Disclaimer: I own nothing. Harry, Hedwig, Severus (as much as I love him), and everyone else, all belong to JKR and whoever else is in the long list of Harry Potter owners. Tidmag owns the basic plot as he/she (which?) gave me the idea for this story. Also, this is another answer for Severitus' challenge. This story has no relation to my other story written partly in answer to Severitus' challenge because there is no Saerry (except for yours truly). I also do not own Heart or their lyrics.
Summary: Fifth year and Harry finds himself changing. But are they for better or for worse? And what secret lurks behind these changes? A secret only Remus Lupin seems to know.
These Dreams-Saerry Snape-
* Caught Me Off Guard *
~*~
I would walk home every evening
Through the pyramids of light
I would feed myself on silence
Wash it down with empty nights
Then your innocent distractions
Hit me so hard
My emotional reaction
Caught me off guard
~*~
The next morning Harry stumbled into the Great Hall extremely late. He had dark circles under his eyes, which were a drab looking green, and his hair was wilder than usual. As he sat down beside Ron, dropping his bag with a loud THUMP, the red-haired boy said, "You look like you went one-on-one with Crookshanks."
Harry rubbed at his eyes and mumbled, "Couldn't sleep."
Hermione looked worriedly at him from her seat across the table. She asked, "Dreams?"
Harry gave a harsh bark of laughter and growled, "Nightmares."
Ron winced and Hermione frowned. They both knew that Harry's scar linked him to Voldemort and he often had dreams (or nightmares) that showed what Voldemort was doing or had done.
"Was it about – erm – You-Know-Who?"
Harry rubbed at his eyes again then folded his arms and laid his head down on them, his face facing the tabletop. Hermione and Ron heard his voice, though slightly muffled, say, "I don't want to talk about it."
Ron began, "But . . ." but Hermione cut him off with a sharp look.
Harry sighed and closed his eyes. He only looked up when Professor McGonagall walked by handing out time tables and then only glanced at his before burying his head in his arms again. A few minutes later Ron was tugging at the back of his robes and said loudly, "C'mon, Harry! We've got double Potions in two minutes!"
Harry mumbled something unintelligible and rose, picking up his bag and trudged out of the hall after Hermione and Ron.
He never noticed a pair of dark eyes watching him.
************************
Once in Potions class Harry pillowed his head on his arms again. He heard Draco Malfoy's cold voice call from the other side of the room, "Not get your beauty sleep, Potter?"
Beside Harry Ron's face reddened and he snarled, "Sod off, Malfoy."
"Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley. I will not tolerate that language in my class."
Professor Snape had entered the room, wearing his trademark sneer. As he walked past them his dark eyes flicked down to Harry's prone figure and Ron muttered something that sounded like "Slimy bastard". Snape stopped and said, "Five more points from Gryffindor, Weasley. Care to go for ten?"
The Slytherins laughed while Ron's face turned a shade of red that was almost the color of his hair and the rest of the Gryffindors glared at Snape, who sneered at Ron then stalked to the front of the room.
"Today we will be making a Tessarii Potion. Can any of you foolish children tell me what this potion does?"
Hermione's hand immediately shot up. Harry could tell from Ron's snigger.
"Ms. Granger?"
"A Tessarii Potion is supposed to show you every person you are related to by blood. If you put a sheet of paper in the potion while some part of you is touching it, a list of your blood relations will appear on the paper."
"An excellent explanation, Granger. But I know for a fact Finnegan gave you that answer. Mr. Potter, if you would join the class."
Harry lifted his head to see most of the class looking at him. He stifled a yawn then brushed his hair back off his face, mumbling, "Sorry professor."
Snape sneered. "Indeed. Now, copy down these ingredients and begin. At the end of class we will test one of your potions and see if any of you have gotten it right." With that he flicked his wand at the board, causing a list of instructions to appear there. The class copied them down then immediately began to work on their potions.
************************
Harry was half-asleep as he worked so Ron had to keep nudging him to keep him awake.
"Harry, you need to get some sleep."
Harry frowned and grumbled, "You try to sleep with horrible nightmares dancing through your head."
Ron blinked then turned back to his potion, which had turned a sickly green color.
"Oh, what did I do now?"
Harry yawned and looked at the cauldron. "Too much besselroot."
"Bloody hell. Wait – how'd you know that?"
Harry began, "Well, I . . ." He blinked then softly said, "Damn. I don't know."
Ron arched an eyebrow and said, "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I mean I don't know. I just looked at your cauldron and some little 'voice' in my head said 'Too much besselroot'."
"Freaky."
"Yea."
Hermione suddenly hissed, "Guys, shut up. Snape's looking right at us."
Ron and Harry blinked then saw she was right. Snape was actually sitting behind his desk for once, watching the two of them with a piercing gaze. Harry glared at him then went back to work on his potion.
************************
"Now, let's see which of you got their potion right. Longbottom, you're hopeless. Dump that mess and expect to be here tonight to redo that potion. You as well, Finnegan. Granger, you added too much klagairn. Weasley, red not blue-green. And Potter . . ."
Snape's voice trailed off as he discovered that Harry's potion was, well – perfect.
"Two points to Gryffindor for actually getting the potion right, Potter."
As Snape moved on Ron whispered, "Snape just gave us points? Is this a joke?"
Harry looked at him and whispered back, "We'll probably lose them during this class."
"Weasley, Potter, ten points from Gryffindor."
Harry sighed and said, "See my point?"
"Yea. Slimy git."
"Hngh."
Snape finished looking at the potions then selected Draco's to test.
"Volunteers?"
No one raised their hands.
"Then I shall choose someone. Potter, come here."
Harry blinked then rose and slowly walked to the front of the class. Snape had moved Draco's cauldron to his desk and he sneered at Harry over it. Harry looked at him and discovered that he was only about four inches shorter than the professor.
"Place your finger in the potion, Potter."
Harry tentatively put one of the fingers of his left hand in the potion (he didn't trust his right hand to Draco's potion or in fact, either hand). The red surface shimmered and swirled, turning into a mixture of scarlet, gold, emerald, and silver.
Snape plucked a sheet of paper off his desk and dropped it into the potion. There was a tiny puff of gray smoke and then the sheet was basically 'spit' out of the cauldron.
"You may remove your finger, Potter."
Harry pulled his hand out of the potion and wiped it on his robes, watching as the surface returned to bright red.
"Return to your seat, Potter."
Harry quickly walked back to his seat and collapsed next to Ron. Snape told them to clean up and they did just that. As Harry picked up his bag to leave then the class was done Snape growled, "Potter, come here."
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry from the door and he waved at them to go on.
As soon as everyone was gone he asked, "Yes, professor?"
Snape sneered and waved a sheet of paper. The same sheet he had dropped into Draco's potion. He snarled, "Would you mind explaining this?"
"Explaining what, professor?"
"This."
Snape threw the paper at him and Harry caught it. He read the names on the sheet, most of which he didn't recognize. Then he saw one name he did recognize.
Lillian Marie Evans-Snape-Potter (1964-1981)
He blinked and reread that. Lillian Marie Evans-Snape-Potter? What the hell?
Harry read the name after that and came as close to fainting as he'd ever been in his life.
Severus Sadiron Snape (1964-)
And below that . . . .
Harold Jamison Snape-Potter (1981-)
Oh God.
~*~
It was nothing at all
Like anything I had felt before
And it was nothing at all
Like I thought no it's so much more
No one else has ever made
Me feel this way
When I asked you how you did it
You just say
It was nothing at all
~*~
A/N: Mwaaaaaaaaaaahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…… Cliffie's are my evil minions.
A/N2: Please note Harry's middle name. I really like the name Jamison (and James could be a shorter version of it). I would have put Quentin but that makes no sense. Anyway…. Ignore my obsession with character names from a later 60's-early 70's cheap gothic drama….