Chapter 36: what an imagination

A/N:

Bold: day dream sequence/Harry's imagination working overtime (WARNING: one of harry's daydreams briefly mentions him having 2 fathers…hopefully done tastefully…as mentioned, very brief.

This chapter is my tribute to all the various severitus or other characters as Harry's parents stories (couldn't resist).

"Harry, Harry. Stop!" Hermione yelled after leaving the great hall and chasing after Harry.

Harry just ignored her as he ran down the hallway.

Ron ran pass Hermione and grabbed Harry by the arm, forcing him to stop.

"Harry," Hermione said as she caught up with the two boys, setting up charms so that their conversation couldn't be overheard. "Tell us what's wrong."

"What do you think is wrong?" Harry asked, as tears streamed down his face. "My father doesn't want anything to do with me. I wish I never discovered that I was adopted. At least then I believed that my parents would have been with me if they could have. Now I know that something must be wrong with me if my father doesn't even want to admit to being my father."

"Harry, there's nothing wrong with you," Hermione said, trying to comfort her friend. Ron just looked on helplessly.

"What else could it be? I mean, all week he's been cold and distant. He finally breaks a bit last night, but when I asked him about the potion, he says no. I then asked him about my mom, and he accused me of not caring about her since I didn't ask earlier. Nothing I do is right, as far as he's concerned. Maybe I should just forget about everything. Maybe we both will be happier not really knowing the truth."

"Harry, you can't really believe that. I don't know what's going on with Professor Snape, but you can't give up yet. I'm sure this is very difficult for him."

"Difficult for him! Why does everyone keep saying that! What about me? How come no one is telling him that this is difficult for me? Why do I have to be the one to consider how he is feeling. He's supposed to be the adult!"

Ron snickered, "Suppose to be. It's not like he's really acted like much of an adult where Harry is concerned these last five years."

"Ron!"

"What? It's true. He's been acting like a vindictive child, always trying to get Harry in trouble."

"Well, that's not the point. We are trying to figure out why he's doing this to Harry."

"I think Ron has a point," Harry said quietly. "Maybe there is just too much history between the two of us for us to be anything more than the greasy-git professor and the student he loves to hate."

"NO!" Hermione shouted. "I won't believe that. It can't end like this. It's not right. Please, Harry, just wait until Halloween before you decide anything. It's only another week. Who knows? A lot can happen in a week."

"There should only be one person at each workbench today," Snape sneered, as he entered the classroom Friday morning. "Potion is on the board, books should be stored away. This will count for a third of your grade. Talking will not be tolerated, now get to work."

Harry read through the information on the board regarding today's potion before starting. He knew this potion! This was one of the potion's he worked on with his father during detentions, Harry realized. For the first time in five years, he knew what he was doing in potions class without Hermione whispering in his ear. He started to grin as he began to carefully and properly prepare his ingredients.

Just as Harry was beginning to slice the root of the rutabaga rhubarb, an ingredient Snape usually prepared, he became aware of a presence behind him.

"Potter, for detention tonight be sure to wear old robes. It wouldn't do for the-boy-who-lived to ruin his good robes while working on a dangerous potion tonight," Snape drawled sarcastically.

Potion. Tonight. Suddenly Harry had a difficult time breathing. Maybe asking about his mother made Snape realize he was serious about this, Harry thought, so he's decided to agree to brew the potion. They were finally going to know the truth.

"On second thought," Snape smirked as his gaze passed over Harry.

No, Harry thought, please don't have him change his mind and assign the detention to McGonagall or Filch.

"You can come as you are. It looks like you are already wearing your 'old robes."

Harry heard Malfoy snickered at the professor words.

Ha, ha, Harry thought, it wasn't his fault that his physique changed again after he bought new robes for sixth year. Magic could only do so much where fabric was concerned.

"Potter. Stop day dreaming and get to work."

Harry and Severus waited nervously for the parchment to list his family.

"Well, it appears that you were correct in your assessment," was all Severus could say as he viewed the results.

Mother: Sonja Halle Kasen-Snape
Father: Severus Alexander Snape

Harry glanced at Snape, not sure if his prof- his father was happy about this. "Sir?"

"I suppose we better inform the headmaster of the recent developments. Come along, Mr. Pot-Harry."

Harry grinned as his father used his first name. A family. He finally had a family.

The sound of breaking glass jolted Harry out of his dream.

He quickly looked around, except for Hermione, who was giving him odd looks; everyone else was ignoring the boy-who-lived.

Now that was a nice vision, Harry thought. If the outcome of the potion's results were anything like that, he would be happy.

Harry gave a deep sigh as he went back to work on this morning's potion assignment.

"Okay, Harry, now add the final ingredient and stir counterclockwise for three minutes."

Harry, he finally called me Harry, was Harry thought.

"Harry, add the ingredient, unless you have decided that you do not want to know the truth?"

"No sir, sorry sir, I was just thinking about what you said." Harry commented as he added the last ingredient and started stirring counterclockwise.

"Okay, that should be enough. The potion should have a consistency similar to molasses. Now, you want to pour it onto the specially treated parchment."

Harry carefully followed the instructions, not wanting to mess things up. As he watched, a family tree, similar to the one he saw at twelve Grimmauld Place appeared on the parchment.

Harry let out a gasp as he read the results:

Father: Severus Snape
Mother: Lily Evans Potter

"Harry." Hermione whispered from behind him, after hearing him gasp. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Harry asked as he looked around the room, disoriented. His dream felt so real. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something." Why would he imagine that his parents were Lily & Snape? That was a little too disturbing.

"You better get back to work before Professor Snape catches you daydreaming."

Harry nodded as he tackled the next step in the potion.

"This certainly explains why you've been able to escape the Dark Lord. I should have realized you were adopted that Halloween night fifteen years ago. There is no way the son of James Potter would be powerful enough to defeat the Dark Lord, even with the sacrifice of Lily Potter." Snape stated after looking at the results of the heredity potion.

"But…but" Harry stuttered. "It must be wrong. I must have made a mistake somehow."

"Trust me, Mr. Potter," Snape sneered as he said the name, "no mistake was made, I carefully kept a close eye on you."

"But he promised that he wouldn't withhold any more information from me!"

"Come now, Mr. Potter, excuse me, Mr. Dumbledore surely you can't expect the headmaster to share everything with a sixteen year old brat, even if it is his son?"

Harry stared at the parchment in horror. It must be some mistake. He closed his eyes and counted to ten before opening them and reading the results once more. Still the same:

Mother: Minerva Olivia McGonagall
Father: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

"Well, at least this explains why you are one of Minerva's favorite students. Now, why don't you run along and inform your parents of what you learned today?" Severus smirked as he pushed Harry out the door.

"Harry," Hermione whispered, "what is going on?"

"Nothing, Hermione, just concentrating."

"Yes, I can see that, the question is what are you concentrating on? It definitely isn't this potion with the way you keep on staring into space. You almost look like you were having a vision of some kind."

At these words, Harry paled. The ever-observant Hermione noticed this and hissed, "Harry, is it a vision? Is it Voldemort?"

"No, Hermione, it's not Voldemort. I know because my scar isn't hurting. It's just my imagination working overtime."

"Maybe you should talk to Professor Dumbledore or someone after classes are finished."

Harry nodded as the two of them went back to their potions.

"Mr. Potter, carefully pierce your finger and bleed into this vial." Snape said as he did the same to his own finger. "Now take three drops of your blood and add it to the six drops of my blood. Carefully, pour the blood mixture into the cauldron and stir it clockwise for 26 strokes." Snape completed as he turned around to clean the used vials.

BOOM!

"Mr. Potter! I said clockwise, NOT counter-clockwise. What were you thinking? Go, I will clean up this mess you created."

"But sir, the potio-"

"We will not be brewing this potion, Potter, not today or any other day. It is quite obvious that you could not possible be my son. Not only are you horrible at potions, but you can't even follow simple instructions. You are more like James Potter than you realize."

Harry stared at Snape in shock, not moving. Surely the professor didn't mean that? It was just because he was nervous that he messed up. Professor Snape knows that James Potter is not his father. Why was he so determined to deny paternity?

"Mr. Potter!"

"Mr. Potter!" Harry jumped as the sound of his name echoed in his dream.

"I have been calling you for over five minutes. Please tell me, what could be so fascinating that you would risk the safety of your classmates by not paying attention?"

"Sorry, sir," Harry replied absently, thinking about his daydreams. Merlin, he would have to be sure not to mess us this potion tonight. Unfortunately, Harry had a feeling that if he did make an error it would be just the excuse Snape would use to make this daydream became reality.

"Well, get back to work. I would assign you a detention, but since you are already booked indefinitely, deducting five points from Gryffindor, will have to suffice."

Harry glared at Snape as he went back to work, determined to finish his potion correctly.

"Sir, is this why you didn't want to tell me about your wife?" Harry asked, after he recovered from the shock.

Snape just glared at him.

"I didn't even know it was possible for two wizards to become parents. How exactly does that work? I mean, is it natural for a man to conceive or did a potion make that happen? Maybe one of you didn't conceive, after all. Did one of you carry me or am I some type of clone?" So many questions popped into Harry's mind once he saw the results of the potion that read:

Father: Severus Snape
Father: James Potter

That was more shocking than the results that showed Lily and Snape as his parents, Harry thought as he was jolted out of his vision. These visions were really beginning to worry Harry. Why was he imagining all these bizarre scenarios? After what he imagined, Harry really wanted to talk with someone, if he left class, maybe he could find Remus.

"Professor," Harry called as he raised his hand.

"Yes, Potter, what is it now?"

"I'm not feeling well, I wonder if I can be excused."

Carefully, Severus's gaze perused the boy who asked to be dismissed. He did look a little pale, but otherwise seemed healthy. "Fine, Mr. Potter, however, I will remind you that that this potion is worth one-third of your grade. If you leave now, I will have to grade it as it stands. You will not be allowed to make up this assignment."

Harry, who had started gathering his things when Snape started to excuse him, paused. He couldn't risk failing this assignment and this class. He would have to try to complete the potion quickly and leave right afterwards. Slowly, Harry returned his items to his work bench and sat back down.

"Decided to stay, Mr. Potter? We will see if that was the wise choice. You might have received a better grade on a partially completed potion, since it means less time for you to make an error."

"Now you want to place your right hand on the parchment in front of you. Hold the potion in your left hand and pour it into you mouth. Be careful to consume the entire vial. Do not lift the glass from your lips until the vial is empty."

Harry completed the assignment as instructed by his professor. Both of them looked down at the parchment, one fearful of what it might show, the other eager.

"This can't be. You obviously made a mistake." Snape sneered as he viewed the parchment.

Harry wished his professor was right. "You watched me brew the potion. If I made a mistake, you would have caught it. We need to get Dumbledore."

"Fine. But if this is the truth, there is nothing the headmaster can do." With those words, Snape turned and left the room, quietly muttering, "Unbelievable. The Dark Lord has been trying to kill his own son all these years."

Harry jumped and looked around. All he knew was that he had to get out of here. Without paying attention to what he was doing, Harry quickly bottled his potion and placed it on Snape's desk, at least this way he wouldn't get a zero for this class.

After returning to his workbench, he then hastily placed all his items in his bag, informed Snape that he wasn't feeling well and left, not caring that all eyes were on him as he hurried out of the dungeon classroom, without permission to leave.

Each result was more disturbing than the last. He couldn't believe that he just imagined that Voldemort and Lily were his parents. Each vision seemed to be worse than the previous ones, if this kept on, he would soon be imaging pairings involving Voldemort, Peter Pettigrew, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix LeStrange or other death eaters as his parents.

"Harry?" Remus asked as he opened the door to his chambers. "Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

"I was. I had to leave."

"Come in, sit down," Remus invited, after hearing the hopelessness in his voice. "Now, tell me what the problem is."

"I was in potion class when I started to imagine what would happen when Snape and I brewed the hereditary potion. My mind started to envision all these different scenarios, each one worse than the first."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in the first dream, I imagined Snape and his wife were my parents and that Snape was okay with it. I then imagined that Snape and Lily were my parents." Harry broke off as Remus started to laugh.

"Sorry, Harry, I was just trying to imagine Lily and Severus together. One of them would have killed the other within a week. They were too much alike to ever get along. Again, I apologize, please continue."

Harry shook his head as he continued, "If you thought that was strange, wait till you hear the rest of them."

"Exactly how many of these visions did you have, Harry?"

"Um, Snape and his wife; Snape and Lily; McGonagall and Dumbledore; Snape throwing me out of his classroom; Snape and James; Voldemort and Lily;" Harry counted, marking each off on his fingers, "six."

Remus stared at Harry. "Severus and James? Voldemort and Lily?"

"I know," Harry said. "It was the last one made me leave the classroom. Although I almost left after the one about Snape and James. Now I really wish I had. I never gave a thought that I might be related to Voldemort. Merlin, what would the papers say if they found out that I was his son! What would Fudge do?"

"Harry, calm down. You are not Voldemort's son. You can't be. Most especially not the son of Lily and Voldemort. I'm sure that there is a perfectly good explanation for these visions."

"How can you be so sure?" Harry asked as he stood up and started to pace.

"Because I am." Remus replied. "There is no evidence that even hints at Voldemort being your father. Besides, didn't you say that you knew inside that Severus was your father? Has that feeling changed?"

Harry stopped pacing as he looked at Remus. "No, I still believe that Snape's my father. But what about the vision before that? Could Voldemort and Snape be my parents? Is it even possible for two wizards to become parents?"

"Harry, almost everything is possible with magic if you know the right spell and can combine it with the right potion." Remus answered, continuing as he saw the hope die from Harry's eyes, "However, you must remember that you are the image of Snape's wife. If you are Severus's son, then you are the son of him and his wife. Voldemort is not involved in your parentage."

"Bu what if-"

"Harry, no." Remus said firmly. "I know that you are scared about the potion results, especially Severus's reaction, but I am confident that these visions are nothing but the manifestation of those fears, combined with the anxiety of the situation. You cannot use these dreams as a way to deny what you know is true."

"Harry, what exactly happened in potions this morning?" Hermione asked as they walked from dinner back to the common room.

"Nothing." Harry replied, wishing that it was time for his 'detention'.

"Harry, I know something was happening. What were you seeing and are you sure it wasn't Voldemort?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Moony thinks it was just my anxiety regarding the potion that I will be brewing tonight."

"What potion?" Ron asked

"Professor Snape mentioned this morning that Harry would be brewing a potion for detention this evening."

"Really?" Ron asked excited. "Do you think it's the hereditary potion?"

"What else could it be?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Harry, there are thousands of potions out there that Professor Snape could have you brew. It could be any one of them, especially since he didn't mention that potion, just a potion."

"Hermione, he couldn't mention it by name, especially not with all the Slytherins in the room. He knew that I would know what potion he was referring to the minute he mentioned it."

"I just don't want you to be disappointed if it turns out that you are brewing a different potion tonight."

"Hermione, Snape may be a git at times, but as said, he would know what I would think of the moment he mentions a potion. He wouldn't do that to me."

Hermione shook her head; the answer to what Harry saw during class wasn't worth an argument with her best friend. She just hoped that Harry was right about the potion, she thought before changing the subject. "Harry, is there anything you need or want from Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Yeah, mate," Ron piped in, "We would gladly pick you up some chocolate frogs or something. I only wish that Butterbeer would taste good cold, I would bring a whole trunk back if I could."

Harry thought for a moment, "I don't need any chocolate frogs or anything like that. But I would like to get my father a gift, unfortunately, I can't think of anything to get him."

"Why is it his birthday?" Ron asked.

"No, but I never had a parent to buy something for before. I would just like to give him something so that he knows how much he means to me."

"Harry," Hermione stated, "I would be glad to pick something up for you."

"Thanks, Hermione, but as I said, I don't know what to get, and while I am sure that you have great taste, this is really something that I should pick out."

Hermione nodded in understanding.

"Maybe you can sneak into Hogsmeade again like you did third year."

"Ron! Don't go giving him any ideas. Harry, please don't sneak out. It is much more dangerous now that Voldemort is alive again. I'm sure that some of the professors will be in Hogsmeade just in case something happens. There is no way you can risk it. Not only would your life be in danger, but if you are caught, you probably will be expelled."

Harry and Ron looked at each other and grinned, seems like Hermione has her priorities mixed up again, death should be considered worse than expulsion.

Harry gave a quick look at the time before standing up and straightening his robes. "Well, time for detention. Don't wait up, depending on how it goes, I might be awhile."

Ron and Hermione nodded and Harry heard them whisper 'good luck' as he left the common room and headed towards the dungeon.

As he walked down the staircases, Harry felt as if he had butterflies in his stomach. He was more nervous now than he was 5 years ago before his first Quidditch match. Merlin, he thought, he needs to calm his nerves before he makes a mistake on the potion and has his earlier vision come true.

Outside the potion lab, Harry takes a deep breath, reminding himself that regardless of what happens tonight, everything would work out, before knocking on the classroom door.

"Enter," Snape calls from inside.

Slowly Harry opens the door and steps into the classroom, letting the door close behind him.

End chapter 36

root of the rutabaga rhubarb: okay, this might be a bit redundant, but it's from a children's play (can't remember which one) I saw when I was a kid, all the characters go around singing 'root of the rutabaga rhubarb'…very catchy & memorable tune since I remember it years later :)

As this fic draws to a close, are there any loose ends/questions that you want tied up/answered?

Anything that you would like to see?

Should Dumbledore find out what is going on between Harry & Snape? Should he figure it out on his own, or should he be told by someone else (and if so, by whom?)

Since I am trying to update more often, the chapters will be shorter than the last 2 chapters. Likewise, it will now be more than chapters until the story finishes.

ABOUT THE VISIONS:

Harry imagines the potion working in many different ways, since he doesn't really know what is involved in creating this potion. Which do you like better?

Minerva Olivia McGonagall-initials spell MOM, only reason why I gave her that middle name.

Again, hope nobody was offended by the brief mentions of the possibility of Harry having 2 fathers. Just needed some things that would progressively freak Harry out.

Hmm, what do you think caused those visions? Just Harry's overactive imagination & anxiety or is it something more?

CHALLENGE:

Harry discovers that his parents aren't Lilly AND James (one of them could still be his parents, but not both)

Severus Snape helps/assists him brew a potion to determine who his parents are (why Snape helps is up to you, he can assist willingly, could be ordered by AD, blackmailed by Harry, or any other reason you can come up with)

His parents have to be characters from Canon (no original characters, please), extra points (like the points matter) if his parents are one of the couples mentioned here.

Have fun and be creative

Please let me know if you respond to this challenge, as I would love to read it.