A.N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I know. Poor Harry. *sniff * I hate to tell you this, but things only go downhill for a while now. But don't worry, we'll eventually see a semi-happy Harry again! Please Review!!!!!!
Malena
Harry rejoined his classmates the next day. He had breakfast in the Hospital wing, so he wouldn't have to face the crowds of worried or taunting students in the Great Hall. The dream was still fresh in his mind…
"You know it's your fault…"
Harry jumped when he heard someone's voice.
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"I said, you know it's our fault," Ron said. "I mean, you've been worried enough as it is. What with Azkaban and Sirius and-"
"Ron!" Hermione squealed.
"We should do something this weekend. Just to relax and unwind. No work, no nothing."
"There's a trip to Hogsmeade this weekend," Harry said simply.
"We can go and hang out wherever you want," Hermione said, adding to the conversation. "You know, you really do need to relax more. You're all tense."
Hermione lay a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Come on Harry. You need a mini vacation."
Harry shrugged, but agreed anyway.
"Good! Well, we'd better get to our next class. Blech! Potions…"
Hermione gave Ron her I-don't-think-Potions-is-all-that-bad-there's-just-bad-students look.
They reached the Potions classroom slightly early, and a few other students were mulling around in front of the locked door. The three of them clumped into a corner and talked until the whole corridor was completely filled with students, both Gryffindor and Slytherin.
"What the hell is going on!" Yelled Seamus. "Why isn't the door open?"
"OW!"
"Quit pushing!"
"I can't help it! He pushed me!"
"I did not!"
Suddenly everyone was pushed slightly toward the door. Harry was jolted by Hermione, and had to jump in order to catch his glasses before they shattered on the ground.
"Where's Snape!"
"Why isn't the door open!"
"Who's touching me!"
"Uh, Lavender? I think everyone is generally touching everyone right now."
"What the-oh….whoops."
A new voice joined the group of squealing fifth years. They all turned (to the best of their abilities) to see who had arrived.
It was a man, between 35 and 40 years of age. He had brown hair and a short goatee.
"Sorry I'm late everyone!" He called. "Overslept or something…" He struggled through the squirming group of students and pulled out the keys to the Potions classroom. When he finally managed to pull out the correct key and get the door open, the students spilled through the open door, grumbling about the teacher.
"Where's Professor Snape?" Draco snapped.
The professor gave a small smile and said, "Professor Snape is at a Potions teacher meeting. He should be back teaching tomorrow."
There were a series of groans from the Slytherins. The professor frowned and opened up his briefcase, pulling out several pieces of paper.
"Well, no matter how much you groan, this is a potion's class and we have potions to make." The professor flicked his wand and words appeared on the blackboard.
Professor Lalivre
"I am Professor Lalivre, and today we will be making an anti-flu potion, which will probably come in handy sometime in your lifetime," Professor Lalivre flicked his wand again and more words appeared on the board, this time listing ingredients for the potion. The students all hurriedly wrote down the ingredients and procedure before beginning their potion.
"Potion Teacher meeting my ass," Ron snapped. "He probably just heard that he was teaching us today, and decided not to come."
"Ron, I don't think Professor Snape is that irresponsible," Hermione said. "After all, he is a teacher. He's probably off doing something for Dumbledore."
"What do you think Harry?"
He shrugged, really wanting to get off the matter of Snape. Besides, he had other things on his mind.
"Is something wrong, Potter?"
Harry looked up and saw Professor Lalivre looking down at him.
"No, no everything's fine," Harry mumbled, not even bothering to ask how he knew his name.
"Well, you were just about to make your cauldron explode."
"Huh?"
"Porcupine Quills and Frog bladders. Those shouldn't be mixed directly."
Harry looked down and put the bladders back down on the table. He could see Draco Malfoy sniggering at him from a nearby table.
"Perhaps you'd better see me after class," Lalivre said, before moving swiftly away from the table.
"Don't worry Harry," Hermione said, patting his shoulder reassuringly. "Anyone could make that mistake."
"Yeah," Malfoy called from the other table. "I remember Longbottom making it in-what? The first year?" He smirked over at the three of them before he saw Professor Lalivre coming near them.
"Can it Malfoy," Ron hissed before Lalivre could get too close.
The rest of the class went without incident. Harry was more careful from then on, and Hermione and Ron both seemed to be watching him as well. At the end of the class, after Professor Lalivre had given them all Magic-flu's and they tested their potions on themselves, the class began filing out of the dungeon. Except for Harry.
"That wasn't your best class, Harry," Professor Lalivre commented.
"I know," Harry said shortly. He wanted to leave. He wanted to be back with someone he knew more than forty-five minutes.
"Well, I expect you to do better. You might be seeing me more often." Lalivre gave a twisted grin.
"What do you mean? I thought that you were only here for today."
"You know why Snape's really gone. You know the Dark Lord's using him right now…"
Harry stared at his teacher. "What?"
"I said you know how Snape's schedule is, running all over the country, being a double agent. The Dark Lord knows about him… He knows Snape is lying…"
Harry took a step back. "Wh-What?"
"I said Snape's been promoted. He's now the vice-president of Potion Teachers all over Europe. A great honor, you see. It's going to take up a lot of his time."
Harry couldn't believe his ears. One second Lalivre was talking about Voldemort, and the next thing he was talking about Potion Teachers in Europe.
"What did you say before that?"
"About you seeing me more often?"
"No, after that."
"My dear boy, I do believe you heard me when I told you Snape was promoted."
"Before that. About Vol-You know Who?"
Lalivre looked a little frustrated, but then smiled. "Perhaps you shouldn't. Perhaps you didn't get enough sleep last night and fatigue's getting to you. If you want I can give McGonnogal a note if you want to lay down…"
"No, no that's alright."
He gave Harry a pat on his shoulder, and said, "Perhaps you should brush up on your Potion interactions, it might be best to prevent any future disasters."
Harry stared at the teacher before walking backwards, hardly daring to turn his back to Lalivre.
"Goodbye Harry!"
~*~
Harry was having a battle going on in his head as he jogged down the hallway, hurrying to drop off his potion books before Transfiguration. He was a spy for Voldemort. He was a Death Eater. Or was he? He didn't seem to know what Harry was talking about when Harry mentioned it. Or was it just an act? Was he just pretending that he didn't know what Harry was talking about?
Harry gave the password and dashed up to Gryffindor Tower. He dumped his books on his bed and ran to Transfiguration, arriving just before the bell rang.
"What happened to you?" Hermione asked, seeing that Harry was panting.
"Lalivre kept me too late. I had to run," Harry said simply.
"Quiet students!" Snapped Professor McGonnogal, looking up from her desk. "Get out your homework and let's begin."
Harry pulled open his bag, but his mind was far from Transfiguration.
Should I tell Dumbledore about what Lalivre said? Should I tell Sirius?
Harry dug around in his bag for a quill.
Will anyone believe me?
~*~
Harry decided to skip lunch that day, and took a nap. It didn't help that much, for his slumber was filled with nightmares of Voldemort, Dementors, Death Eaters and the Hyncropratinous. He awoke to someone shaking his shoulder vigorously.
"Harry! Wake up! Wake up Harry!"
Harry sat straight up in bed, exclaiming, "What's going on?!"
"What?!" Ron said. "You were the one screaming and yelling!"
"What? I was!"
"Yeah! Rolling around, yelling your head off, I'm surprised half of the school didn't hear!"
"I'm sorry," Harry said, falling back onto his bed. "I just… I just can't control what's going on in my head right now…"
"Do you want to keep resting?" Ron asked, looking concerned.
"No, no I'll come." Harry threw his things into his bag and followed Ron out the door.
"Harry, I don't know what's going on with you lately," Ron said, looking over his shoulder to look at his friend. "I mean, you've been seeing things. Your magic was acting up a few days ago, but now it's perfectly fine. I think you've gone crazy."
"I was already crazy," Harry moaned. "Voldemort just intensified it."
They walked down the stairs and joined up with Hermione, who was looking at Harry curiously.
"You okay Harry?"
"Yeah, yeah, just tired," Harry said, yawning for emphasis. Hermione didn't seem to believe him, but didn't question him further.
"Hey, what did that one substitute want to talk to you about?"
Harry flushed, not sure if he should tell his friend's about the things that Lalivre had said.
"Oh, he just said that perhaps I should rest. That's why I took that nap," Harry lied.
"Anything else?"
Harry paused. "No. Nothing else."
"All right… well, let's go to Charms."
His friends seemed to know he wasn't being truthful, but they didn't say anything.
They walked down the hall without a word, letting the other students push past them. They passed Lalivre in the hallway, and he waved merrily at them. Harry just stared, while Hermione waved back.
They turned another corner, before Harry heard the voice.
"We're going to get you Potter… we're going to get you…"
He recognized the voice. He had heard it before.
"Potter… Potter… look out the window…" Harry saw a nearby, stained glass window, and he slowly walked over to it.
"Harry? What are you doing? Charms is this way…" he heard his friend's voices somewhere in the background.
"Look out the window…"
No, don't look, he told himself. He looked anyway.
And there they were, hundreds, if not thousands, of Dementors, all staring at him. He saw them take off their hoods, and then Harry knew no more.
