Book One of the Heritage Series:
Harry Potter and the Return of Heritage
Chapter Eleven
Defiant Adversary
Dinner in the Great Hall that night was interesting, there was a single topic that people were talking about more than Harry; Umbridge. The students were comparing their lessons with each other, and the common factor was that Umbridge was not teaching any magic at all and was only reading from that awful book. Harry couldn't help but agree with the chatter, Umbridge's lessons were a joke.
However some people were still talking about him, mentioning the death of Cedric, mentioning what was announced at the end of last year, most would comment on his sanity.
"Why is it that they believed it last year?" Harry said, placing his knife and fork down lightly. "But now they all are willing to believe that I am only after attention?"
"I don't think they ever believed it, Harry." Hermione said bluntly. "Remember there is no way to raise the dead, so how could he return from the dead?"
"She is right, Harry." Ron said, finishing his apple pie. "Both of you were raised in the Muggle world, you do not know the fear You-Know-Who inspired over the entire community. It is why people cannot hear his name without shuddering."
Harry thought on that, he thought it was perhaps rational to the wizard raised. He didn't agree with them but then he also knew that if Voldemort appeared in front of them they would soon pull their head out of the sand.
They soon left the Great Hall and began the accent to the Common Room.
"Harry, you know that you were talking about teaching yourself defence?" Hermione said, "Have you thought about it anymore?"
"Yeah I have, I will be spending my weekends practicing the practical I think," Harry said, he wanted to speak to Remus first, but he thought that the weekends would be the only time he would be able to practice.
"Would you be able to teach me?" she asked.
Harry was shocked, Hermione knew more magic than he did. She was able to learn them on her own without a teacher. "Why would you want me to teach you? You learn well on your own."
"I wouldn't mind you teaching me some of spells you learnt last year." Ron said, "You are the best at defence in our year."
"I can learn on my own, but I have been struggling with defence." Hermione said with a shrug.
"I will think about it." Harry said, he didn't think that it sounded like a good idea. He climbed through the portrait hole, noting the hushed silence as he walked in. The Gryffindors watched him carefully as he went up to his dormitory. Harry quickly took of his shoes, stashed his book bag, sat on his bed and drew the curtains.
He pulled his enchanted mirror out of his pocket and looked at the clear glass.
"Sirius Black."
He only had to wait a moment, before the face of his godfather appeared in the rippling mirror.
"Hello Harry, how did Umbridge's lesson go?"
"Hey Sirius," he replied and he explained what had happened with Umbridge.
"Well I am not surprised, Umbridge detests all half-breeds, so she will not like that Remus was your favourite teacher." Sirius recounted, "Interesting though, that she is using that law to get into Hogwarts. Hogwarts predates any law; the governors and the headmaster still hold the control over the school so she cannot make changes easily."
"Neville wrote to his Gran as well. She is on the board and obviously she is a member of the Wizengamot." he replied "Do you think there is way of getting rid of her?"
"No." Sirius said bluntly, "Fudge has planted her there and we won't be able to get her out easily. The department you mentioned is only months old. It was created to help the little schools in the four countries in our Isles. There is another agenda at play but I think we will have to let it play out for now."
Harry sat thinking for a moment. "Can we give her some bad press? We jointly own twenty two percent of the Daily Prophet."
"I am actually in the middle of filling an injunction against them for slander and for publishing stories on you without the consent of your guardian. It is possible that I will bankrupt them but it will be well worth it." Sirius said with a small frown, "I suppose I could lean on them a little in exchange for a lesser settlement."
"Have you spoken to Augusta yet?" Harry asked, he knew that Sirius was not happy that his grandfather had never paid reparations to the Ancient House of Longbottom for the incapacity of Alice and Frank. He knew that Sirius wanted an audience with the Dowager Countess of House Longbottom but he had not arranged it yet.
"No." Sirius said glumly. "I can afford to pay it but I would rather not drain my vaults. I am actually looking into the marriage contract between the House of Black and the House of Lestrange. It is possible I can claim the Lestrange vault in compensation for the breaking of the clauses in the marriage contract."
"What would that mean for Bellatrix?" Harry asked.
"The marriage contract is considered null and void; she would revert to being a member of the House of Black. But I would also banish her from the Black family, she would be stripped of the name Black and be unnamed. She would be a persona non grata."
"Why haven't you done it yet?" Harry asked.
"I have spoken to Narfang about it and he has reviewed the contracts, he believes that I have a case for breaking the contract but he is having it checked with some colleagues. Once he confirms that I have a case, I will file the papers with the ministry." Sirius said with a shrug, "The claiming of the bank vaults is what makes it difficult as the goblins will not transfer it unless the contracts are binding and I have enough cause. I will pay the Longbottoms with the Lestrange gold and I will keep all of the non-monetary objects in the vaults. I have already stripped Bella of her trust fund, so the process is underway, I will have to have curse breakers inspect everything from their vault but I do not see any reason to be concerned."
Harry agreed it probably was for the best. He bid Sirius goodnight and went down to the common room where he joined Ron and Hermione. They were bickering about something. He pulled out his moonstones draft he finished earlier and made the final copy. He then started on the history of magic essay which was just as boring as the lessons.
"Harry have you finished the potions essay?" Ron asked, trying to get a look at the parchment in front of him. Harry now knew what they had been bickering about; Ron wanted to cheat his homework by using Hermione's.
"Yeah, I finished it earlier. It was quite a simple essay for Snape." he said honestly, pulling a few books towards him regarding the wars of giants. "I would offer to let you read it but I don't want Snape to be able to accuse me of you of copying anyone."
"True," Ron said in a glum voice, "Hermione, can you at least read it after to make sure it's right?"
"Fine," she said with a sigh, "but I will not write any of the corrections. Is that the history essay?"
"Yeah, I thought I would get it out of the way. I don't think Binns even reads them anyway." Harry said, finishing his paragraph. "Can I see your notes please?"
She nodded and pulled them out of her bag. He read through them hastily and then added a few more things to his essay. She pulled his Potions essay towards her and began to read through it.
"Where did you get some of the research on moonstones, Harry?" she asked, "This essay is very good, there was a few properties that I was not aware of, as well as a number of the applications so I cannot comment on its accuracy. Could you get me a list of the reference books you used?"
"Sure." he replied, grabbing some paper and starting the list. "I found them in some books over the summer."
When he was finished, he passed it over.
Although she returned to her essay, Hermione couldn't seem to be able to concentrate. Her attention was focussed on the far part of the common room. Harry didn't have to look for long before he saw what had irritated her. Fred and George were standing in front of a large group of lower years and were handing them something from the paper bag Lee Jordan was holding.
"No, they have gone too far." She said standing up, looking extremely furious, "Ron, are you coming?"
"Why?" said Ron, he looked like a deer caught in front of headlights, "They are only giving out sweets."
"We all know that those are not just any sweets." she snapped, flinging her hair over her shoulder, "those are either Nosebleed Nougat or Puking Pastilles or –"
"Or Fainting Fancies?" Harry said quietly, after seeing a first year slump in his chair.
Hermione whirled around and saw the rest of the students slump in their own seats as though they had been whacked around the head with a hammer. She looked furious and so she drew herself up and marched over to the Twins who were in the middle of observing the students and writing their findings on a clipboard each.
"That is enough!" Hermione said, forcibly pushing getting between them and the students.
Fred and George looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Yes, it would seem that we do have the dosage right now doesn't it." George said, making a fake note on his clipboard.
"You know that was not what I meant," she said acidly and snatched the clipboard from them. "You cannot test your products on students!"
"They are being paid for their time." Fred said indignantly, "We advertised that it would be at the tasters own risk!"
"You have no idea what reactions they could have had to your products, it could be dangerous!"
"Calm down, Hermione and watch," Lee said reassuringly. He went around the room, inserting a purple sweet into all of the student's mouths. "See, they are all waking up now."
One by one, they all began to regain consciousness. From their expressions of confusion, they seemed to be clueless of what had just happened to them, but they looked healthy.
Hermione however, looked even more furious.
"No! If you do not stop this then I – " Hermione started but was interrupted.
"Are you going to put us in detention?" Fred said mockingly.
"Take house points from us?" George said in the same tone.
"Report us to McGonagall?"
"Hex us?"
They both let out a loud burst of laughter which many in the common room joined in on.
Hermione on the other hand stood straighter and smirked nastily, stepping towards them.
"No, but I will write to your mother."
Both Fred and George took a step back at the words; they looked horrified, as if she had said the evillest thing that they had ever heard.
"You wouldn't!" George exclaimed.
"Oh I will if you force me to!" Hermione said.
Harry frowned, she had good intentions but even he thought that bringing Molly Weasley into play was under the belt. Then again, it seemed to work.
"I cannot stop you from testing your products on yourselves. But under no circumstances will you test them on unsuspecting students, and especially first years no matter what you pay them!"
She stormed back over to Harry and Ron with the packet of Fainting Fancies and threw them into the fire. "And thank you for the support Ron!"
"You didn't need my help, you handled it well on your own." Ron said, his face going as red as his hair. He cast hesitant looks at the Twins who still stood gaping at Hermione and had not moved an inch.
Hermione huffed went back to her essay but made no attempts to start writing. After five minutes, she gave up, bade them goodnight and went to bed.
Harry and Ron stayed for a little longer before making their way to their dormitory. Once there, they got straight into bed. Harry spent an hour reading the first chapter of both his charms textbook and transfiguration book so he was ready for the next day. Once he was done, he pulled his curtains but not before he saw Seamus walk into the dorm. He noticed the look of dislike pass across his face.
o-HP-o
The next day saw the return of the black rain clouds and the torrential rain. The trio noticed again that Hagrid was still not back from his trip when they went for their breakfast.
They had double Charms, followed by double Transfiguration. Both Flitwick and McGonagall spent a portion of their lessons lecturing them on the importance of OWL's. They spent charms going over the summoning charms and its many applications. Harry found this very easy, especially as it was the first lesson of the year. He had already mastered the charm in the previous year for the first task. He had managed to perform it perfectly, even wandlessly by accident, although he wasn't able to do it again.
During Transfiguration, they started on vanishing spells.
"You will find that the vanishing spells are easier than the conjuring spells which we will be learning towards the end of this year and also if you get into this class for your NEWTS. Conjuring spells are NEWT level and is one of the most difficult applications of magic to learn. Vanishing can be difficult also, but having knowledge of one helps the other. The vanishing spells always come up at OWL so you have been warned." she said sternly. "If you cannot manage to successfully use this spell you will not be able to take the subject a NEWT level."
Harry had read up on vanishing, he knew that it was harder to vanish a vertebrate than invertebrate. He knew that transfiguration needed the correct application of incantation, wand movement and magic. But it also required a certain amount of focus on what you wished the magic to do.
By the end of the lesson, he had managed to vanish his entire snail, Hermione had beaten him to it by fifteen minutes. They were the only two who did not get any homework; everyone else was assigned homework to practice. Harry had also managed to get five points for Gryffindor.
They managed a quick lunch before they made their way down to the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. On the way down, Harry's scar started to ache painfully and it took all of his willpower to push the pain away and he managed to dull it until it was just a slight itch.
They were quite happy that the weather had become clear with a slight breeze. They walked down the sloped lawn towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Waiting for them in the small paddock area away from the cabin was Professor Grubbly-Plank.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione got closer, they saw a large table which appeared to contain a pile of sticks and bowls of rice. The Slytherin's all kept glancing at them amusedly. Harry just assumed that Draco had been insulting them again as they all started laughing hysterically. Harry chose to ignore them, he had more important things to be getting on with.
"Is that everybody?" Professor Grubbly-Plank barked, "Right, let's get down to it, who can tell me what creatures we will be studying today?" She gestured to the table behind her.
Harry studied them carefully, guessing that they were tree guardians but he couldn't remember their actual name. Hermione's hand shot into the air, followed by Pansy Parkinson's, who had began doing impressions of her, releasing a wave of laughter through the Slytherin group once more.
"Miss Parkinson," the professor said, "what are they?"
Pansy whipped her hand back down and went a slightly red. "I am sorry professor but I do not know."
"Then perhaps you should stop acting like a child and pay attention to my lesson." she said, giving the Slytherin section of the class a rather sharp glare. "Miss Granger?"
"Bowtruckles." said Hermione. "Otherwise known as tree guardians, can usually be found in tree's that are suitable for wand crafting. Wand makers will often only use trees that a bowtruckle has made its home."
"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor." she said. "Yes, these are indeed bowtruckles, and as Miss Granger correctly said, they are the guardians of wand trees. In some cases, a wand maker will offer a bowtruckle a payment of food in exchange for a branch from their home. Those branches would usually make better wands than those that have been stolen, they also have the uncanny knack of finding branches that are better suited for wand crafting than even a master wand maker could. Can anyone tell me what they eat?"
"Woodlice mainly," Hermione said promptly, "but also fairy eggs, or in some instances doxy eggs."
"Very good, take another ten points. They may look like sticks, but they can be highly dangerous. When angered, they can swarm a person, their fingers are incredibly sharp and they will attempt to gouge your eyes out." she said with a tone of warning. "Now, I want everyone to take one bowtruckle between three and a bowl of woodlice. I want you to sketch them and label them accordingly.
Harry quickly made his way to the table and found himself next to the professor, "Professor, do you know when Professor Hagrid will be back?"
"I do not, Mr Black-Potter, please get on with the lesson." she said bracingly. He knew that she wouldn't tell him where he was but he was hoping she would tell him when he would be back.
"It would seem that your precious oaf has been injured badly, wouldn't it." Malfoy said in a snide voice. "Perhaps he has put his large foot in a place where there are larger feet, if you catch my meaning."
Harry turned away, he knew that Hagrid could look after himself but Malfoy's father was a death eater and probably knew what had happened. He quickly told Hermione and Ron what Malfoy had said.
"Well, he is on a mission for the order." Ron said, "We know that much."
"It is possible that Lucius Malfoy could know about it, if he crossed paths with Hagrid on his mission." Hermione said.
"What do you make of his comment about bigger footsteps?" Harry said, "I can only think of one thing but it is absurd."
"Well, Hagrid has the biggest feet I have ever seen." Ron said, "So it probably means nothing."
Harry and Hermione shared a look, both having the same thought. If it was true, Hagrid could be in serious danger.
They managed to finish the lesson, glad that they received no homework, and began the long walk to the Herbology greenhouses. He missed Hagrid terribly and he hoped he was back teaching soon. Whilst Professor Grubbly-Plank was a good teacher, he would not betray Hagrid.
As they reached the greenhouses, a group of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fourth years were exiting, including Ginny and Luna Lovegood.
Ginny walked over, "Hey Harry, how's your second day going?"
Harry was about to answer when Luna interrupted, there was a smudge of earth on her nose and hair from the previous lesson and she was also wearing her radish earrings.
"Hello Harrison," she said in her mystical dreamy voice. "I would just like to say that I believe that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned. I also believe that there are those that do believe but are trying to pretend otherwise, and spread untruth."
Many of his classmates started pointing and sniggering at the strange girl and his back shot up.
"Thank you, Luna, that means a great deal. It is a shame that other people have let their fear overwhelm their sense of propriety." Harry said, glaring at Parvati and Lavender (who were laughing hysterically at her earrings) and Seamus, who was staring directly in front of him. "Now, do not let me keep you."
Luna nodded and skipped away to catch up with Ginny, who was waiting a few feet away. Ginny gave them a wave goodbye and they were gone.
"I would also like to say that if I catch any of you laughing or making fun of her again, I will be reporting you to McGonagall." Harry said, "You may think I am a delusional, attention seeking liar. But I will not stand idly by whilst you bully a student."
"Fifteen points to Gryffindor!" came a happy voice behind them; they saw Professor Sprout standing there, "for defending another student and for the promotion of equality. Now, let's get on with the lesson."
o-HP-o
For the next few days, Harry spent a lot of his time studying runes and keeping up to date with all of his work. He managed to also keep up with the reading. He had found that Sirius was right, it had helped his studies dramatically.
He had managed to improve with his performance in potions, Snape seemed to be biding his time, always watching for any slip-ups; he had scored an "exceeds expectations" on his Draught of Peace. Hermione thought that he probably should have got an "outstanding" as she had a low "outstanding" and his potion was better than her own was.
Defence was also going very well. Umbridge would try to bait him every lesson, but he had so far managed to not raise to her. Instead, he would subtly undermine her every lesson. Hermione kept telling him he needed to be more careful and that he was being slightly rash.
Harry had also been helping Ron for an hour every evening when he confessed that he wanted to try out for Gryffindor keeper. He was slightly worried about tomorrow, Ron had always been a very nervous person.
Harry was walking back from library after finishing an interesting essay Remus had set him on the applications of transfiguration in defensive situations. It was a topic that was NEWT level but it could come up at OWL as a theoretical question.
When he turned a corner, he saw that four seventh year Hufflepuffs were taunting a small group of Slytherin third years. He quickened his pace and saw that they were actually casting stinging hexes on them.
"Stop!" he shouted, his face was contorted in rage.
The Hufflepuffs turned to face him. "Get out of here, Potter; this has nothing to do with you." one of them said and then cast a boil hex on one of the students.
Harry pulled his wand out and cast a summoning charm on their shoes. It had happened before a single syllable had left his lips. Harry stood boldly in front of the small group as an act of protection.
The Hufflepuffs began throwing curses at him rapidly, expecting Harry to surrender. Unexpectedly, Harry cast a strong shield charm and they were soon all stunned and wandless. Harry hadn't expected it to be over that quickly but the students did not have the best shield charms and he managed to overpower them easily.
He then turned to the Slytherins; he saw that they had some minor spell damage, which he corrected and they were soon restored back to normal.
"Did they do anything else that I haven't fixed?" he asked kindly.
One of them, a small boy who had dark black hair, heavy eyebrows and blue eyes, mouthed something and then frowned. He then nodded and pointed to his mouth.
Harry frowned, assuming that it was only a silencing charm. Although he had not learnt the charm yet, he hoped that he could cancel it. He pointed his wand at the boy and said, "Finite".
"Thank you, Mr Black-Potter." the boy said with his head held high.
Harry then cast the spell over the others.
"Why were they doing it?" Harry asked.
The boy looked down at that, "My Father has cut off a business venture with their families and they have lost a great deal of money so they have decided to take it out on me and my friends."
"What is your name?"
"Joshua, Joshua Danvers." he said.
"Ah, you are the son of Lord Danvers?" Harry said, he saw the resemblance between him and his father.
"Yes, Mr Black-Potter." he said with a smile. "Father mentioned you over the summer."
"Please call me Harry or Harrison if you would prefer." Harry said, "I have your father to thank for my own father being proven innocent."
Harry paused, hearing hurried footsteps. He saw a glimpse of pink come around the corner. Umbridge.
"Leave quickly." Harry said. "Go straight to Professor Snape and tell him what happened. I will deal with her, you see that tapestry down the hall, go behind it and you will find a passage, follow it and it will take you to the first floor."
They nodded quickly and fled. He turned back around and saw Umbridge stop with an expression of satisfaction
"Ah, Mr Potter. Please explain why you have attacked students in the corridor." she said sweetly.
"I was defending myself." he said.
"Well I have no choice but to give you detention tomorrow evening." she said, sounding absolutely ecstatic.
She then left without a moment's thought towards the stunned students. Harry spelled them back to consciousness, leaving their wands behind and quickly made his way to the common room. He decided not to tell Ron and Hermione what had just happened that night.
o-HP-o
The next morning at breakfast, he broke the news to Ron and Hermione. Whilst they both understood why he done it, they didn't think he should have done it all the same, especially because Umbridge seemed to have been waiting for it to happen. He then had a confrontation of Angelina.
"Harry!" she shouted angrily when she saw him, "Is it true you have landed yourself in detention?!"
"It was not my fault!" he said defending himself, "she didn't even let me explain!"
"I wanted the entire team there to select the new keeper! What are we going to do now?" she said, she had hardly listened.
"What is the meaning of this, Miss Johnson?" the stern voice of McGonagall came from behind them.
"Harry has landed himself in detention with Professor Umbridge tonight, Professor." she said.
McGonagall gave him a look and her eyebrows rose up her head. "Be that as it may, that gives you no excuse to shout like that in the Great Hall."
"Yes professor." Angelina said and she left, shooting Harry a dirty look.
"You three need to be more careful, especially you Harrison." McGonagall said quietly with that she left them.
"She is right you know, Harry." Ron said, "It's a shame you cannot make the try-outs."
Harry sat moodily eating the sausages on his plate when a large majestic black owl landed in front of him. It then raised its leg offering a letter that was sealed with a crest in a deep blue wax.
"Harry, do you know that owl?" Hermione said urgently.
"No." he said and he went to take the envelope.
"Harry don't, it could be cursed." she said sharply, she then used her wand to separate the bird with the envelope. Harry then offered the bird a piece of sausage which it took and then flew off towards the Slytherin table where it landed in front of Joshua Danvers.
"Hermione, I think that letter is from Lord Danvers."
He then picked it up and turned it over.
Harrison James Black-Potter
Head of House Potter and heir to House Black
Gryffindor House
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
The seal on the back was intricate but he saw that the Danvers family animal – a majestic pard stood proudly. He broke the seal and took out the enclosed letter; he noted that it was written in the finest calligraphy that he ever seen.
Dear Mr Black-Potter,
I am writing to you to thank you for defending my son from the children of my previous business partners. Joshua wrote last night to make me aware once he had spoken to Professor Snape; you have my most sincere thanks.
Joshua is a good student, but he would not have been able to put up any resistance to four seventh year students. I have also written to professors: Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape. And have explained what had transpired, I am disheartened to the fact that no teacher had managed to step in, but it took a student to stop the bullying.
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the way you handled your hearing this summer, the Wizengamot was mystified why we were needed for a simple hearing for underage magic but many of us from the Houses saw it for what it was. Whilst you were not brought up with the customs of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses, you handled the situation extremely well.
I would also like to apologise for the actions of the Ministry and the imprisonment of Lord Black. Whilst Fudge is using the excuse of the previous administration, it still falls on him and I am glad that we were able to rectify it. Fudge has not heard the last of the issue either; the other Ancient Houses are making sure that it never happens again.
Because of the service that you have rendered my heir, I am inviting you to attend the Danvers Family Yule Ball which is on Boxing Day, I have enclosed your invitation, and I have also invited Lord Black.
If you cannot attend due to a previous engagement then that is no bother, I will look forward to seeing you again in the Wizengamot taking your family seat.
Yours sincerely,
Lord Jacob Killian Danvers of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Danvers
Lord Regent of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Du Vant
"He wrote to thank me for helping his son." he said, "And to invite me to their annual yule ball."
"Well, the Ancient Houses have always looked after their own." Ron said. "We only fell out of favour because of my great grandfather. The Houses couldn't help us.
"Do you get a plus one?" Hermione asked. Ron shot her a look which she missed.
Harry looked at the invitation that was rendered in gold leaf. "Yeah I do, do I have to take someone?"
"It would be a good idea, Harry," Neville said, he had obviously heard what they were talking about, "if you don't you will have to dance with all of the eligible ladies."
"Will you be going?" Harry asked.
"Gran and I will probably get the invite." he said, "but I do not know if we are going yet, we haven't received the invites and Gran will decide."
"Have you any idea who you would take?" Harry asked, he knew that he had taken Ginny to the Hogwarts yule ball last year.
"I wouldn't take anyone." he replied, "the person I would have invited would already be going." And he flushed a bright red and he left quickly.
"It would seem that Neville has his eye on someone." Ron said with a snicker, "Harry, why don't you go with Ginny, she will never get to go to an event like that?"
Harry looked at his friend in surprise, "I wouldn't have thought you would have wanted me taking you sister to a ball, isn't that against the code of being an older brother?"
Although now he mentioned her, she was the only other girl he was friendly with other than Hermione.
"Well, you could take her, Harry." Hermione said with a smile, "You get on well and it will allow you to have fun and not worry about giving the wrong impression."
"And before you get any ideas, remember that she has five older brothers!" Ron said smirking, not counting Percy.
"I will think about it." Harry said.
They all laughed heartily at the absurdity of it, Harry couldn't help but feel it would be weird to even have those thoughts about Ron's sister. In truth, he had never thought of her outside of that title.
o-HP-o
The day passed to quickly for Harry, it was soon the end of Friday lessons. He had rushed his dinner and made his way to Umbridge's classroom and when he got there, she was sitting behind her desk waiting patiently.
"Ah, Mr Potter." she said. "Professor Snape has requested you for help scrubbing the dungeons after a first year managed to cover the floor in tar. You therefore will not need to write the lines that I had planned."
"Has the detention been rescheduled?" he said hopefully, wondering if the detention date had been changed, if so he would be able to get to the Quidditch pitch.
"Oh no, Mr Potter, you will go directly to Professor Snape's classroom now." she said in a false, sweet voice.
Harry nodded, he was halfway out of the door when he turned back around. "I am sorry professor but you seemed to have forgotten that my name is Black-Potter. Please remember in future or I may start to wonder who you are speaking to, as there is no Mr Potter in this school."
Umbridge looked livid.
He quickly ran to the dungeons, he didn't trust Snape not to give him another detention for not turning up on time. He knocked on the door and entered. The first thing he noticed was that the room had no sign of the mess Umbridge had mentioned.
"Black-Potter." Snape said coldly. "Sit."
Harry took the offered seat. He was starting to wonder what Snape was up to.
"It has come to my attention that you managed to rescue a group of my third years who were being bullied." he said in a usually civil tone. "As such, I have managed to get your detention transferred to myself."
Harry sat quietly, he knew that Snape wouldn't thank him, but he knew that this was a sort of method of thanks.
"I am in the process of preparing potions for the hospital wing." He indicated to the four stations that were smoking, it looked like he was in the middle of brewing four different potions at once. "I require you to brew a batch of calming draught. It is an OWL potion that we have not covered but your abilities seem to have improved and we will see how you do. If, however, you do not brew it correctly, I will have you in detention again and I will have you scrubbing this dungeon clean using no magic."
And with that, Snape flicked his wand at the two blackboards and the instructions and ingredients appeared. He stalked away to continue a potion that had been left brewing at the back of the classroom and so Harry walked over to his assigned station and began working.
He was just finishing the potion; he had added a few other ingredients that he had learnt from his mother's journal that would improve the shelf life, but it would also improve the taste. When Snape came over and looked at the potion.
"You have added changes to the recipe." he said as he studied it but his gaze fell on the written plan Harry had written. Snape picked it up and studied it for a minute before looking at Harry directly in the eyes and spinning away so he couldn't see him. "I see that you have been studying Lily Evans' potion techniques."
"Yes Professor." Harry said, he should have known that he would recognise it.
"Your mother was a very creative and intuitive potioneer." Snape said without looking at him. "It is good to see that her methods have survived."
"Did you know her well?" Harry asked.
Snape turned around after a moment and in a cold voice said. "I used to live in the same town your mother's parents lived, I knew your mother before I got to Hogwarts."
"I see." Harry said somewhat lamely.
"See to it that your potions continue as they have been and you should be able to continue the subject next year." Snape said. "But if you slip, I will make sure you know it."
Harry left the dungeons quickly, he had always assumed that Snape hated him just because of his father, but it seemed that he perhaps respected his mother. He realised that Snape was a very complicated individual.
Harry arrived back to the common room where he was met by Ron, who was celebrating his new keeper position with the rest of Gryffindor; Harry joined them for a bit but chose to have an early night. He made his way upstairs and got into bed. Harry was sat in bed for a while reading a few of his books but soon fell asleep. He couldn't seem to sleep properly as the same dream kept on visiting his mind: a dream about a strange door...
o-HP-o
Review - Favourite - Add to Communities
o-HP-o