Chapter Four

Potions and Nightmares

When Harry and had dressed and made their way down to the common room the next morning, the room was full of small groups of people sitting in loose groups talking quietly to each other. While that wasn't altogether strange, the look on Hermione's face was as she leaped up from a chair next to which some of the other girls from her dormitory were talking, and hurried over to meet Harry and Ron.

"What's wrong with you?" Ron asked immmediately. Hermione looked tired and her hair was even bushier than usual, as if she had forgotten to brush it properly.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she said, and stifled a yawn. "Lily woke us up. I'll tell you about it at breakfast."

They went down to the Great Hall where many students were already seated and eating. Harry slid into a chair and looked at Hermione curiously.

"So? What happened?" He prodded.

"Well, we got woken up in the middle of the night by Lily- screaming her head off. She was awake when I got up, and sitting on her bed crying, and one of the girls went to fetch Madam Pomfrey."

Harry's spoon had paused halfway to his mouth and now hovered there. "What was she... screaming about?"

"I don't know. She had a nightmare, obviously."

"Must have been a really bad nightmare," Ron said dubiously.

"Did she say anything about it?" Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged. "No. Madam Pomfrey took her straight to the hospital wing. I suppose she spent the night there. I didn't really ask her what it was about, you know- she was very upset." She dipped her spoon into her porridge and began to eat.

Harry stared down at his toast. He remembered all the times he had woken others up in the night with his screaming. Was it a coincidence that the exact same thing should happen to Lily on the second night of her arrival at Hogwarts?

Harry didn't think about Lily again until Potions that day. He had been dreading seeing Snape again, but was determined not to let him ruin this year for him. He followed Ron and Hermione down to the dungeons where a large group of Slytherins were (as always) gathered outside the Potions classroom. His enemy, Draco Malfoy was among them.

Harry tried to avoid his eye for as long as possible. Life with Malfoy was bound to become more unpleasant since Harry had identified Draco's father as one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, but mercifully he had not seen him since the end of last year and had thus far managed to avoid him at school. He deliberately turned his back and faced away from Malfoy. Thankfully the Slytherins were too involved in their own conversation to notice him.

A few moments later Snape strode down the corridor, his black cloak sweeping behind him, and making the torches along the hallway flicker in his wake.

"Quiet," he snapped, and the murmur of voices fell instantly dim. "Inside, now."

Harry and the others filed into the classroom. As he took his seat Harry looked across and saw Lily Flanagan enter the classroom last. Her face was white and she looked tired, but she looked around the class with interest and didn't seem bothered by Snape's abruptness. Surprisingly, she took a seat next to Hermione.

"Can I sit here?" she asked.

Hermione looked up, startled. "Oh... um -yes- sure," she said. Lily slid in beside her.

"Sorry about last night," Lily said awkwardly.

"Oh that's alright," Hermione replied quickly. She blushed slightly, as if feeling quilty about telling Ron and Harry about it. "I hope you're feeling better."

"A bit. Thanks," Lily said quietly, smiling, and turned to the front of the class.

"Well, here we are again," Snape said silkily, waving his wand in front of the blackboard where a list of ingredients appeared in neat cursive writing. "I must warn you that this year is going to be the most difficult for you yet. I need not remind you that your NEWT levels will depend on how well you apply yourself this year," he said (reminding them anyway). "And I will accept no failures in this class." His eyes swivelled around to Harry, who glared stonily back. The corner of Snape's mouth twitched. "And I know that not all of you are up to the standard I expect. So this year I will dedicate my time to weeding out those of you who don't belong here... those of you-" again he looked meaningfully at Harry- "who are out of their depth."

Malfoy sniggered. Harry ground his teeth together and tried not to hear him.

"You will find all the ingredients for Ringwort Draught on the board. You have thirty minutes. Work in pairs. And be extremely careful with the Ringwort essence." With that said, Snape sat down at his desk and flipped open a large and dusty book.

The room filled with the sound of scraping chairs. Ron paired up with Harry and went down to the storage cupboard to fetch essence of Ringwort, powdered cockroaches, Bowtruckle leaves and frog brains.

Harry set up a mortar and pestle on his desk and looked through his basic ingredients kit for spine of lionfish.

Hermione had teamed up with Lily, as they had been next to each other. Lily walked over with a tray full of ingredients and began unloading them onto Hermione's desk. Suddenly, amid the babble of voices and the sound of chopping and stirring, there was a heavy clunk. Harry heard Ron say, "huh-hey!"

Harry looked up. His stomach dropped at the sight at the front of the class. Ron was standing looking down at the floor, where his potion ingredients, including the valuable Ringwort essence, were splashed and scattered all over the floor. His empty tray dangled from his hands. Malfoy was striding back to his desk, a wide, self-satisfied grin on his face.

Snape had risen from his chair and was leaning foward, his hands on the desk, glaring at Ron. "Didn't I tell you to be careful, Weasley?" He shouted. Ron went pale.

"Malfoy knocked it out of my hands, sir," he blurted.

"It's hardly Malfoy's fault you're so clumsy, Weasley," Snape snapped. He was clearly enjoying tormenting Ron. "Clean it up. And if it's not done by the end of the lesson you'll stay in at lunchtime and finish it." He took a breath and straightened up. "Who's your partner? Potter, I suppose?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Potter, you can help him. No marks for either of you."

Ron's mouth opened and closed like a fish. He looked like he wanted to argue back, but Snape had turned away and the matter was clearly closed. Harry put his mortar down and trudged to the front of the class. Passing Malfoy's desk, he heard Malfoy hiss, "poor little Potty."

Harry's teeth clenched again but he ignored him. He bent down next to Ron and shot him a look of condolence.

Ron had to restrain himself from slamming the broken bottle pieces down on the tray. He fetched a cloth from the storage cupboard and started scrubbing at the floor. Gradually the room filled with noise again and Harry thought it was safe to vent his anger.

"He knows it wasn't you," he told Ron, tweezing a Bowtruckle leaf between his fingers and dropping it onto the rest of the ruined ingredients piling up on the tray. "He's only doing it to make you mad. He wants you to get in more trouble and then punish you for it."

"He's a rotten, greasy, stinking, cowardly old git," Ron hissed under his breath. "I have to get my NEWTs next year. He's trying to make me fail." His mouth sagged into a sulky line. "Him and Malfoy... you'd think they were best friends, wouldn't you? The way they gang up on people."

Harry didn't think Snape thought of Malfoy- or anyone- as a friend, but he didn't say anything.

It took them twenty minutes to clean up the mess. Snape wouldn't allow Ron to perform a simple spell to remove the stains on the floor, and they had to scrub at until it was almost invisible. With ten minutes to spare they had no chance of completing the Ringwort Draught, and so returned to their desks to watch Hermione and Lily.

They had boiled their Bowtruckle leaves and were lifting them out of the water with metal tongs. Hermione tipped the cauldron up and poured the steaming water into the bowl with the rest of the mixture. "Now we just need to let it cool," she told Lily, and removed the pair of gloves she was wearing for safety. She looked over at Ron and Harry, and gave them an understanding shrug of apology.

"Looks like Snape still hates you," she said, with the air of someone revealing a great secret.

"Thanks for that Hermione," Ron replied sarcastically. Lily was sitting on the edge of her desk, swinging her feet.

"Why is Professor Snape so mean to Ron?" she asked.

"It's not Ron he hates- well... not as much. He hates everyone, I guess, but Harry's the one he's really got it in for," Hermione told her.

"Him and Malfoy," Ron added.

"Why?"

"Er... it's a long story," Harry said dismissively.

Lily bit her lip and didn't ask any more. Harry felt guilty, but he really didn't feel like discussing Snape right now. He wanted this hellish lesson to end so he could get away from the dungeons and out into the sunlight, into sanity.