendly grin on the other boy's face. "Well, if –"

"Okay, okay," Draco continued on, ignoring Harry, "You'll come up with some lame retort and we'll all pretend to laugh. Let's just save us the time, Potions anyone?" He grinned and chucked Harry on the shoulder while the Gryffindor muttered darkly beneath his breath.

Walking out of the hall, Harry was submerged in his thoughts. Potions with Professor Snape was torture. Potions with Uncle Sevi? Hell.


Sliding into a seat between Ron and Dean, Harry was surprised to see Snape surveying the class with great distaste. His dark eyes narrowed menacingly as Neville burst through the door, rushing to his seat.

"Two points from Gryffindor for being late, Longbottom. And on the first day as well, I can already sense what the rest of this year is going to be like."

Muttered curses were emitted by the rest of the Gryffindors while the Slytherins giggled amongst themselves. In contrast, Harry's spirits were significantly lifted, Snape, a stupid git as always? He could handle this! As long as Snape didn't favour him in anyway ...

" - Nice Potions set you got there, Potter! You must have some very good friends!" Snape championed as he smiled at Harry warmly.

Harry clenched his fingers into his palm, doing his best not to bang his head against the table, "Thanks Professor." Instantly, he felt guilty for his prejudice against Snape. What was he doing? He had always made it a point to give everyone the benefit of the doubt! This Snape was obviously not that bad...maybe he was even a kind guy!

"Longbottom! If you touch those ingredients I will personally stuff you into that bottle!"

Then again, some things never change.

The project of the day was a Sunlight Solution. Harry and Draco ended up partnered, a pairing that made Harry quite happy. Draco was excellent at potions. Unfortunately, Harry soon learned that the rivalry the two had held was still present and easily sparked:

"No! Are you daft? The Leek powder goes in first!"

"Wrong! The Salamander Tail, Snape said."

"Leek powder, you moron!"

"Tail! Idiot!"

Both hands hovered dangerously over the cauldron, the individual ingredient of choice clenched tightly in both fists.

Snape, alerted by the name calling and shouting, walked over to their unit, "Boys, it doesn't matter, either can go in first." He leaned over their cauldron for a better inspection of the yellow substance.

"Ha!" They both exclaimed, each dropping their item in simultaneously.

BLAM!

A huge cloud of yellow dust erupted and engulfed Snape's face.

The room fell silent as everyone froze.

The yellow smoke cleared.

There stood Snape, shaking with rage, his skin a bright, shocking, neon green.

(Neville, in the back of the room, fainted.)

Draco turned his head slightly, never taking his gray eyes off Snape and out of the corner of his mouth, whispered, "Run."

And they did.

The door slammed shut just as they reached it. Both boys turned slowly, attempting weak smiles at the rapidly advancing green Snape.

"WHAT. DO YOU. HAVE. TO SAY?"

Draco and Harry exchanged terrified looks, and in a last ditch effort to save his life, Harry spoke the impossible, "Sorry…Uncle Sevi?"

"Sorry? SORRY? Do you know what I have to say to THAT?" Snape roared, his face colouring such a furious red that it could be seen even through the green pigmentation.

Harry and Draco both whimpered.

Doing a quick calculation, Harry decided that if survived with three limbs intact he would be lucky.

Snape burst into laughter.

Harry gawked at Snape in utter confusion, before turning to look at Draco who had a similar look of disbelief. The rest of the class were out of sight as they had all hit the ground a moment after the explosion and were currently hiding beneath their desks.

"Your faces! I'll remember that forever!" Snape chuckled as he walked back down the aisle. Harry and Draco were frozen in shock.

"What?" Draco managed to cough out, his face even paler than usual.

"It was fun-ny!" Snape said slowly as if talking to a child, "Your faces! Honestly, I thought you would die on spot!"

Harry and Draco moved forward carefully as they eyed Snape warily.

"Well? Continue everyone! We don't have all day!"

As Snape shuffled some papers on his desk, Draco and Harry tentatively took their places once more.

"Oh!" Snape said, neon face glowing almost cheerfully, "Twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin and you both fail the assignment."


Unused to a full day of classes after the summer, Harry was exhausted, barely managing to drag himself through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor Common Room. Falling onto a couch, Harry sighed dramatically. "Dinner! Dinner!"

Hermione looked up from her book (Beauxbatons: A History), "In an hour I think."

Harry sighed miserably before deciding to find his Mother and Father. Energized he got to his feet and made his way toward the exit where he was intercepted by Ethan.

"Hullo Big Brother! Poppa wants to see you by the way, he's all worried cause you fainted and everything."

Harry's eyes narrowed, "I did not faint! I was in a coma!"

Ethan grinned, "Sure, fainter!"

Harry quickly punched him in the shoulder before climbing back through the portrait hole amidst taunts of "Fainter! Fainter". Sliding his hand against the stone wall of the hallway as he walked, Harry sighed. The commotion of the school day had provided him with a wonderful distraction from the thoughts that constantly plagued his mind. Coming to a halt in front of the familiar Gargoyle statue, Harry called out the password Ethan had mentioned to him during holidays, "Cracked Corn!"

The gargoyle stared stonily back at him.

"Oh man, you just HAD to change it again, Professor. Chocolate Frogs? ... Bertie Botts? ... Blood pops? ... Dammit! Candy Apples? OPEN UP, you wretched thing! Jelly Bellies? ... What the hell is it?" Becoming frustrated, Harry began to name off the most absurd things he could think of, "Rat sticks? ABC Gum? Crap Cakes?"

Immediately the statue pounced to life and moved out of the way. Harry sighed at his "Poppa"'s choice of passwords and began to climb the winding staircase. Reaching Dumbledore's office only to find it empty, Harry walked inside.

"Hello Fawkes, how've you been?" He greeted the preening Phoenix idly, wandering around the room.

Fawkes cooed softly in reply.

…But Harry was no longer interested in the beautiful bird. Instead he was watching the contents of Dumbledore's Pensieve with great interest. Placing his hands on either side of the stone basin, Harry leaned his face as close as possible, trying to see the scene that had unravelled once he had poked the misty silver substance. Being more than a tad curious at what memories Dumbledore would have placed in it, Harry decided that since he could benefit from any memories of this world, it was perfectly appropriate to look.

In fact, the room that had formed within the pensieve was oddly familiar. Harry hadn't meant to get pulled in abruptly as he had had in the past, but was indeed simply by letting his forehead graze the surface.

Like his previous experience with the pensieve, Dumbledore's room lurched as if being tilted by an invisible hand and Harry was pushed into the depths of the memory. An icy blast hit him straight on as he dangled in a black limbo for a brief second before everything cleared and he was standing in the familiar room - the living room at the Potter's home.

Sitting on a couch was Dumbledore, and in front of him?

Sirius Black.

TO BE CONTINUED...

What tales does the pensieve hold? Will Harry ever get any answers from this world?

Please take the time to leave a review :)