Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All I own is my CD collection, my copies of the five HP books, and my imagination. Do not sue.

Terrible Lie

By Saerry Snape

Chapter 4 – Back Up a Minute

"Morning!" said Trish cheerily as she flopped down next to Harry at the Gryffindor table. The dark-haired boy let out a sullen growled and the second year smiled.

"Not a morning person?"

"Heng," replied Harry. He jabbed his fork into a bit of egg before pushing a slip of paper towards her. She frowned at it as she read it over.

"Your schedule?"

Harry grunted.

"Are your classes bad?"

"There is something unnaturally wrong with the world when we have Advanced Potions first," grumbled Hermione as she sat down across from Harry. The dark-haired boy snorted in agreement, causing the bushy-haired girl to blink.

"Your in Advanced Potions?"

Harry nodded solemnly and said, "Yeah. We would have it first too, wouldn't we?"

Hermione pulled Harry's schedule across the table and exclaimed, "You have all Advanced classes! How many OWLS did you get?"

"Ten. One on the Potions practical, one on the Charms written, and two on everything else but Herbology. Got an 'E' there."

"That's great, Harry! I wonder how many Ron made…"

"Eight," replied Ginny as she sat down. "He completely bombed Potions."

"A 'P?'" asked Harry.

"Worse. A 'T.'"

"Ouch." Harry looked at Hermione and said, "Guess it'll just be you and me in Advanced Potions, Mione."

"You made the Advanced class?" gasped Ginny.

"Barely. Though I'm not sure if I really want to have another class with Snape."

"Who?" asked Trish, looking extremely confused.

"Snape," said Harry. "Professor at the right end of the Head Table in black. You can't miss him."

Trish turned to look and said, "Oh," before turning back towards Harry. "Where's his class? I have him second."

"Who do you have first?" asked Hermione.

Trish frowned and dug her schedule out of a pocket.

"McGonagall," she replied after a moment.

Ginny winced and said, "Oh, I have that last year. Your going to have to run to make it on time."

"Slightly difficult when I don't know where anything," said the second year in a slightly sarcastic way. The sarcasm reminded Harry of someone but he didn't know who.

Shrugging, he stuffed his schedule into his pocket and stood up.

"Let the tour begin, then," he said. "Mione, Ginny?"

"Breakfast," said Hermione shortly while Ginny nodded and jumped up from her seat. The three of them left the Great Hall, Harry feeling distinctly like someone was watching him.

"And last on our tour, the glorious Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom." Harry frowned and said, "I wonder if my Firebolt's still in Umbridge's office…"

"Let's hope not," said Ginny. "Professor McGonagall nearly had a heart attack when we lost to Hufflepuff last year."

Harry winced then smiled down at Trish, who was looking confused.

"Quidditch," he explained. "I got suspended from the team last year along with Ginny's brothers Fred and George."

"Why?"

"Malfoy," replied Ginny. "I hope you're let back on, Harry. I don't mind playing but you're a much better Seeker than I'll ever be."

Harry just smiled at that and looked at his watch, which was flashing the words 'Potions in five minutes!' He turned to the two girls and said, "To conclude our tour, I am going to run as fast as possible up to Gryffindor Tower, get my bag, and try to make it down to Potions without being late."

"Good luck!" Ginny called after him as he ran off.

Harry was fifteen minutes late to Potions. Peeves had held him up on his way to Gryffindor Tower and on his way down, the staircases had decided not to cooperate with him.

So he was fifteen minutes later. Maybe he could sneak in without Snape noticing…

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for your tardiness, Potter!"

Harry sighed and glanced once at Snape's livid face before he moved towards the empty seat beside Hermione. He should have no he had no hope of getting past Snape.

As he sat down, Hermione leaned over and whispered, "What happened?"

"Peeves and the staircases," grumbled Harry in response. He then got out his cauldron and began to make the potion that Snape had scrawled the ingredients to across the board.

By the end of the class, Harry had deflected three pieces of dragon liver that Malfoy had tried to throw into his potion at different times during the class. Thanks to his quick work in deflecting them, his potion had turned out as perfect as Hermione's. Snape noticed this and looked particularly sullen about it.

"Bottle and leave," snapped Snape as he stalked back to the front of the classroom. "Potter, I want a word with you."

Harry nodded absently as he bottled a portion of his potion then went to clean his cauldron out in the sink. When he came back, Hermione softly asked, "What do you think he wants?"

"Dumbledore probably wants him to continue teaching me Occlumency. Those books you sent me were really helpful, by the way."

Hermione smiled as she shouldered her bad and left, promising she'd save him a seat in their next class (as they had all of their classes together). Harry nodded then waited for the classroom to clear out before he approached Snape's desk.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

Snape sneered and said, "The Headmaster wishes me to continue schooling you in the art of Occlumency. As much as it pains me to deal with a dunderhead such as yourself, I shall. I expect you to be here every Wednesday night at six o' clock sharp. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now get out."

Harry sneered mentally at Snape's dismissive tone then turned and stalked out, his robes flaring dramatically behind him. He stormed all the way up to Advanced Transfiguration, barely making it to his seat before McGonagall turned around from writing on the board. As class began, Hermione scooted a piece of parchment across their table towards him. It read 'What'd Snape want?'

'Dumbledore wants me to start Occlumency again' scribbled Harry in a nearly illegible scrawl. He pushed it back towards Hermione, who read it then began to write.

When the paper was moved back, it now read 'What do you think Snape will say about your extra practice?'

'No idea' wrote Harry back. 'I'm hoping I can surprise him.'

The parchment switched hands again and Hermione smiled wryly at his answer before she tapped the sheet with her wand, causing it to disintegrate. She brushed the now imperceptible pieces off the table and turned her attention to what McGonagall was saying.

Harry, meanwhile, wasn't paying any attention. His mind was elsewhere thinking of other things.

Particularly why he felt that he'd seen Trish before.