Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thank you to all those who reviewed! Here's the next chappie, Enjoy!

Note: To remove any doubts, I'm going to put up headings to let you know what universe we're in. Hope that helps clear any confusion.

Chapter Fourteen

AU World

Lily knew it was a bad idea. The minute James had said the words, she knew it would go wrong. But Lily also knew when it came to Quidditch; no one would listen to her, not James, not Damien and not even Harry.

So, Lily sat on the cold seat, wrapped up in her cloak, muttering choice words to herself, her watchful gaze fixed on the flying figures as they raced each other in the cold night. How they could see anything was beyond her. it was already past dusk and the golden snitch was difficult to see in daylight, never mind the dark. There were only three bewitched lanterns, dangling in mid air, giving the players a poor excuse of light.

Whenever James and the boys played Quidditch, Lily never joined them. But when she heard James suggest a game at dusk, to make the play 'more interesting' she knew it was a bad idea. She came along to make sure they played safely. After all, she was the only one with enough sense to stop the game when it was necessary. She still remembered the time she was pregnant with Harry and she watched a game between James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Arthur and Frank and a few other Aurors. James had been hit in the shoulder by one of the bludgers, causing his arm to be dislocated. James had continued playing, insisting that he was okay. Lily had to scream at everyone to stop playing, in order to get James off his broomstick. She would never forget that day. She knew that her sons, especially the younger one, loved the game to that intensity too.

James was guarding the hoops, a bat in his hand, beating the bludgers towards Damien and Harry, who were playing as Chasers. Harry was also acting as the seeker but didn't honestly know how he was supposed to see it, it was too dark.

Harry was scanning his surroundings to see if he could catch the golden snitch, maybe see it fluttering past one of the lanterns.

"Harry! Watch out!"

Harry swung around at Damien's voice to find a bludger coming at him, fast. Harry swerved out of the way effortlessly. He had been playing Quidditch for almost five years now; dodging bludgers came easily to him. Harry had just turned his broomstick around when two things happened at once. Something heavy hit him square in the back, right between the shoulder blades. The force propelled him forward. At the same time a bludger knocked him against the head, making him lose his balance. Harry fell from his broom, all the way to the ground. He was sure he heard his mum scream just before the ground came rushing to meet him.

xxx

Harry could feel his head thump painfully when he came around. He fought to open his eyes. At first his vision was blurry and Harry reached out to feel for his glasses, an instinctive reaction. He felt warm fingers grasp onto his hand and hold it tightly.

"Harry?"

Harry blinked through the haze and gradually his sight became clear. The blur before him sharpened to James' worried face.

"Harry, are you okay?"

"Yeah" Harry croaked in reply.

He struggled to sit up, his head was throbbing horribly. James and Damien helped him to sit up and he realised that he was still on the Quidditch pitch. He must have only been unconscious for a few moments. The three lanterns were hovering above him, James and Damien were sitting next to him. Lily was nowhere to be seen. As soon as Harry sat up, he reached for his head. He could feel a prominent bump on the back of his head.

"Ow, what happened?" Harry asked rubbing his head tenderly.

"You fell, that's what happened." Damien told him. "You were hit by two bludgers at the same time. I got to tell you, Harry, that's never happened to anyone."

Harry gave Damien a look.

"Glad to be the first." He said dryly.

"Are you okay? Do you need to visit the hospital wing?" James asked, concerned.

"No, I think I'm okay-" the rest of Harry's words were drowned out by the sound of footsteps pounding on the soft ground. Harry only noticed a red haired blur before he was engulfed in a fierce embrace by Lily.

"Harry! Oh thank God, you're okay! I was so worried. You hit the ground hard, even with my spell to slow you down. God, Harry, you could have been really hurt! Thank Merlin you're okay! Oh, Thank Merlin!"

Lily was hugging Harry tightly, her arms around him, cradling him next to her chest. Harry knew that when he was a baby, his parents must have hugged him, held him, kissed him, but he didn't remember any of it. To him, this was the first time he had been hugged by his mum. It was strange; he never thought the action would bring tears to his eyes. His heart was breaking and swelling at the same time. He furiously blinked the tears back, he couldn't cry, it would confuse them.

Lily was still holding him, refusing to let him go. She loosened her grip only slightly, so she could face James and yell at him for sending two bludgers at Harry.

A part of Harry wanted her to let go of him, it was hurting too much to have her hug him, love him and for him not to react. The other part of him wished she would never let go. He had desperately wanted to hug his mum so many times in his life. Whenever he saw Dudley being pampered by aunt Petunia, he imagined his mum doing the same to him. Whenever Mrs Weasley engulfed him in a motherly hug he was painfully reminded that it was Ron's mum hugging him, not his own.

He bit back his tears, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. Slowly, as if by their own accord, Harry's arms lifted and he wrapped his arms around his mum, gently almost as if she would disappear if he held her too tightly.

Lily stopped talking as she felt Harry's arms around her. She pulled away slightly to look at him and noticed Harry's eyes were closed. She reached over and gently touched his cheek, making Harry open his eyes. That was when she saw the unshed tears glistening in his eyes. Lily stared at him, unable to see past the emerald eyes. Never before had Harry looked at her like that. Wordlessly she held him close, like she did when he was a baby. Her hand caressed the back of his head, gently feeling the bump.

"Harry," she started in a gentle voice. "You should really go and see Poppy. That's an awful bump you have."

"I'm okay." Harry mumbled back, his voice sounding choked.

James took over and helped Harry to stand up.

"Come on, we should go inside." He said, wrapping an arm around Harry.

Both James and Lily helped Harry walk back into the castle, Damien trailing behind them not looking happy at all.

xxx

Harry was taken up to see Poppy, despite him saying he felt fine. James and Lily didn't relent and guided him to the hospital wing where Poppy took her time to check him.

"You're fine. I hope you understand that you could have cracked your skull open! Thankfully, your luck held out and you survived with nothing more than a bruise." She reprimanded. "And why were you playing Quidditch in the dark in the first place?"

Lily looked over at James with an accusatory look.

"I thought it would be…different." James explained now wearing a very shameful expression.

"It wasn't your fault..." Harry started.

"Yes, it was!" Lily interjected. "He threw two bludgers at you."

"That's my job as a Beater, and no I didn't!" James responded. "I told you, I threw one at him, the other bludger just happen to hit him at the same time. It was bad timing, that's all."

"Can we go now?" Damien asked from the corner of the room. "Harry's fine, can we leave?" he asked tiredly.

Lily looked at Damien reproachfully but didn't say anything. Instead she turned to the school nurse.

"Poppy?"

"Yes, he can leave. But make sure he takes pain relief potion and some anti inflammatory potion, it'll help." Poppy answered, handing the potions to Lily.

Lily took the potions, that she herself had brewed and pocketed them. The four Potters left the wing and headed for their living quarters.

"Damien, you better go to your dorm, its past curfew." Lily said, stopping Damien from joining them.

"I want to stay with Harry, just to make sure he's okay." Damien replied.

"Right, because you sounded really worried in the hospital wing." Lily scolded.

"you know how much I hate that place, with it's white walls, and white beds with white sheets and white curtains, I mean seriously, what harm would a dash of colour do?" Damien answered.

Lily was still annoyed with him but let him stay with Harry. She knew if she didn't allow him now, he would sneak down to see Harry later on. Damien would happily risk getting caught breaking curfew if he wanted to stay with his brother.

As soon as Harry closed the door to his quarter, after bidding goodnight to his parents, he turned around to face Damien. For the first few minutes, neither spoke. Then Damien walked over to the sofa and sat down.

"Rough night." He commented running a hand through his hair.

Harry joined him, opting to sit at the foot of his bed.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Harry responded.

"That was too close, Harry." Damien said in a quiet but serious voice.

"You're telling me. My head is still throbbing." Harry said, reaching back to feel the bump.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about." Damien answered, his eyes fixed to Harry.

Harry sighed, he knew.

"I'm sorry, Damien." Harry started.

"Sorry doesn't cover it. Dad's already suspicious that something is up with you. After the way you acted with mum tonight, dad's going to know for sure something is wrong."

Harry let out a tired breath.

"I know, I shouldn't have hugged her but I couldn't help myself. She's my mum, she was comforting me. For the first time in my life I was being hugged by my mum, how did you expect me to react?" Harry asked.

Damien didn't have an answer. He looked away from Harry and just stared at the carpet, deep in thought.

"Look, don't get annoyed with me, I didn't…" Harry started.

"I'm not annoyed at you." Damien said. "It's not your fault. It must be hard, acting distant with the people you want to stay close to. It's unfair on you, I can understand that."

Harry understood the pressure that was on the other boy. He could see Damien felt awful for forcing him to stay away from his parents. It was not something he wanted to do but rather had to do. The boys sat in silence after that, each thinking about the problems the other had in keeping their secret. How was Harry to know that the pressure Damien was under was a lot more severe than he understood? He didn't know that Damien was keeping more than one secret.

xxx

Harry observed his surroundings with curiosity. He had never been in the 'Researcher's Corner' before. Truth was that it wasn't a corner at all. It was a whole building. The magnificent building looked like a museum from the outside. The carved statues of famous wizards were so lifelike, Harry had to stop and stare at them to make sure they weren't alive. The sculptures were breathtaking and the entire building was circled by acres of green grass. Behind the building were numerous Greenhouses, obviously for the Herbology projects. The building had eight floors and innumerable rooms with labs and test rooms and different zones. It was a maze that Harry was sure he could never figure out.

Harry stood next to Ron and waited patiently for their friend to show up. Sure enough, Hermione appeared in the long corridor, a clipboard in her hand. She was talking to a fellow colleague and didn't notice the two boys standing waiting for her. When she looked over and caught sight of them, her face broke out in her usual smile. She rushed over to them.

"You're early." She said in form of a greeting, hugging both boys.

"We could go back if you want." Harry joked.

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that. Oh, never mind." She said.

Ron and Harry had arranged to meet Hermione at her 'office' after her work so she could take them to her new house. She had moved out of her parents' home and had got a nice little cottage in the wizarding town of Gelgoton, the same town that her work, the Researcher's Corner was in.

"Are you guys ready to go, or do you want a tour?" Hermione asked optimistically.

"I just want to see your new house. I don't care for this place." Ron said.

Hermione looked hopefully over at Harry.

"Well, a quick tour would be okay, I guess." Harry said, knowing that was the answer Hermione wanted to hear.

Ron groaned, making Hermione lightly slap him on the arm.

"Why did you have to go and do that? This place is huge. It'll take forever to see it. I really want to see her new house." Ron whined.

"I know, but she seems excited." Harry said, pointing to Hermione who was already talking and giving them detailed information about the labs and what project was happening in what room.

Ron and Harry listened half heartedly and followed her down the corridor.

"…and in this lab Robert Cheffield is working on a Project that will hopefully revolutionise the use of animals in potions. It's something to do with cloning the body parts that are used in potions so less animals are killed." Hermione said with a noticeable note of pride in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah that's great, can we go, please?" Ron asked.

"You're really that bored?" Hermione asked.

"Extremely!"

Hermione sighed.

"Fine, let's go." She gave in, heading for the grand staircase that led them to the ground floor.

Harry followed the couple quietly, engrossed in a strong sense of déjà vu. Ron and Hermione were just like they were in his world, forever bickering with one another but still unable to stay away from each other. Harry wondered if they would start to go out with each other when they were older, like this world's Ron and Hermione.

They reached the landing and made their way towards the front door. Suddenly Hermione stopped and turned around, an excited look on her face.

"Oh, how could I forget? I have to show you the best part!" she quickly took a hold of Harry and Ron and before they could protest she literally dragged them across to the other side of the atrium, towards a set of stairs that led to the basement.

"Hermione? Where are you going?" Ron asked, defeated.

"I have to show you this! It's amazing!" she replied, plopping quickly down the stairs.

There was only one door at the foot of the stairs. It was a plain wooden door with no handle. Hermione took out a small disc, round and silver from her bag. Harry thought it looked like a CD, he had seen many in Dudley's room. Hermione held the disc to the door and a round dent appeared, outlining the disc. A moment later there was a loud click and the disc was taken into the door, embedded inside it like was always a part of it. A line started from the middle of the disc and travelled in both directions until there was a line going straight down the middle of the door. The door parted in the middle and slid open, the disc in two perfect halves, still embedded inside the door.

Hermione led the two boys inside a circular room, a raised platform in the middle with only a wooden table perched upon it. All around Harry, there were shelves and shelves full of books. Everywhere Harry looked, all he could see were never ending stacks of books.

"So?" Hermione asked, excited etched on her face.

"Wow, it's a library." Harry said, attempting to sound impressed but it came out sounding sarcastic.

"Hermione, I say this with love," Ron said, putting an arm around her. "You need help, seriously. You brought us here to show us a library!"

Hermione shook Ron's arm away from her and walked away, stepping onto the platform.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Hermione said loudly, her back turned to him.

"Yes?" Ron asked, confused with Hermione's weird behaviour.

Suddenly a strange sound vibrated through the room. Harry was reminded of all the times he was flying, the wind rushing past him, making his ears ring. From the corner of his eye he saw something zoom towards him, he ducked just in time as a stack of papers rushed past him and landed squarely on the middle of the wooden table. He straightened up to see a pile of papers lying neatly on the table along with four thick volumes and Hermione looking very smug.

"What the hell was that?" Ron asked, climbing onto the platform and coming to stand next to Hermione.

"This isn't a library; it's something so much bigger." Hermione explained.

Harry walked onto the platform as well and joined them. Hermione picked up the papers and showed them to Ron.

"Hey, that's me!" Ron said, his eyebrows disappearing under his bangs. He was staring back at his own picture, along with the rest of his family. "This was when we went to Egypt."

Harry saw that the papers were actually copies of the Daily Prophet. The four thick volumes were untitled.

"What is this?" Harry asked.

"This is the biggest resource facility in Britain. A copy of every newspaper that has ever been published is stored here, along with all the books and magazines that have any mentions of Britain's magical world. You can even get copies of specific radio showings. It predates all other resource facilities. All you have to do is say the name of the subject you want to research, or in this case, the person you want to research and everything held on them will be brought to you, in chronological order too." She added at the end, in a tone that showed how impressed she was.

Ron and Harry looked around the room with newfound respect.

"So, it's not just a library?" Ron said sheepishly.

"No, it's not." Hermione answered.

"I didn't know you were in the papers so many times." Harry commented, there were at least six copies.

Ron blushed a little.

"Yeah, well most of them were about, well, you know, the last battle." An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Harry was finding it hard to hide his surprise. Ron was involved in the last battle against Voldemort? How did that happen?

"What are these books about?" Ron asked, changing the topic.

"Three are about the last battle and the other is a condensed version of the Birth records." Hermione answered without opening either book.

Ron looked shocked at her.

"You've read them?!"

"Oh, Ron," Hermione laughed. A flick of her wand and the table was clear again, the papers and books returned to their locations with a soft pop. "What do you think I read at night?" she walked off the platform and headed for the door.

"You still read at night!?" Ron exclaimed as he followed her.

Harry stood alone on the platform. He looked around him again. The history of this world was all around him. Everything he wanted to know could be found here. All the things he couldn't ask anyone for fear of getting caught. He could learn what happened to Hagrid? He could look up Cho and find out what she was up to and even find out what Cedric was doing. He knew his dad was the Minister and knew that Cedric was probably right there by his dad's side. It would be good to see Cedric, to know that in this universe, he was alive and doing well.

"Harry? You coming?" Ron called from the door.

Harry nodded and walked off the platform. He kept thinking about what he would like to look up. He realised that he could even look up his counterpart's history, after all if Ron had his name in several newspapers for helping in the final battle, then being the one to defeat Voldemort, how many papers would Harry be in?

--

Canon World

The first night at Hogwarts found mostly everyone fast asleep. The travelling took a lot out of the students and the staff took the chance to sleep peacefully before their nights were filled with marking essays, planning lessons and carrying out detentions.

Gryffindor tower had all its occupants tucked into their four poster beds and the sound of soft snores could be heard from the common room. Only one Gryffindor was still awake, sitting upright in his bed, in the process of having a phone conversation with his brother, who happened to be in another universe.

"You couldn't have said anything else?" Harry asked, surprised that Damien bad mouthed Ginny in front of their dad.

"I couldn't come up with anything else!" Damien's voice sounded from the other end.

"You could have come up something that didn't make Ginny seem like she's got horns and a forked tail." Harry replied.

"What else could I have said? This was the only thing that sounded remotely believable." Damien explained. "In any case, I don't think dad believed me. He's still very suspicious."

Harry could hear the depression in his brother's voice and it made his heart leap uncomfortably. He hated how Damien made him feel guilty.

"It'll be over soon; this weekend will end the one month the compass needed to recuperate its energy. I'll be home soon." Harry assured him.

For the next few moments, Damien didn't speak. Then quietly, in a trembling voice, he asked Harry,

"What if…if it doesn't work? What will we do then?"

Harry had already asked himself the same question. The very first time the compass had failed to work, Harry had thought of a backup plan, to get himself back to his own world should the compass not work.

"If it doesn't work this time," Harry said in a calm voice, "then I'll have to find the same compass in this universe and use that one to get back."

"But how will you do that? You said that the compass belonged to Voldemort." Suddenly Damien realised what Harry was suggesting. "Harry, no! Don't even think about that! You're not going anywhere near Voldemort!"

"Damy…" Harry started.

"Harry! You can't! He's not the same. This Voldemort has been trying to kill you since you were a baby! If you go anywhere near him…!"

"Calm down, I know exactly how the Voldemort of this universe will react if I was to meet him. Don't worry; I'm not planning on meeting him. Besides, he might not even have the compass. A locator spell will tell me where the compass is. If it is by chance with Voldemort, then I can still get to it, without anyone finding out. Trust me, Damien, nothing bad will happen."

Damien huffed at that.

"Do you know how many times you've said that and the exact opposite happens?" he asked.

Harry smiled.

"Karma's a bitch." He replied.

xxx

The next morning, Harry woke up last. He lazily stretched and opted to stay in his bed while the others around him dressed noisily. Harry could hear Ron talking with the other boys.

"Harry? Are you up yet?"

Harry reluctantly pulled aside the hangings and peered out at him.

"Yeah, I'm up."

"Well, get a move on. We can't miss breakfast." Ron said, throwing Harry his set of robes.

Harry climbed out of bed and gathered up the things he needed. When he straightened up he caught the other boys staring at him.

"What?" Harry asked.

Seamus elbowed Dean as he opened his mouth to speak. Dean threw Seamus an annoyed look and turned back to speak to Harry.

"Had a good summer, Harry?" he asked.

"It was alright." Harry answered.

Dean shot a look at Seamus before finishing doing his tie. Harry quietly got dressed, ignoring the looks Seamus kept shooting his way. Neville, Harry noticed was under his bed, urging a 'Trevor' to 'please come out'. Shaking his head at the sight, Harry moved towards the door with Ron, his book bag clutched in his hand.

As soon as he walked into the Great hall, with Ron and Hermione on either side, Harry saw most of the occupants turn and stare at him. Ignoring them, Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, pulling a plate closer and starting on his breakfast.

Shortly, Professor McGonagall handed out timetables to everyone. She didn't say anything to Harry or even look at him longer than necessary. In his world, McGonagall made a point of showing how much he annoyed her. Snickering quietly, Harry looked over his timetable.

"Blimey, would you look at this! History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defence Against the Dark Arts!" Ron complained. "This has got to be the worst Monday ever!"

"You said that last year too." Hermione told him distractedly.

"Well, this year I mean it!" he grumbled. "I'm not looking forward to Umbridge. Judging by that mind numbingly dull speech she droned out yesterday, paying attention to her lectures is going to be impossible."

Harry silently disagreed with Ron. The speech made by Umbridge had been very interesting. Her words like, 'progress for progress' sake must be discouraged' and 'pruning wherever we find practises that ought to be prohibited' were a clear indication to what was happening; The Ministry was interfering at Hogwarts.

Hermione had caught on to this as well and was spitting like a cat. Ron was, as always, oblivious and had to be told by Hermione what Umbridge's waffle really meant.

"I still can't believe she interrupted Professor Dumbledore like that," Hermione joined in. "she had no manners at all, the way she just got up while he was speaking."

Harry remembered the incident that had hushed the entire hall. The Headmaster had only looked surprised for a moment, but he covered up his reaction and sat down, allowing the toad of a woman to talk.

After breakfast, Harry was just leaving the hall when a tall girl blocked him. Harry recognised her instantly; it was Angelina, his Quidditch captain.

"Hey, Harry, looking good," she said smiling broadly at him. "Listen, I have some news. I've been named captain. We're having tryouts for Keeper, since Oliver has left. Make sure you're there at the tryouts on Friday, okay? Good! See you." With that she was gone. She had not given Harry a chance to utter a single word. Shaking his head at the girl's antics he walked away, wondering who the hell Oliver was?

xxx

History of Magic was just like the class in his world, boring and dull. Harry was glad to get away. He was suddenly hit with the realisation that his Potions class was next, but he had no idea who was teaching that class. He couldn't quite comprehend the idea of sitting in Hogwarts, attending a Potions class and not have him mum teaching them. He still had problems gripping onto the fact that there was no James and Lily Potter in this world.

He couldn't ask Ron or Hermione who the Potions Professor was, as the Harry in this world would know who the Potions Professor was, so he kept walking, keeping his mouth shut.

"Hi Harry!"

Harry looked up to see the same girl that had come into his compartment on the train. He remembered Ginny calling her Cho.

"Hi" Harry returned, wondering if the girl was a good friend of the other Harry.

"Hey, is that a Tornados badge?" Ron asked suddenly, pointing to a badge pinned to the girl's robes.

"Yes, why?" she replied.

"Since when are you a Tornados fan?" Ron asked in an accusatory tone.

"Since I was six." Cho coolly replied. "Anyway…see you later, Harry." With that she was away.

Hermione was glaring at Ron.

"Why in Merlin's name were you interrogating her about being a Tornados fan?" she asked.

"I wasn't interrogating her; I was only asking her if she had always been a fan or if she had just jumped on the band wagon."

"Why does that matter? Couldn't you see she wanted to talk to Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I wasn't stopping her from talking to Harry. She could've talked to him! She was talking to him!" Ron replied.

They continued to bicker all the way down to the dungeons.

xxx

Harry walked into the classroom, noting the Slytherins already seated. His eyes met the cold grey eyes of Draco Malfoy and the dirty look he got only made him snicker. Harry moved to the back of the classroom and sat down next to Ron and Hermione and waited for the unknown Professor to make an appearance. He idly wondered if they were any good at Potions.

"Settle down."

Harry's head jerked up as the cold voice rang in the dungeon classroom. Sure enough, there stood Severus Snape, clad in his usual dark robes, greasy shoulder length hair falling around him, hook nosed with cold onyx eyes, scanning the rooms occupants. His eyes met Harry's and for a moment both just stared at one another, shock present in both sets of eyes. Harry hadn't noticed him at the staff table last night. His intentions of not looking over at Dumbledore had made him ignore the rest of the staff as well. Snape, of course had seen Harry and his new look but never got a chance to really observe him. Now that he was sitting a mere few steps away, he could see the boy properly.

"Before we begin," Snape started on his lesson and gave out threats about the upcoming OWLS exams and so forth. Harry barely listened to it. He wasn't going to be around for the OWLS, he was damn sure about that. Harry glanced up at Snape again, surprised that the man was teaching Potions. He had never pegged him down as the Potions type; Harry didn't think he had the necessary precision and subtle talent for Potion making. He was a half decent Defence Professor, not that he was particularly good at that either…

"Mr Potter!"

Harry looked up to find Snape standing before him, the class was staring at him as well.

"Yes?"

Snape glared at Harry.

"Can you explain why you are not taking down the notes I have put up on the blackboard?" he asked.

Harry glanced at the board and saw the instructions for brewing the Draught of Peace.

"I was just going to…" Harry started.

"Yes, well 'going to' is not any good to me. I want you to 'do' your work not 'plan' on doing it later, at your own convenience." His lip curled and a very ugly look appeared in his eyes. "You may think you have impressed everyone with your 'makeover' but you fail to impress me, Mr Potter."

Malfoy snickered as well as a few other Slytherins. The Gryffindors were all praying Harry kept his mouth shut and didn't lose them any house points. It was the first day and they didn't want to start with a negative score.

"Unless your new look has somehow affected your ability to brew potions without error, I suggest you copy down the instructions." Snape turned and walked away, heading towards the front of the class.

"Professor?"

Snape stopped and turned around slowly to face a smirking Harry.

"I was going to say, that I was just going to point out that there seems to be an error in your instructions. You've got the same instruction 'add two drops of hellbore' twice."

Snape turned around to look at his instructions and sure enough there was the line written at two different points. Snape could have sworn that that wasn't there a moment ago. It wasn't like him to make a mistake like that. He turned and stared back at Harry, the class was staring at Harry too, wondering what would happen now that he had pointed out a mistake.

Snape stepped away from Harry and stormed back to the blackboard. He erased the wrong line and after a moment of thought he flicked his wand, making everyone's quills disappear from their hands, stopping those who were still taking down the notes. Hermione looked like someone had cut off her hand.

"You have an hour and a half," Snape hissed at them. "Start!"

Somewhere near Harry's right, he heard Neville whimper.

Harry looked back over to find his Professor's dark eyes fixed on him, loathing and hate filling them.

Harry smiled to himself and started preparing his cauldron.

xxx

Harry realised very soon why Snape had made the class take down notes first. The thick smoke emitting from the numerous cauldrons was making reading the blackboard very difficult. Harry watched as the students around him peered at the blackboard, squinting and making all sorts of faces, trying in vain to read the notes. Needless to say, the class was disastrous.

Harry looked down at his perfect potion. He knew how to brew the Draught of Peace potion by heart. That was how he had learnt all his potions. Lucius had never allowed a textbook in the potions lab. The instructions would be posted on the blackboard and exactly one hour later, they would start to fade. That was how Harry had learnt potion brewing.

Harry glanced over at Draco's cauldron and saw the perfect colour of the potion. He too had brewed it without a problem. The rest of the class, however, was a different story. Some were trying to mix a cement type potion, others were choking and coughing on foul smelling mixtures.

Snape was moving around the classroom, taking points away, from Gryffindor only, and degrading those who had managed to melt their cauldrons. He stopped at Harry's cauldron and looked down his long nose at Harry's potion.

"What is this, Potter?" he spat.

"The Draught of Peace." Harry answered calmly.

Snape stirred the potion, checking the consistency. He looked over at Hermione who was still adding the final touches to her potion, which was looking like it should be, if a little off colour.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape hissed as he flicked his wand making Harry's potion vanish.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You have obviously cheated. Miss Granger would have no doubt helped you. Another ten points taken from Gryffindor." Another flick and Hermione's potion too disappeared.

"But sir, I never…" Hermione protested, near to tears.

"Not another word from you, Miss Granger. Be thankful I am not assigning you both detentions for cheating."

Snape walked away, bearing down on Neville, making the poor boy nearly faint in fear.

Hermione turned towards Harry.

"That's not fair, we didn't even che-" she broke off. "Harry?"

"What?" he bit out. He was still glaring at Snape.

"Nothing, it's…nothing. Must be the light in here," she said. "For a minute there, I thought your eyes had turned darker."

Harry instantly stilled, forcing all the anger and rage he was feeling towards the greasy haired Professor back down. He looked around at her to see Hermione staring at him, looking a bit unnerved.

"Must have been a trick of the light." Harry said, packing away his things.

"Yeah, must have been." Hermione said, picking up her things too. She didn't sound too sure though.

xxx

Harry had never been more grateful for the bell to ring. He had always loved Potions but Snape had just sucked all the enjoyment out of it. Harry was nearly out the door when Snape called to him.

"Mr Potter, a word please."

Ron and Hermione motioned to him that they would be waiting outside for him. Snape closed the door and turned around to face Harry.

"I heard the most peculiar thing lately," he said, walking over to stand behind his desk, arms crossed across his chest. "I heard that your different appearance is due to a potion mistake."

Harry leaned back to rest on the desk behind him.

"Your point?"

Snape's lip curled.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor for being cheeky!" He spat out. Harry looked like he couldn't care less. Ignoring him, Snape continued. "What potion, dare I ask, were you attempting to make when this happened." He asked, pointing a long finger at Harry.

Harry was certain he already knew but answered to humour him.

"Mind and body strengthening potion."

Snape suddenly had a cold sneer spread across his face. He moved so he was leaning across his desk.

"You see, Potter. That's just the thing. I have studied Potions for the longest of time and I have never come across anything to suggest that alternating ingredients could lead to a change in appearance."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Harry asked still eerily calm.

"I call you a lot of things, Potter, and yes, liar is one of them." Snape answered.

Harry moved away from the desk, straightening up. The sudden action made Snape lean away from his desk, a wary look crossed his features. Harry smiled at his reaction.

"Well, if I am lying, you'll never know." Harry replied.

"I already know, Potter!" Snape threatened.

"I severely doubt it." laughed Harry.

Snape straightened up as well, dark eyes glinting with suppressed anger.

"Do not make your situation worse by giving me cheek, Mr Potter." He warned. "You have two days to write down everything you put in that strengthening potion and hand it to me."

"Or what? You'll fail me again even if I've done the work?" Harry asked.

"You were cheating." Snape answered.

"Never done it in my life, don't intend on doing it now." Harry said sincerely.

Snape raised an eyebrow at the comment but didn't say anything about it.

"Hand in your instructions to your so called 'potion mistake' or you will have to answer to the Headmaster." Snape said softly.

Harry smiled at the threat. He knew that Dumbledore had put Snape up to this.

"Go and tell him I'm not going to do it. He won't look good with a six pack anyway." With that, Harry walked out of the door, leaving a gaping Snape behind him.

xxx

By the time Harry sat down for his last class, Defence Against the Dark Arts, he had had enough. As enjoyable as his argument with Snape had been, he didn't like being spoken to like that. Harry knew Snape hated him, that much was clear to see right away. But the Professor was unfair and picked on him to the point were Harry had to forcibly restrain himself from hurting the man. He glanced over at Hermione; she had noticed his eyes darken. That was not good. Harry could never quite control that power of his. If he let himself get carried away, he could blow his cover, as well as the whole of Hogwarts.

He resolved to keep his temper in check and not to let himself get worked up, that was until he had a class with Dolores Umbridge.

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The return of the Cliffies! I know, you all hate cliffies, but I love them!! On the up side, I gave you guys a long chapter this time! Please review and let me know what you think. Cheers!!