Chapter 5 – Meeting with the Potions Master

The Hogwarts Express departed platform 9 and ¾ with a burst of steam and a clank of wheels. All its ruby red carriages were filled to the brim with excited students, although there was a slight damper to the usual excitement. Some familiar faces were missing and there had been some more bad news in the Daily Prophet recently.

Harry sat in a carriage towards the end of the train with Ginny, Neville and Luna. Neville was nursing Trevor on his knee, his face pale and frightful. Luna was staring out the window, her pale blonde hair hanging in loose tendrils about her face. Ginny was obviously watching Harry, although she was being kind about it by pretending to read a book.

After the lunch cart had been and gone, Hermione and Ron came by for a brief visit. It was shorter than they expected as a bunch of Slytherins ran past their carriage holding a hissing cat in their midst. A first year Hufflepuff girl chased after them, crying something about giving her cat back.

When Ron and Hermione left, Ginny tried several times to try and strike up a conversation with Harry. Harry though was so nervous about the Potions exam that was closing in on him, that the best answer he could give Ginny was a shrug of his shoulders. Ginny rolled her eyes at him and began a conversation with Luna instead. He wondered why he was so nervous, why he even cared about some stupid Potion's exam. If he was going to die, why should he be bothered trying to learn anything at all? However, he knew that deep inside he held onto some hope. If Voldemort were to be defeated, he would have a life after Hogwarts, and Potions could be useful.

It seemed like he had only been on the train for twenty minutes when it pulled up at Hogsmeade Station. Harry, in a nervous daze, somehow managed to make it to school and the welcome feast.

Before he realised it he was standing outside of Professor Snape's office dungeon door. Dinner had gone past in a blur, and once again he hadn't eaten that much.

At precisely six o'clock the door to Snape's office opened of its own accord, and to Harry's surprise he found his feet dragging the rest of his body inside.

With a dull thud the door closed behind him and Snape emerged from the shadows.

"You have two hours, Potter," Snape snarled at him. "I will be watching." Snape gestured to a rickety table and chair in front of his desk, turned over a large hourglass and sat at his large dark wood desk, busying himself with papers.

Harry took in a deep breath as he sat down, trying to calm his nerves as much as possible before he started. He had a quick read of the questions that he would need to answer and felt relieved – he knew that he could answer all of these. The study he had done over the summer had made Potion making that much clearer for him. He had even been able to make some Potions, and was surprised when they all turned out the way that they were supposed to.

Finishing off his last answer, Harry watched as the last of the sand emptied into the bottom of the hourglass.

"Times up," Snape snapped from behind Harry.

Harry, surprised, involuntarily jumped a little out of his chair.

Professor Snape smiled at him as he picked up Harry's examination paper. His eyes flew from side to side, reading everything that Harry had written down in the last two hours. He looked displeased.

"This will be sufficient for now," Snape said coldly, "but I expect improvement."

Snape gave the exam paper back to Harry; it had a super small black spiky 'O' written on it in the top right-hand corner.

"I hope that your potion making skills are up to scratch too, Potter," Snape warned Harry, "I expect the best from my students and don't tolerate sloppiness."

Harry got up to leave and as he reached the door to pull it open, Snape spoke again.

"The Headmaster also wants me to let you know, Potter, that I will be recommencing your Occlumency lessons," he said in a voice barely audible, "I will see you on Tuesdays and Thursdays here at six o'clock"

As Harry closed the Potion Master's door behind him, he hoped that the first week of his sixth year wouldn't be as bad as the first week he suffered through last year. It seemed to him that he was already off to a bad start – Potions exam and more Occlumeny lessons.

The End.

A/N: There are a few ways that you can interpret the Prophecy - the way I have represented is one of them. There is a good fic although rated R by: CreativeQuill called Trust - it deals with another interpretation. It is a H/G, R/HG, R/T, L/N story! See Chapter 29 for what I am referring to.

Also, I'm really sorry about the length of this fic and the sketchy detail of the chapters - I just wanted to get the story finished and out there. Thanks for reading - I hope the state of my chapters didn't annoy you too much!