Notes: This story does starts off where book five ended. No Horcrux's here.
Also, unlike all my previous other stories, I have actually finished this one, so you don't have to worry about me abandoning it : )
I'll post a chapter a week, for a total of 11 chapters, and 23,000-ish words. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 9 – Potion trouble
The next day at the station, Remus, Lily and James all came to bring Harry and Nathan to the Hogwarts express. Harry looked around hopefully, wondering if Sirius might be there waiting.
James looked down at Harry, wearing a disappointed frown. "Don't worry son, he'll come to his senses". Harry just shrugged, leaning into his mother's side.
"See you in the summer" said Nathan to the adults, catching sight of his two friends. He ignored Harry as he made his way to the train. Harry couldn't find it in himself to apologize to Nathan though. Malfoy was bad news, Nathan shouldn't date him!
Harry was suddenly lonely. He didn't want to leave his parents and the security of the home. Returning to Hogwarts meant that only one person knew his struggles, and he wasn't even in the same house as Harry.
He saw a stuffed vulture sitting on a woman's hat. He recognized it as Neville's Gran's hat, and smiled. Neville started making his way over to Harry from the other side of the station.
"Mom, can I tell him about my memory" asked Harry, turning to face her. "Please, Please? I want him to know".
Lily looked at the other two then back at Harry "I don't know baby…" she said, her voice trailing off as Neville got closer.
"Please? I trust him. Here and in my memories. Really!" said Harry earnestly, looking at the three adults. "Please please" he begged.
"I don't see why not" said James after Lily nodded lightly, coming to agreement with James with just a look as many couples do. "But you'll remind him that it's a secret, won't you?" he reminded.
Harry smiled, relief relaxing his features. "Thank you, Thank you!" he said, hugging all three of them in turn. They all smiled back at him.
Harry said Hi to Neville's Gran before taking off with Neville to the train, finding an empty compartment. Harry shot off a locking spell and silence ward.
"Um Harry. We're not allowed to take compartments to ourselves." Neville said nervously.
"I need to talk to you, but you can't tell anyone." Harry said seriously, taking a seat facing Neville.
"Alright, you can trust me" said Neville, tilting his head towards Harry.
Harry licked his lips, suddenly unsure. What if Neville decided he didn't want anything to do with Harry anymore? The brown haired boy sat, an expensive red cloak wrinkling beneath him. Funny how Harry never noticed Neville's wealth before. But the cloak didn't' look any different then the ones Harry saw on Neville in his other memories. Neville never was one for flaunting his money.
Making up his mind, Harry told Neville about the spell, its actions, and his memories.
"So, what was the other Neville like?" Neville asked curiously. Harry had no doubt that Neville believed him. No disbelief shone in his eyes, no tentative movements around Harry indicating nervousness. So Harry told him everything he knew about the 'other Neville'.
"So you know about my parents" Neville said quietly. He looked up at Harry. "You know why the potion we're working on is so important." He stated.
"Yes."
"Thank you," said Neville softly. "You look better without your glasses too" he teased mischievously. "Cho's not going to know what hit her". Harry throw his book at Neville, laughing.
The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was quiet. A couple of times, the door to the compartment shook as though someone were knocking or trying to open it, but the two boys ignored it. Instead they talked the entire time, discussing Neville's parents, Harry's experience with having new parents. Neville looked sad, while Harry discussed his family, but he told Harry to talk about it. Harry knew Neville would give anything to have the same gift as Harry. This strengthened Harry's resolve to stay close with his family.
The following Monday, Harry was once again dragging himself down to potions. Today he was going to be studying theory, while practical would wait till Wednesday and Friday.
He entered Professor Snape's private study, looking around the room for the professor. Snape appeared suddenly, already furious. Harry wasn't sure what caused it; he'd only been back from break a few days!
"Potter, you are wasting time with Neville. You should be studying other classes, or at least furthering your studies in Potions, not stagnating your mind by attempting to teach him!"
"But he's trying to help his parents! Cure the effects of Cruciatus!" said Harry in response, surprised that Snape knew about those lessons.
"He's inept, he'll never succeed, you foolish boy," snarled Snape as he slammed an antique potion's text closed.
"I'll have you know that we're making progress" said Harry stubbornly, his eyes flashing.
"Really" Snape evaluated him, determining the truth in Harry's voice. "Very well, let me see."
Harry hesitated but then opened his leather school bag and pulled out the red binder filled with their studies, experiments and notes. He passed it over to the Potion's Professor.
A few minutes passed. Harry felt foolish standing there, but Snape looked engrossed in their work. A few more minutes passed.
"I'm going to sit sir" Harry said. Snape waved his hand irritatedly towards the seating. Seeing that Snape was only half way through their research, and he was so very bored, Harry decided he'd get some practice on drinking Fire Whiskey.
He walked over to the cabinet and grabbed the drink and two crystal glasses. Snape didn't even turn his head. Shrugging, Harry sat down and served himself.
He looked at the drink, its orange-yellow color strangely hypnotic. He sipped it and then choked a bit. He tried swallowing it quickly, hoping that if it bypassed the tongue, it'd be ok. That wasn't wise either as his throat burned even hotter, causing Harry to erupt in aloud coughing fit. He was figuring out another method of drinking it when he noticed Snape had stopped pacing the room. Harry looked up and saw the man staring at him.
"Sorry sir" said Harry, blushing.
"The correct way to drink Firewisky is to sip it into the sides of your mouth, let it sit for a moment, and then swallow" said an amused Snape. Harry smiled embarrassed.
"You will have Neville come with you to these lessons. You will not be studying, reading or practicing potions without my knowledge, is that understood?"
"Alright" said Harry unsure. "You're going to teach Neville?"
Snape let out a heavy sigh. "If he can do this, that Gryffindor can sit in on the lessons. It's a sacrifice I will do to insure you keep up on your studies," snape said, glaring.
"My marks are fine!" said Harry indigently. Snape just raised his eyebrow in question. "Ok, so my Transfiguration could use work, and my Charms theory is a bit flimsy..." Harry rolled his eyes. "Alright, you've made your point".
"As long as you understand that I'm right," said Snape smirking.
Harry just rolled his eyes.
The next day when Harry told Neville about sharing their potion research with Snape, he expected Neville to get angry. Instead he was greeted with a very excited 6th year.
"That's great! He'll be able to help us get further! And, no offense Harry- you're great at teaching Defence but you're horrid at teaching Potions" said Neville laughing.
"I'm not a horrid teacher" said Harry affronted.
"You changed your mind three times as to whether unicorn hair should be added to the liquored cedar wood" reminded Neville.
"Maybe" laughed Harry. "When'd I teach you defence anyways?"
"Third year, remember? For three weeks before exams. You found me crying in the library after Granger left me there without any defence books. She had logged them all out in her name."
"Ah. My memory's a bit flimsy"
"So I've noticed" teased Neville, who was happy to know the truth behind Harry's memory lapses. .
After a particularly long day with Snape and Neville down in the dungeons, Harry and Neville, both blurry eyed and stumbling, made their way for a late snack at the kitchens. Neville tickled the pear, opening the pathway to the kitchens, and was startled to find Nathan there with his two friends.
The two boys stood there while Nathan and the girls glared at Harry. Nathan snorted, grabbed the plate of food then left the kitchens, the two girls trailing after her.
"What's up with that, Harry?" asked Neville, sitting himself down as he grabbed an apple from the tray of food the House Elves prepared. Harry explained. Neville told Harry about Malfoy, having left his father in third year after a brutal beating left him with a hand twitch that took a year to heal. He was adopted by an uncle, and his actions with people at school changed overnight. He had friends in all the houses, and had been best friends with Harry since first year.
"But I don't like him dating Nathan," said Harry, "I still know what he's capable of. It's still part of him."
"If you're sure mate" said Neville, following him out of the kitchens. An uneasy silence fell between them as they parted ways for the night.
The next day, Harry looked around for his brother, but didn't see him. At lunch, he made his way to the Gryfindor towers, set on apologizing. Neville's' words echoed through his mind.
He got to the Gryffindor tower just as the Weasley twins were exiting the painting of the Fat Lady.
"Oy Potter, where you going?" said one of them cheerfully. Harry could catch a hint of warning underneath the greeting though.
"What's up Forge and Gred?" said Harry, trying to lighten up the mood.
"I can't let you at Ron" said one of the twins, sighing. The other twin leaned on the wall, arms crossed with his wand still held.
"Why not" asked Harry, his eyes narrowing. He was definitely not interested in seeing that prick.
"Look, Mcgonagall says your brother will be fine. Ron's already got a weeks' worth of detention from Filch. You'll help no one by going after him now."
"He hurt my brother?" said Harry, starting to see red.
"What'd you expect, after your parents came by the house for that potion project you and Ron were working on?" At Harry's incredulous stare, he continued quickly "not that it's right, what he did, but you have to understand. Potions are the only thing going for Ron and now he doesn't have a chance."
"What'd he do to my brother!" yelled Harry. The twins shuffled uneasily, both bringing their wands up to keep Harry from entering the tower.
The painting opened up and Neville poked his head through.
"Harry, I was just going to go find you, I heard about Nathan." He said, looking nervously between the twins and Harry. "Let's go to the Hospital wing, yah?" he said. He grabbed onto Harry's arm and forcefully dragged him from the tower while Harry glared with hate at the twins.
Harry was exhausted. He left Nathan in the hospital wing. Nathan refused to even look at Harry. Harry wasn't sure if Nathan blamed him for Ron beating him up, or if he was still mad about Harry ignoring him over the Malfoy issue. Either way, it hurt like hell to be rejected by Nathan when Nathan was hurt.
His footsteps echoed against the stone pathway as he made his way to class. He was tempted to skip class, but he didn't think it'd help his state-of-mind any.
He entered the Charms class, interrupting the lecture. The short stout teacher invited him to his seat before starting the lecture again.
"As I was saying, today I will be teaching you about the Reverto Spell. This allows you to change the direction of spells coming your way. Can anyone tell me the downside of..."
Harry just laid his head down on his desk, trying to absorb his lesson orally.
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End of Chapter
Next Chap, Battle comes to Harry.
THanks to the readers, new and old : )
ANd thanks to NeverOddOrEven, glad you like it.
EriKaBalDeL , Thanks for pointing those out. I have fixed a few of the minor issues, and the other ones, well, you've gotten your answer here :) Sometimes I get to caught in my story, I miss little details, so I'm quite glad you mentioned them
Nxkris:I actually didn't think of that... would have worked well.... : )
Fluffy-san: I'm a university student, so I know how you feel. Usually I stick to pre-completed stories for my own readings, just so I don't have to wait, lol. But yeah, no Cho Chang, heehee.... Or maybe I should edit the story, add her in for you? j/k
